It is quite a daunting task sitting down to write this blog. A lot has happened since our last entry and it is hard to know where to begin. But here goes.....
Exploring local rock art with guide Sylvester.
Firstly, Adam has accepted the position of Middle School Coordinator at St Philips Christian School at Cessnock, beginning next year. We are all very excited about this and look forward to the change and new opportunities that next year holds. It was with some sadness that we decided not to move back to Sydney as we will continue to miss being a part of the day to day life of our family and friends in Sydney. However, after living in such a remote and quiet place as Kalumburu, it would be hard for us to move back to Sydney. We enjoy the wide open spaces of Kalumburu and hope to be able to continue to enjoy this in the Hunter Valley! St Philips School seems to be very keen to serve the Cessnock community and we are excited to be able to be a part of this.
Kalumburu Mission
The next bit of big news is that our good friends, The Shields Family, are no longer living in Kalumburu. The funding for Tim’s position at the Corporation finished at the end of July which meant their family could no longer live in Kalumburu. Incredibly though, Tim has already started working at St Philips School in Cessnock as the Senior School Coordinator! (That’s right, he and Adam will be working right alongside one another!) The school needed someone to start as soon as possible and it worked out so well for the Shields Family that Tim was able to move straight into a new position. We are all very excited and amazed that we will be able to continue to live close to the Shields Family. We truly feel God’s guidance, care and provision for both our families. In the meantime though, we have to adjust to life here in Kalumburu without our good friends. Once again, however, we have experienced God’s love, care and protection over the past couple of weeks and find peace and strength knowing that we are in His hands.
We will be coming back to Sydney in the next lot of School holidays. This will really help break up our last 4 months here in Kalumburu. It will be so lovely to catch up with family and friends. On a practical level, it will give us an opportunity to explore Cessnock and surrounding areas to sort out housing, school, work etc for 2010.
Adam...
Adam has thoroughly enjoyed his last term and a half as Deputy Principal at Kalumburu Remote Community School. It has been a real blessing to have been given this opportunity and through the job, I'm learning a great deal more about school administration and management of staff and school resources. Working alongside the Principal, I've been entrusted with a variety of responsibilities and feel a strong sense of trust and partnership underpins their working relationship.
Adam sits as one of the judges at the local Hip-Hop Concert.Our struggle at the school continues to be improving attendance. In the dry season students and their families seem to move around The Kimberley quite a lot, so we have a fluid, and, at this time of year, depleted school population. This makes it hard for teachers to help some students build on the progress they had been making up until the point they left the school.
Positive relationships between a core group of students and their teachers are rewarding though, and the school leadership emphasises a positive approach when addressing issues in focus. We really try to send positive messages to students who are doing the right thing, publicly recognising them in assemblies and providing rewards and special activities such as elective experiences and BBQ lunches for those who attend regularly and maintain ‘good standing’.
At the same time as taking up my new role as Deputy, I've retained my role as Specialist Teacher, Numeracy. It has been great to have this focus and the opportunity to support younger teachers through modelling lessons, assisting them with planning, preparation and lesson implementation.
I've continued with my study through distance education, recently completing subjects in theology and cultural anthropology. I'm in my last semester of study for this course.
So many highlights come to mind when I think back over the year. The most precious have been the times spent with visiting family. It has been such a joy having you come all this way to visit us and to share this gorgeous part of Australia. More than that, though, just hanging out with such special people has been pure gold. We look forward to being with you all more often when we move closer to you.
The crew of our Kimberley Safari at Cape Leveque.
Amy.....
The funding for the Women’s Project Coordinator position also disappeared at the end of the financial year. Fortunately though, I was able to negotiate with Brian (the CEO) to continue to run a number of programs in the community.
I run playgroup on Tuesday mornings and support some local women to run it on Wednesday mornings.
Hudson and friends at Playgroup.
We have had low attendance at playgroup recently. This is mostly due to changes that occurred to CDEP (similar to the Work for the Dole program). Before the end of the financial year we had three wonderful women working at playgroup. They were doing a great job and were bringing their own kids along each day. However, due to the changes in CDEP, at the end of July they all got paid two weeks in advance. Unfortunately, this meant they did not turn up to work for the next two weeks! (Why work if you have already been paid?!?). A lot of other community members also got some big payouts which fuelled many card games (and therefore gambling) within the community. People stopped attending playgroup and played cards instead. This was all very discouraging but over the last couple of weeks, it seems as though playgroup is rebuilding again. It is quite a relief to be running it only once a week (it’s exhausting!!) and it is encouraging that there are some local women running it by themselves one day a week.
The Mums and Bubs Group started at the beginning of the term and is going really well. The group is for mums and children 1 year old and younger. So far the attendance has surpassed all expectations, averaging about 6 mums (plus kids) each week.
Mums and Bubs group.
A local lady has volunteered to help me and she is proving to be invaluable. She helps me “round up” the women each week (we drive around in my car and remind all the mums that the group is on) and helps with set up and pack up. The group is held in the new health clinic which provides a comfortable environment for the mums to chat and for the babies to play.
Mums and Bubs group.
Each week we have a discussion time where we focus on a certain topic to do with parenting. The women have given me some good feedback about what they want to learn about and I feel excited about the potential of this group. Topics they would like to discuss include: Keeping my baby healthy and strong, sleeping, encouraging positive behaviour, hopes and dreams for my child’s future, developing my child’s communication etc...
I am very thankful to our bible study friends in Sydney who put together an amazing gift box for the Mums and Bubs group. I knew that the mums would need some encouragement to attend the group and I thought it would be helpful if they could receive a gift when they came. Enter my lovely Church friends! They sent up a whole box of presents for the mums (shampoo & conditioner, hand cream, lip gloss etc) and books for the babies. I’m sure these gifts have been a huge incentive for the mums to attend the group and I am very grateful to my friends for purchasing them and sending them all up. Thankyou!
The girls from Girls’ group were very sad to see Belinda go and I had to fly solo for a couple of weeks. Fortunately, a couple of young female teachers have kindly volunteered to help out with the group. This will make my life a lot easier and enable the girls to receive more attention and input within the session.
Last term, Belinda and I were both trained to run a fabulous program called “Mooditj”. It is a positive lifestyle and sexual health program that has been specifically designed for Aboriginal youth. I have already run 2 sessions and the girls have responded to it really positively. They have engaged well with the activities in the program and seem very enthusiastic and interested. There are 10 sessions in the program all together. So far we have covered self identity and puberty and this coming week we will be focusing on emotions and feelings. It is pretty time intensive preparing all the resources for the group each week but so worthwhile as the girls seem to be getting so much from it.
Isabel....
Isabel was very sad to say goodbye to the Shields family, especially to Jacob, with whom she had such a strong friendship. We were concerned with how she would cope in the classroom without her good buddy there. Isabel, however, has been incredibly strong and brave and is now forming stronger friendships with other class mates. She has a number of good friends that she plays with happily at school and, while she misses Jake, she is still able to have a happy time at school.
Bel and friends play on our trampoline. This is helped along enormously by her beautiful teachers Mrs & Mr Love. They know Isabel so well and help make that sometimes crazy and chaotic Pre Primary classroom a safe and happy place for Isabel to be. When asked what she would like to do when she grows up, Isabel says she would like to be a ballerina!
Cousins take it easy at Donkey Pools, Charnley River Station, Gibb River Road.Breaking news: Isabel lost her first tooth today! (Thurs 20th August.)
Gantheume Point, Broome.
Hudson.....
Hudson and Bronnie.
Our little Hudson turns 4 next month!! This is quite hard to believe! He is very excited about having a party with all his “Abodiginal” friends from Kindy.
Hudson helps washing the car. Hudson now goes to Kindy on Fridays all by himself while Amy runs “Mums and Bubs”. There is always low attendance in the class on Fridays (around 6 kids) and they watch a Dora DVD and do some cooking. Hudson has been very proud to be such a big boy going off to school by himself.
Hudson & Ma at school. Hudson participated in the school athletics carnival last week (Unfortunately, Bel was sick and couldn’t attend.) He went in a running race and played a version of “Captain Ball”. We were very proud of him holding his own amongst all the big kids.
When Hudson is asked what he would like to be when he grows up he says he wants to be a “listening-to-Music-er!” or a “rock-n-roller!” Too cute!!
Visitors & Holidays!
Tania (Amy’s mum) visited us in May and stayed for a lovely 2 weeks. We greatly enjoyed her company, loved sharing more of this special place with her and very much appreciated her support and help about the place! A real highlight of her stay was a camping trip to McGown Beach which included a tour of some amazing rock art.
Cruising the King Edward ( 'our' ) River with Tania.
Ancient rock art at Galvan's gorge.
In the July holidays we drove to Broome and met up with lots of family (Jen & Ang & their kids Ella & Rosie and Eric & David). We had a relaxing time in Broome and then enjoyed the adventure of travelling up to Cape Leveque and then back along the Gibb River Road to Kalumburu.
Camel riding at Pender Bay, Munget, on the way up to Cape Leveque. Cape Leveque was absolutely divine with red cliffs meeting white sandy beaches and clear blue water. Once again, we enjoyed exploring gorges and waterfalls along the Gibb River Road and it was extra special to be able to share this with family. Eric and David travelled all the way to Kalumburu with us and we enjoyed showing them around the community. We have loved having lots of visitors this year!
Cousins on a rock at Cape Leveque. We look forward to hearing from you soon and hope to catch up with many of you in the September / October holidays. We hope you are all doing well.
King Edward River, Kalumburu.Love from
Adam, Amy, Isabel & Hudson
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