Video Blog: Goodbye Minyerri

Hear Jim and Rita's account of the last few days in Minyerri. 

Goodbye Minyerri! We will miss you.

Day 15: Final Day

Ecosystems activity at First Creek.

The activity quickly turned into a boys vs girls mud fight.

Girls preparing for battle. 

Georgi and Rita attacked Jim not realising he was part of the boys team. 

Mud, mud, glorious mud.

BBQ to finish up the program.

The kids loved their certificates. 

Day 14: Eggcellent Kriol

Mickayla running a bilingual literacy activity incorporating the languages Kriol and English. 

Kriol followed by the English translation from the session.

Engineering an egg protector for the eggcellent egg drop experiment.

The big drop.

Did the egg "bust"? The kids word for crack. 

Egg-success. 

Day 13: Sports Day

Marcianne being an impressive goalie.

Soccer.

Handstand break.

Egg and spoon.

And the winners are the Magpies. 

Day 12/13: Mural

Day 12: Video Blog

Watch Georgi and Caitlin talk about the events of the week in this video blog.

Day 11: Bush Medicine

Community Activity Leader Mickayla teaching the kids about bush medicine that can be found around Minyerri.

Green Plum Bark. Boil up the red layer of bark. It will cure boils and scabies. Apparently the green plums are also delicious. 

Drawing of different medicines and their properties. By Patricia. 

Verone painting some bush medicine. 

Captain's Log - Star Date 200113

The week ended with a successful expedition to the billabong, ‘Minyerri’, from which the town derives its name. The six hundred metre walk over flat but very hot ground is usually undertaken with mixed feelings by the kids. General excitement comes with trips to the billabong, however, because very few of the kids wear shoes or thongs to our activities there is also a cost. Regardless, once we got to the billabong the journey was quickly forgotten and most commenced the search for art materials whilst a couple of the boys plunged straight into the tepid water to cool off. The remainder of the afternoon was spent sketching out designs before gluing on the leaf litter in what proved to be a fun and ultimately visually impressive activity.

After an eventful week, the Saturday morning sleep-in was appreciated by all before we set off with several of the Riley mob in the direction of Arrulungu (spelling unsure). Arrulungu is a nearby country with several small wonders: our first stop was a flood fed waterfall emerging from a rocky façade cut out of the sandstone bluff which fed into a swimming hole where the Riley boys put on an acrobatic display of flips. Not to be upstaged, the 44 year old Robin cartwheeled his way to the water’s edge before back flipping in. I tried my earnest best to match their feats, unfortunately, my awkwardly proportioned and inexperienced 6’4” frame could not match my ambitious mind.

After the afternoon swim we walked to some nearby cave paintings of unknown origins before being shown an array of sacred water stone that cause unceasing rains should they ever be removed and submerged in water. The stones themselves occupied their own large garden, approximately 15 by 50 metres. Although they covered this entire expanse, not all remained visible as the adjacent hillside had eroded its way onto the area over time. Those that were visible were smooth and spherical, and occasionally decorated with patterns in red ochre.

I should mention that this entire time we had a rifle and bullets on hand in case some of the local game should have happened across our path. On the way into the waterfall Caitlin sighted one such animal, however, when the car stopped and the rifle was loaded I suspect she regretted her impulsive reaction. Luckily or unluckily, depending on your perspective, Robin’s aim was a fraction off, as it proved to be for the duration of the day. Several more shots and subsequent pursuit peppered the afternoon, the most significant of which saw myself, Robin and his nephew Abraham go on a 90 minute trek along a rocky table top all the while peering down into the river valleys on either side.

Heading home in fading light and with a petulant thunder storm muddying the track just enough to make bogging an ever-present concern, the two months old Land Cruiser’s engine packed it in half an hour’s drive short of home.  After an inspection under the car we discovered a substantial tree branch lodged through the protective bars in the undercarriage. A second look revealed loose wiring that had been torn out on impact. With an iPhone torch, a sharp bit of metal and some bandaging tape I managed the rewire the starting motor for the watery trip home – to the great relief of some hungry passengers in the back who at that point had all but powered up the satellite phone.

Jim

Addendum: 210113

The week has started promisingly. The wet season has given us a glimpse of its potential as a torrential downpour interrupted the day’s activities and several of the kids (as well as one big kid) took the opportunity to get completely soaked running around the school, before some awesomely  loud thunder claps saw us scampering for cover.

On another note, the cockles of my sporting heart were warmed this morning as several of the kids declared that cricket was their favourite sport, and asked if we could forego the likes of basketball and football in favour of some stumps, bats and a ball.

Day 10: Bark Art

Today we ran an art activity using natural materials from around the community.

Collecting materials by the billabong.

Assembling. 

Maybe this activity shouldn't have been done inside a class room...

Finished masterpiece.

Caitlin's Diary #2

So much to talk about so little blog space.

It has been a full on week, but particularly yesterday so let’s start with that! Yesterday was the big ‘Race Around Minyerri’ loosely based on The Amazing Race. 

The four of us had stations where the teams had to complete a task before receiving their next clue. The favourite of these seemed to be Rita’s blind obstacle course and Georgi’s apple bobbing. There were also ‘speed bumps’ involving riddles or animal maths to solve before moving on to the next activity.

Despite the soaring temperatures and running all around town the kids had great fun.

The busy day was topped off by a very successful movie night we held in a classroom. We had about 60 kids show up (some of our lot plus their younger and older siblings) to watch Bran Nue Dae. We preceded the movie with a showing of film clips of the kids from the last two weeks that Georgi expertly cut together to their favourite (but of questionable taste) songs. Watching the kids’ faces and hearing them crack up with laughter when they saw themselves on screen was a highlight of the night – as of course was the popcorn.

Another exciting moment was the arrival of our first rain (some wet season, I know!). After several hours of threatening dark clouds looming over town, we were treated to a huge downpour and a spectacular lightning show (and not just the short-lived Melbourne kind, the lasting-all-night-kind. The four of us Southerners sat outside once the kids had all been delivered home to watch the novelty of this different kind of storm. It was definitely a relieving feeling after two scorching weeks (clearly we are all whimps!).

Today was fairly low key in comparison, but thankfully so, seeing as we have now got two sickies in the group. I have recovered from the Lurgy Jim gave to me, but I passed it to Rita who has passed it to Georgi. Ah the joys of room-sharing!

Anyway, lurgies aside, today we did some science with Rita and Jim making volcanoes and lava fizz and some story-writing and comic strip drawing with Georgi and I.

Still getting really good numbers every day which is great, and we’ve all but mastered the names on the list - although we’re all still having some trouble with brothers KeirAN and KeirON.

Though exhausting, I genuinely look forward to each day, and they are all a great bunch of kids. The four of us are getting better at planning and discovering which things the kids like and dislike doing. My favourite part is still photographing the kids. I have my camera with me all day every day, and they love posing for photos and seeing the result. But the best ones usually come from situations like one I had this afternoon, when they are so deep in thought or engaged in an activity that they don’t notice the shot.

That’s me for now, off to surprise Jim with some stuff for his Birthday! (the third birthday we’ve had in two weeks after Alan the Principal and mine). 

Day 9: "It's science!"

Volcanoes. Made from vinegar, bi-carb soda, food colouring and dish washing liquid with a plasticine dome.   

The eruption.

Extreme Lava FIZZ. The most popular science experiment to date. Oil, water, food colouring and just add Aspro Clear. EFXB this is for you.

Day 8: Race Around Minyerri

Run.

Magic carpet. Can you flip the fabric without your feet touching the ground?

Teamwork.

Deciphering clues.

You can show off your mussels, but they’re not on your arms.

We made damper here, which you held in your palms.

Jim broke the bus bad and the diesel did flow,

You’d better hurry up, it’s a long way to go!

Day 7: Kids photography and musical instrument making

A photo taken by the one of the kids during our photography activity this afternoon.

Self-portrait in the same activity.  

Action shot.

Musical instrument making. Followed by a performance. Note the colourful decoration on the orange t-shirts.

Instrument made from plastic plates, rice and drumsticks.