Dogs, Children, Medallions, Hip Hop and Food!

I’m not really a dog person, but definitely not a Balgo dog person. They breed them tough up here, and with that toughness comes a mean, almost scary streak that scares the bejevies out of me! There’s a group of dogs near the Parish House that make it impossible to pass by without the use of a large stick or a few rocks. That’s the only way I’ve found that they will stay back, because I’m not too keen on discovering if their bark is indeed worse than their bite. Anyway the other day I was walking through the school and saw a bin on its side. I went to pick it up only to hear a rustling inside. Instinctively, I stepped back a long way; rustling sounds do not bring out my brave side. I inched ever so close to only jump back an absolute mile as this mangy looking dog walked out of the bin with a sheepish expression, looked at me and kept walking. The dog had managed to climb into the bin, knock it over and search for food scraps, while freaking me out at the same time. As I said before, me and Balgo dogs; not the best of friends.

Yesterday was Indigenous Children’s Day. This involved a lot of fun, a lot of food and a lot of embarrassing the teachers (more on that later). It was really an exceptional day and one we’re keen on doing once a term, a joint project between Boystown, the Youth Workers and the school. The kids enjoyed hip hop and sport at school and a disco and hip hop concert at night and I’m pretty sure they were all absolutely exhausted from the day they had had because not one kid was seen on the basketball court after 9pm, a rarity now that the lights have been fixed and night time playing is made simple and easy.

Primary A, B and C began with Hip Hop classes. Yesterday was the last day that the Hip Hop group was around to teach them some moves. I learnt a bit more about their troupe last night. Funded by Beyond Blue, the group goes around to different communities and promotes dance as a way of fighting depression, substance abuse and alcoholism. It targets the kid’s interests to teach them better life skills and really is a genius program because the children of Balgo and other indigenous communities are dynamite dancers. As it was their last day, the students worked in teams to come up with dance moves and then had a little battle off when it was nearing the end. However, a lot of them were keener on the acrobatics that come with dancing, building human pyramids, putting people on their shoulders and generally doing very little dancing. We teachers spent most of the time rushing around to ensure the safety of everyone while their very shaky structures were formed. I felt like the irresponsible teacher when I snapped a photo of most of them before getting everyone’s feet firmly on the ground however no child was harmed in the making of anything; decent photo, pyramid or whatever else they were trying to do.

Sina, Danielle, Rachel, Shonielle and Tegan

Sharelle, Nayla, Danica, Frena and Robyn

Darian

Antonio, Noah, Trent, Justin, Julian and Moses dancing away

The younger classes then went and partook in various sporting activities. They were divided into teams during Mangarri time and had split level groups with various ages. It reminded me a bit of tabloid sports from primary school however we did mainly races and relays with the students. My team was team one and had Darian, Francis, Cody and Danielle from Primary C, Hazin, Rodriguez, Jean Claude and Leanne from Primary B and Justine, Delina and Celia from Primary A. I’m sure it was the exceptional talent of every team member and not the superb leadership skills of their team captain but Team 1 (as we were known because we all had 1’s drawn on our hands) absolutely dominated! At the end of each race a kind of dismayed ‘and Team 1 wins again’ could be heard across the microphone, a good feeling for us but we should have shared the victory. Needless to say, the relays, egg and spoon race, three legged race and sack race were a lot of fun and absolutely loved by the kids (and me, who got a little into cheering on everyone!) Leanne proved how speedy she was and is now a force to be feared on the racetrack while Justine and I proved that you really need two people of a similar height when doing the three legged race. With odd numbers in our team, I had to race and wanted to just carry Justine halfway through because I was worried I was going to break her tiny ankle. Then I figured I better take smaller steps to make up for the fact that she is in Pre Primary and that got a little better. We’re a great team!

Cody in the sack race

Celia doing the egg and spoon race

Tegan doing the egg and spoon race

Jake, Leonie, Justine and Ezekiel with their ribbons

We concluded the races with individual sprints and handed out 1^st to 4^th ribbons so eventually every child had a ribbon and memento of the day. And no sporting day can finish without a tug rope. I can’t believe I’ve forgotten the name of it; that big rope and everyone pulls and tries to win? Yeah well we played that (mental blank!) Team 1 won their heat and Team 3 won theirs. There were no finals but I’m sure that’s because they didn’t want Team 1 winning yet again!

Tug of War (remembered the name!)

The sports were just about finished until Donna called in the teachers and convinced Brother Rick to let us have a staff vs. student’s race. He was keen on allowing it, as long as he didn’t have to run. The teacher’s team was strong but it took a while to convince everyone to race. Maggie’s excuse was that it was in the rule book that no grandmas were allowed to race and fitting in this category exempt her. Cassie and Leesa said they were the designated photographers so that left the strongest and fittest of Luurnpa’s staff; Jenny, Trevor, Sanjay, Donna, Steve, Ale, Henry, Camille, Robert and myself. Our opponents; Marlene, Fatima, Kiki, Jerome, Oriel, Shania, David, Kion, Ashley and Jordon from Primary D and Secondary. With medallions for the winning team ready and waiting, it was time to begin. We lined up in our order (I was running fourth), tensed for the whistle and then…WE WERE OFF! Things started well, but after a baton fumble the teachers were lagging behind. With each runner, we gained more and more until finally we were in front. A tense last run with Henry running against David went down to the wire but the teacher’s grasped victory firmly in their hands. The crowds went wild!! All the kids came up and were hugging us, hands were being shook left, right and centre and the kids were in awe of how fast we ran. Justine said to me ‘Steph, you were SOOO fast!’ while Joan simply went ‘I didn’t know you could run!’ We were so happy, until just before the medal ceremony.

 Sprinting against Jerome

The teacher’s team was disqualified! The rules apparently clearly stated that no grandmas were allowed to run. We had a grandma running; Jenny! It was a sad, sad moment for the teachers and we watched in dismay as the medallions were handed over to the students. However, with training beginning today for next year, we’ve got it in the bag!! We finished off the day with a sausage sizzle and drink, tired but having had a lot of fun.

When evening came, the children all gathered on the basketball court to have a disco and show off their dancing moves. The Primary A-C group had learnt one dance, the Primary D-Secondary had learnt another and a third dance was taught afterschool to anyone that showed up on the courts. The dancing was absolutely fantastic! Firstly, the Hip Hop crew danced for the kids showing their moves and proving why they teach them (very impressive) and the students followed up, showing off what they had learnt and why the Balgo kids are the best dancers around. My favourite was Antonio, who had memorized every dance and just put in so much effort into what he was doing. He’s such a fantastic dancer and moves like a pro. It was great to see the kids all dancing as a big group and I was so proud of everything they had learnt. I know for sure the students are going to miss their hour a day hip hop lessons!!

Ezekiel and Julian

Antonio grooving away!

Kiara, Shania, Justine and Amalisha

Fatima, doing a really cool thing - she's actually lifted off the ground!

Marlene and Sharelle