Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon

Yet another blog begins with bad news. The superstitious believe that bad things happen in threes, and unfortunately that appears to be the case in Balgo. You may have heard on the news about two suspicious deaths in another remote Aboriginal community in Kiwirrkurra, an absolute tragedy that has left two young children orphaned. The people of Balgo, coming to grips with the loss of one much loved community member were hit hard by this loss, with many related to the victims and a second Sorry Camp was made to remember and acknowledge these deaths. However more bad news was delivered yesterday with the death of another Balgo community member in a horrific vehicle roll over on Thursday night. Two of our students are coming to terms with the death of their father, an absolute horrible thing to be forced to deal with at such a young age, and a third Sorry Camp is now occurring in Balgo. In the face of all this grief, I have noticed an absolute relentless and sheer exhibition of hope and faith amongst those mourning. In such a small place, everyone is united by good and bad news, even more so when people are hurting. It’s beautiful to see how everyone is coming together to support one another and ensure that Balgo remains a strong place. So please, keep Balgo in your thoughts and prayers as almost every single individual is mourning for someone and needs a bit extra strength in this sad time.

Time to lighten this post up a bit! Primary C went on another walk on Thursday, this time to the Art Centre where Tracey and Sally talked to the kids about the organization and processes that occur with the painting while Luke showed the students the media lab that develops videos and photos. It was quite a hot day and everyone struggled to get across the oval (that reflected the heat), through the yards and across the road to the thankfully air-conditioned building. Many of the students had grandparents that were artists and were pretty chuffed when Sally mentioned them by name, especially Frena who not only got to see her grandmothers paintings on the wall, but see her actually producing a new piece of art. It was actually quite interesting learning about all the little things that occur there. I never realised how much art was actually produced there until Sally showed us the numbering system they have. Every painting receives a number when it’s finished, written at the base of the canvas that numerically states which painting it is to be produced that year. She showed us one that was the 476th painting to be painted that year, and also pulled out one from 2007 that was the 1245th painting made in that year (obviously a busy one!) It really is quite staggering. All the artists receive 60% of the money from their art, with the other 40% going towards the maintenance of the building, paints and brushes (which the artists are given free of charge) and other necessities. ‘Money Morning’ occurs every Friday when Sally gets all the artists together and writes out checks for the paintings sold that week. It’s quite a process!

Danielle holding the Mangarri while walking across the oval.

Kassius

  

Sally holds up my absolute favourite painting, priced well into the thousands. Sign.

We even went out the back and learnt about how the photos are framed, how the canvas is prepared, which artists use which canvas and even got to see Sarah and Jane paining. They discussed quite vocally the land they were painting about, a process Sally said was not argumentative, but merely to establish where a certain important area is geographically, so it can be accurately represented in the artwork. The paintings are still breathtaking even when their only half completed and I absolutely admire the care and patience they have with their work, some paintings taking weeks! I wish I could paint!

Sarah tells us about her painting.

Half finished, but I already love it!

Sally shows us how the canvas' are prepped.

(Love Renelle's face in the background!)

The students got a lot out of the art centre and will soon be going back to learn about art in a greater detail with Tracey. It’s all a part of a student art exhibition late in Term 4. Each class spends two hours learning about different styles of art and then have a chance to produce their own piece of work that reflects something in their community. Jenny lets the kids do a lot of free painting and we brought their work to show Sally and Tracey on Thursday, super impressing them both. Jenny’s also decided to do a themed term of Spirituality and Visual art, two very creative topics which opens up a lot of very cool art lessons!

The Secondary students got back from Kununurra on Friday afternoon. They did very well, with Kion and Josie winning medals for their events. What was most impressive was how well some of the students did in events they hadn’t even practiced for, yet alone heard of. Josie placed in Triple Jump, learning about it only as Henry walked her to the event and came second in Javelin, despite never holding one before. Kion also placed highly in High Jump. All the students did very well and Mindy, Angela and Henry said they were a credit to the school. The only hiccup on the whole trip was when Henry accidentally locked the keys in the troupie. What most of us would do would call the RAC, but of course that’s not really an option up here, so they had to wait around for someone nice to come by that was able to help without smashing a window. Oh Henry! (And that’s actually a chocolate bar, look it up – no joke!)

Renelle has a new nickname; ‘Magnet!’ She has a habit of giving me a hug, latching onto my waist and dropping her knees so essentially she’s hanging off me. Then she looks up at me and goes ‘I’m a magnet’ in a super cool voice. I’ve started calling her that and she actually likes it. I get told off if I call her Renelle now! It’s just like when Antonio started calling me ‘Stephie’ (it’s only cute when a kid does it!) and I couldn’t really think of a cool nickname so just called him ‘Antonio-ie’ because it rhymed with ‘Stephie and sounded funny when we both said it in a row. Now that’s basically the only name I’m allowed to call him!

We had mass outside last night seeing as the weather is getting warmer. It was quite nice, until there was a massive dog fight not far away and then heaps of motorcycles kept streaming past. Plus, it’s only bearable if you douse yourself in aeroguard. I was at the gym once with Mindy and Policeman Matt and put on aeroguard because I could feel myself getting bitten. It was only 4.30pm but they were biting! Neither of them could feel a thing but Matt said that for some reasons, the girls get bitten WAY more than the guys out here. Like it’s actually a proven fact but no-one knows why. That’s super weird, but seeing as the weather is warming up and the rains will be starting soon, I won’t really be able to go outside without both sunscreen and aeroguard on! Later in the evening as the moon rose, it was covered by thick clouds of smoke that turned it the most beautiful red colour. I didn’t have my camera and I don’t think attempting to capture a photo would have worked but it was stunning! The desert has a funny way of making everything so much prettier!

To finish off, here is a picture of proudest achievement this week; the successful production of Hot Cross Buns minus the crosses because it’s not Easter. Super cool! We all kind of missed out on them at Easter and because I was both super craving them and having Brother Rick over for dinner who absolutely loves them decided to give them a crack. Our oven is a bit dodgy and some got a bit black on the bottom but they were so yummy! Totally flying in the baking and cooking department for once, wooo! :)

One a penny, two a penny, SO YUM!