Wendy Reilly and I work at Nowra TAFE, which I have shown in the photo. As you can see, it is a rural area, although there is a large town (35,000 people) on the other side of the river. I've marked the edges of the campus, so you can see where it fits in the picture. Because of where we are, our Aged Care students are often from lower socio-economic areas, and see Aged Care as a way to an excellent career, and perhaps as a first step towards a nursing degree. It's a joy to see growth and to be a trusted part of struggles!
Just on the far side of the campus is the Aboriginal Lands Council for the area. It used to be the Bomaderry Children's Home, run by the United Aboriginal Mission. Many of us on campus have the privilege of working with the Aboriginal Education and Training Unit, which seeks to link Aboriginal people to education - and to make the non-Aboriginal among us more culturally sensitive and skilled. Even having to walk past the old Children's Home to come into our entrance can be a traumatic reminder of past hurts for some Aboriginal people. In the bushland off to the left of the campus is a creek which is important in local Aboriginal lore, and which can provide a brief respite for weary staff who are energetic enough to go for a walk there.
The Shoalhaven River in the picture is a major one. In early years it provided access to boat transport up and down the coast, but now is used mainly for fishing and recreation.
Interesting to see the picture of your area and to hear that you are working with the aboriginals. Do aboroginals and non-aboriginals normally mix a lot?
ReplyDeleteWell, that is a question that one could talk about for hours, and never really answer.
ReplyDeleteIn my experience - yes. But historically, we have had some really bad times, including many murders and what is known as the "Stolen Generation", where the government removed many many Aboriginal children from their families and communities, to try and raise them in a more Western way. This had the impact of much bitterness, and the loss of family relationships, which of course leads to much distrust of white people and ways. You might like to listen to the apology that was made to them a few years back by our then Prime Minister at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3TZOGpG6cM.
All this history makes it hard at times for all of us, as a white person I sometimes feel so guilty about what my culture has done to theirs, but there is no point in just feeling guilty, the best thing I can do is to move forward. In my experience, I have worked with some wonderful, committed, skilled indigenous people who have very graciously allowed me to make some small contribution to their community.
Only a small percentage (maybe 3%) of the Australian population identify as being Aboriginal. So in many areas there are not many Aboriginal people, and so some non-Indigenous people do not really know any Aboriginal people.
Did you know that there are 500 different nations of Aboriginal people in Australia? Each once had its own language, but many are now "dead languages". What it sometimes means is that my Aboriginal students may not have fabulous literacy, but English might be their fourth or fifth language, and the only language they speak which is a written language. It took me a while as a teacher to get my head round that one.
How would all that compare with working with First Nations people in northern Europe? I have been to Norway but not Sweden, so I am not very informed about that.
In your text you mention that a lot of the students want become nurses. How can they manage this after graduating from your school? In Sweden the VET-students kan seek to higher education, 3 years study gives nursesexam.
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