It is the little things that get me by suprise around here.
We volunteer with a wonderful program called “Learning Ground” which, amongst other things, provides an opportunity for indigenous and non-indigenous Australians to share their stories with one another.
As part of the time I have the privilege of taking about 4-6 “at risk” kids to the park to have a bit of a run around for a while.
Today I had some activities planned so I thought we would be sweet. As we got the park though there was a stolen car that had been dumped and torched right in the middle of the oval. So, all the kids climbed, kicked, jumped and further smashed the car up for fun (this is the thid one I’ve seen in 6 weeks).
They got pretty dirty doing this and as we were walking back I commented to one kid: “your mum is gonna be a bit upset that you got you t-shirt dirty”.
He looked down and saw the dark stains and matter-of-factly commented: “Oh no, she’ll know this is ’stolen car’ stain too!”
There is a normalcy to the lives of those living in Public Housing Estates that is far removed from anything I experienced in Melbourne!
1 response so far ↓
1 Greg Gow // Apr 15, 2007 at 6:52 pm
Dear Jon
I have just returned to Melbourne after living in Fairfield for four years. I agree with your sentiments about Western Sydney. My family and I were part of a vibrant multicultural church in Cabramatta called Jesus Family Centre. It is really a church of refugees, many of whom are new to Christ. You might like to visit. I visited Mt Druitt and Blacktown pretty regularly, and had a bit to do with the emerging Liberian community in Mt Druitt.
Western Sydney is hard because there are not a lot of activist-orientated Christians living there. There is a really good couple in Blacktown whom you might like to meet, I can give you their details if you like. There are also another couiple in Cabramatta who were part of Urban Concern in the 1990s.
Anyway, all the best.
Greg Gow
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