This morning began with a girls' bush trip to collect Pandanus leaves, which would later be made into baskets by community leaders Hilda and Mary. With some soccer under our belts, the girls jumped in the back of the troopies to head to the bush. I was the only boy on the trip as we needed a second driver. Meanwhile, the boys started on some cricket to work up an appetite for pancakes.
During the drive, Marcianne and Dorsha showed me the sights. We spotted: a kangaroo which all the kids wanted to chase, a dried up billabong where the turtles hang out, and lots of pig dens in the shade under the trees. Once we arrived in the bush under a now sweltering sun, Mary quickly found a sugar bag containing sweet bush honey. An exciting bush treat. Hilda took us to some Pandanus trees where I came off second best to a leaf I tried to pull off. Splinters removed from my hands, we watched as Hilda and Mary collected the leaves with ease. All in all a great excursion, it gave the kids an opportunity to share their knowledge with the Activity Leaders, recounting stories about birds calls signalling ripe Green Plums and Estherlita’s pet pig affectionately named Pinkie!
We came back to discover what appeared to be the fallout from a pancake blast in the Home-Eco room. Over some much deserved lunch we caught up with Morgan and Jason who had been with the boys all morning. Jason’s hovercrafts made from bottle caps, balloons and CDs went down a treat, with all the kids asking to take them home. Morgan’s pancakes did equally well, Gershom in particular, impressing everyone with a pancake that probably weighed in at over a kilo.
The afternoon kicked off with some frisbee, with Victor throwing five frisbees at once to the amazement of his mates. Afterwards the kids were excited to see that their stories written and illustrated in the dry season program had been turned into reading books. Some of the kids who usually growl at the suggestion of reading time were fully absorbed in stories they and their friends had written about their community. This was followed by abstract drawing to classical music, where Jayzena’s pen flowed to the tune of Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies.
After activities had ended we were stoked to get our first rain of the program! We had a great time running around with the kids in the street getting soaked, but I still had reservations about an approaching bush fire on the horizon. A quick look at the forecast calmed my nerves with a weekend full of rain - bring on the wet season!
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