Daly River

Returning to Daly River for the third and final visit for 2009, the small but powerful team was excited to see our Nauiyu friends again and looking forward to another action-packed week.

Dividing the program between the community’s two schools, the team spent Monday and Wednesday at Woolianna School, and Tuesday and Thursday in Nauiyu at St. Francis Xavier School. Activities included a special Walkabout Week using pedometers provided by Vodafone, who had recently completed their own Walkabout Week fundraiser for Red Dust. The students recorded the number of steps they took throughout the school day and discovered that every step counts…in more ways than one! Some students created teams and all competed for some special Red Dust prizes awarded at the end of the week. The teachers were pleased that their students were showing a sudden, enthusiastic interest in running around the oval and asking questions about the numbers and averages.

The week’s program balanced classroom support and sporting activities, with basketball and volleyball skills games proving popular with both the kids and adults. Following up on hygiene curriculum delivered in the previous visit, the team helped the students make their own soap in various fun shapes like turtles, fairies, frogs and fruit.

The music team arrived from Wadeye mid-week and worked their magic once again, guiding the upper primary classes from both schools to create the catchy song, ‘Friends Till The End’.

The song and video were presented on the last day of the visit, with community members attending to see the wonderful results of the students from both schools working together to create a positive message of community and friendship.

Gapuwiyak

The team had an early start on Monday, with two flights and a three-hour drive before arriving in the beautiful community of Gapuwiyak. Known as the easternmost community in the Northern Territory, this community has a population of approximately 1000 and boasts primary and secondary schools, a health clinic, large store and a grassed oval.

This being Red Dust’s first visit to Gapuwiyak, the team was keen to get to know the kids and community members, and jumped right into sporting activities after introductions were made. This set the tone for a full and fun week of netball, basketball, hip-hop dance and classroom support.

The team also visited the homeland school, located about an hour away community, where 20 students attend. There they spent the morning playing games and seeing what the kids were learning, before returning to the community and saying their ‘good-byes’ to their new friends.

Wadeye

After spending the night in Daly River and saying hello to friends there, the team continued their drive to Port Keats (Wadeye) and arrived late morning on Monday, keen to see familiar faces and get into activities. The presence of Geelong footballer, Tom, caused quite a stir in the community, so needless to say he posed for quite a few photographs throughout the week! His activities with the footy were very well received, along with softball, and other games led by Daryl and Kyle.

Some of the team visited the homeland outstation of Kuy and spent the day working with the students in their beachfront classroom before hitting the sand for some games and activities.

The music team, who had arrived before the rest of the team to set up for their workshop, worked hard with the students to produce another fantastic song for the kids and community called ‘Jump In’.