An Action Packed Start To The Journey!

Hello!

Its been a week and a half since my last post an heaps has happened since then! So sit back and enjoy the reading show!

Our first full day at Balgo consisted of spending some time with each of the classes, with the aim of finding one or two that particularly appealed to us and selecting those classes as the ones that we would be working closely with these next 10 months! 

From day one I was certain that i wanted to be at the Trade Training Center because working with older kids is something I am good at and I believed I have much more to offer them than I do the Primary kids. In saying that however it was hard not to fall in love with the little kids who were so damn cute and energetic(energetic not always being a great thing). 

I got to accompany Primary B and Primary D on their little community service initiative to the local store to 'Clean up Australia'. They had the area outside the store looking very clean! 

Primary B and D in action! Also posted up on my Instagram! Follow me: manchild94

So the week past eventfully with Luke, Joel, Mitch and myself being thrown from class to class and by the end of the week, we all in our own minds had a rough idea about what classes we wanted to work with. 

Workimg at the TTC meant that I had to make breakfast for the Trade Training kids and luckily for them i felt like making pancakes and scrambled eggs on most mornings! :)

On the Thursday night, the staff officially welcomed us by having a 'Shared Meal' in which staff members brought along food and we all had dinner together and got to meet and talk to the staff. Then on the Friday night we had a games night to raise money for the Grade 5's trip to Melbourne in 5 weeks. The night involved Table Tennis and other fun games and we were all happy(especially Brother Rick) with the amount of money that was raised for the trip.

The weekend was incredibly uneventful as I began to realize that apart from the school and the store, there wasn't much to do to pass time in Balgo. So we spent a lot of time in the pool and in our air-conditioned homes relaxing! Needless to say I was very happy when Monday came along! 

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were again days where we were able to try and re-try each of the classes. I would do breakfast for the trade training kids in the morning, then go to one of the classes at the school for the morning session, then go to another class for the afternoon session. By Thursday I had tried all of the classes and I knew for certain which classes I would be happy to work with. So on Thursday night we had a meeting with Brother Rick and Darren and we all told them our preferences. I will be working at the Trade Training Center in the mornings and at Primary E(Seniors) in the afternoon. I was very excited to start work on Friday knowing that now I could start getting to build stronger relationships with the students and be able to help them as much as i could.

And so, another school week passed and again, we had another fundraising activity set up and organized by AJ. He had put together a rather extensive Trivia competition and had invited people from the clinic and the store so there were quite a few new faces. The night also had a masterchef competition with which i entered a Thai Green Curry! However it was outdone by Cassandra's AMAZING Lasagna! I think her Italian heritage definitely helped her out there!! I also had the pleasure of co-hosting the trivia with AJ! Mainly because i love to hear my own voice i think and it wouldn't have been fair on any teams without me on their side! ;) The night was a successful one with AJ's initiative raising $900 for the kids Melbourne trip! and there was a very generous donation from the parish of $200! Great job! Whoop whoop!

Saturday came along and Cassandra and I smashed out a one hour workout at 6 in the morning which was an awesome effort! For me anyway! haha

Our humble desert gym!!

Saturday night AJ organised a Karaoke night which was fun! I did a shocking rendition of George Michael's 'Faith' but i made up for it with my amazing dancing...

Sunday passed pretty uneventfully apart from our amazing session in the pool in which i slept on an inflatable doughnut!

Oh yeah and Darren said he would give me $25 if i licked the bottom of my foot which was pretty rank seeing as it was dirty but i did it and made an easy $25! Gosh my life is good ;)

Then along came today! I started off at Trade Training which gave me more opportunities to get to know the kids there and we had a lot more students show up then what Darren expected so he was in a good mood!
Then i spent the afternoon with Seniors and they were swimming for the first half hour which was easy! 

 Then we did some PATHS(Promoting Alternative THinking Strategies) which is a program that teaches and supports positive thinking and conflict resolution strategies for the kids instead of the normal argue and fight solution. 

So that pretty much sums up my first week and a half out here and Balgo and i am loving it! If the rest of the year is like that then bring it on!! :D

Talk to you soon! <3

The Marathon Trip Into Balgo

Hello again! 

The marathon trip began not long after my last post. We had an early rise waking up before dawns but crack even thought of getting up. Our flight to Perth left at 6am and we endured a long and tedious 5 hour flight. I should probably mention that i don't like flying! I hate not being able to move around freely and have to put up with awkward apologies when i need to use the toilets! I digress. We landed in Perth at 8am due to the 3 hour time difference between the states. We than sat around for 2 more hours until we were back on another plane, this time our destination was Broome. Two hours later we were in Broome. We were picked up by Brother Rick(the Principal of Luurnpa Catholic School), Darren Perrett(Trade Training Centre Boss and resident thug) and Anthony 'AJ' Cormick (STM volunteer at Balgo in 2011 and reoccurring volunteer at the school). We were under the impression that we would be making the twelve hour drive to Balgo as soon as we landed but to our relief we were staying the night in Broome.

We had a meeting with Rick, Darren and Anthony about some of the rules and things to expect when we get to Balgo which was rather insightful. Brother Rick then had to depart for Perth so we were left with Darren and Anthony. We had Dinner at the Rowie which was pretty damned expensive for someone on Volunteer wages! We then went back to the hotel, got our bags packed and went to bed.

We were able to sleep in a bit the next day because Darren needed to get the cars windshield fixed which would take up some of the morning. By the time he finished it was about 10:30 and we got the cars loaded up. We then went to the store to buy some extra things and Anthony needed to buy a Foxtel HD box thingo. Then we went maccas and by the time we were done from there it was about 12:00! 

Just a picture of our noble steed all loaded up and ready to go! 

About 15 minutes into the trip to Balgo we had the front left tyre blow which meant that we had to use our only spare to replace it. We then had to turn back to Broome and get a new spare because driving all the way to Balgo without a spare is very risky business! 

Our Lovely blown tyre!! :)

Luke giving it his expert opinion! 

Eventually we got a new spare tyre and had once again departed from Broome. However due to the time in the day and our possible very late arrival into Balgo, Darren decided that we would stay the night in Halls Creek, which is about a four hour drive from Balgo. So we spent eight hours cooped up in the back of the Land Cruiser!
We also picked up one of the Trade Training Centre(TTC) students from his home town which took forever because we kept getting sent back and forth from top camp to bottom camp. Eventually we did find him and he came with us to Halls Creek. Darren also picked up another student of the TTC in Halls Creek and they were both very lucky to have have there own rooms paid for by the school. 

Then this morning we all woke up, had breakfast and left Halls Creek at about 8:30am. It was a very long and uncomfortable ride today because once we reached the Tanami it was all a bumpy dirt road. So for three hours we bounced around and a little bit after 1 o'clock we finally laid eyes on the town of Balgo.

The Turn-off to Balgo. So excited when i saw this sign. Had to post it up on Instagram! 

Anthony took us around on a tour of the school and we got introduced to the classes and staff we may be working with during the year. Everyone was so friendly and the children were very welcoming to us strangers. After that we unloaded the Land Cruiser and began getting settled into our new homes for the next 10 months. I'm very happy with my new bedroom! THERE'S SO MUCH ROOM FOR ACTIVITIES!! 

Later that night we went over to Anthony's for dinner. He was very kind to invite us over and the food was surprisingly good seeing as he told us he hated cooking! We also had a meeting while we were there with Darren on what we were going to be doing in the next couple of days. Tomorrow morning i will be helping out Darren at TTC and later on helping in Primary B and D. I'm very much looking forward to tomorrow as it will be our official full day in Balgo!

Stay tuned for more! :)

The Story So Far...

Hello everyone!

My name is Stephen Beirouti and i am from Melbourne. I graduated from St Johns RC in 2012 and I come from a family of 6. I have three brothers, they are; Justin(21), Simon(20) and Nathan(16). Mum(Maria) and Dad(Albert) are definitely in the top 100 for most amazing people in the world! Haha na they are definitely the two most amazing people in the world to me. Enough soppy stuff! On with business! :)

This blog is to keep you up to date with my adventures in 2013 because, instead of doing what most kids do after after high school and go to University, I have chosen to give my time to a program run by the Lasalle Youth Ministry team called Share The Mission(STM). STM is a 10 month long program that gives a volunteer the chance to work in a school as neither a student nor a teacher, but as a brother or friend to the kids and this allows us to connect with kids who are poor or have been marginalized in any way.

There were four location choices when we were interviewed and they were; La Salle College in Perth; De La Salle College in Mangere, South Auckland; Luurnpa Catholic School in Balgo Hills WA; and Oakhill College in Sydney. I chose to go to Balgo Hills and work in an aboriginal community of 500 people. Balgo is the most remote town in Australia.

Anyway, this post, my first of many, comes just six hours from the journey to Balgo. The last five days have been spent at Terrigal which is in the central coast of Sydney for an orientation program. The program has done its best to prepare us for the roller coaster ride that is Share The Mission and we learnt a bit about aboriginal culture, the legalities of working in a school and how to deal with a whole range of different situations. We also got to talk to past STM volunteer Jenny who went to Balgo last year and she was able to answer any questions that we had for her in regards to what we should expect while there! She definitely helped with the worries, doubts and fears that we all had!

I also got to meet and get to know better the three other STM volunteers who are coming to Balgo aswell. Luke Boulton and Joel Mulholland I had already met before the orientation program as they are both Melbournians and the third guy coming is Mitch Marshall who graduated from Oakhill College last year! All three of them seem like absolute great guys and im looking forward to sharing in some good times with them in the coming months!

We had our commissioning mass last night and that was pretty powerful stuff! It was great to see so many people from the Lasallian family come down to support us and a big thank you goes to the thirty or so De La Salle brothers who came to the mass and lets not forget the two Vietnamese Lasallian Sisters who were also there! We also had a great dinner afterwards and it was great to have the chance to say goodbye to the Lasallian family!

Which all leads me to right now! As i lie in the spare bedroom of Mitch's house! In just under six hours we will be on a flight to Perth and on the way to Balgo!

The road ahead is going to be a long and difficult one. I'm ready for it, because i know that any path we walk without challenges is a path we never should have walked at all.

Stay tuned for more! tc

P.S. If you would like to follow Mitch's blog then click the link! > http://mitchmeetsbalgo.blogspot.com.au/
You can also follow the blog of Dom Woodward who is doing STM in South Auckland! > http://dominnewzealand.blogspot.com.au/