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/
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