THE art of giving is one of the valuable lessons students at an Adelaide school learn from one of the longest surviving cultures in the world.
For a week in early March, six St Aloysius College students and several staff visited Pipalyatjara, a community in northwest South Australia, about 30km from the border of Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
Maddie Kelly first visited Pipalyatjara in 2010 and this year led the students back into the community. She says the journey was about forming relationships and exchanging stories. “Ngapartji ngapartji is a Pitjantjatjara saying meaning, ‘you give a little, I give a little’,” she says. “To fully honour our commitment to reconciliation, we must all, give a little of ourselves. The Pipalyatjara exchange enables young people to do this.”
St Aloysius College students helped local students with maths and literacy skills. They took part in Pitjantjatjara lessons and hunted for maku - or wichetty grubs.
As they waited for malu wipu (kangaroo tail) to cook on the fire, Anangu women Delores and Molly Miller told the dreamtime stories of the area. The students also visited Tilun Tilun, a sared rock formation, at sunset with the two women.
“The relationship between SAC and the Pipalyatjara community is important as it provides an opportunity for young women from different cultures to experience what life is like in each other’s own community,” student Molly Flynn says. “What affected me most was when our group visited the community healt clinic. This opened my eyes to many health issues that some of the people in these communities experience.”
Catholic Education says one of its strengths is its focus on social justice and community action, and many schools support welfare projects.
SAC principal Paddy McEvoy says the annual trip to the APY lands helps students understand the concept of social justice. She says students come back with a life-changing experience and often retuned to remote communities to work in their adult lives.
“The program is about caring for others and reaching out to people,” she says. “It brings the Close he Gap initiative to life for the students.”
Students from Pipalyatjara will visit St Aloysius College later this year, reinforcing the principle of sharing and friendship between the two communities.
Photograhy by Ninti Media.
EXCHANGING STORIES: Delores Miller from the Pipalyatjara community shares her experiences with St Aloysius College students.
Words by Josephine Lim. As featured in the 2016/17 Directory of Catholic Schools, pp.4 - The Advertiser, 7 May 2016. Click to read
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