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 Anne Bolin, Ph.D. Dept. of Sociology and Anthropology  Kathy Lyday-Lee, Dept. of English   |
Overview of Project for Nyoongah Aboriginal Community, Gnangara Gnangara Aboriginal Peoples' Community Perth, Australia Pericles funds were used for the development of a playground at Gnangara. In our winterterm 2003 Soc. 253 IS course Aboriginal Australia, the class participated in a service learning project with Gnangara Community, a Nyoongah Aboriginal Community in the suburbs of Perth, Australia. Our goals were to raise the level of civic engagement and social responsibility of the students as well as to provide students an opportunity to meet and work with aboriginal people in a community setting over a full two day period (January 8 and 9, 2003). Background of Gnangara Community: Gnangara Community is a Nyoongah aboriginal people's community in Perth, Western Australia. This community is one that Curtin University, our host institution for our aboriginal studies course Soc. 253 Aboriginal Australia, has established a volunteer relationship. Our service learning project was to contribute to the development of a playground on the grounds of the community. Gnangara is a community with a vision to preserve cultural traditions yet provide community members with skills and education necessary to survive in a society very different from traditional aboriginal culture. It is both the goal of Gnangara and Curtin Volunteers that Gnangara will become of model of "best practice" for an aboriginal community. There is much work to be done to improve the living conditions at the Gnangara. The community consists of approximately one hundred Nyoongah aboriginal peoples with about half the population consisting of children. There are programs already in place in the community, including a school, various adult training programs along with some government housing. Currently there is no playground for the children, although some used climbing apparatus are available for refurbishing. This playground, once built will be maintained by the community. Project Description: The following playground projects were initiated and or completed January 8th and 9th, 2003: A sandpit for children under three was completed using materials purchased with Project Pericles funds including logs, plastic sheeting, bolts, and sand. Materials for an overhead Pergola to cover the sandpit and protect the children from sunburn were purchased using the Pericles funds, but this part of the project (building the pergola) will be completed at a later date by the Gnangara community members. Elon students and faculty successfully refurbished existing playground equipment including sanding down and repainting a green slide and several climbing apparatus. Materials for refurbishing included paintbrushes, paint, sandpaper and paint remover purchased with Pericles funds. The students' two-day experience included an educational session with Warren Davis, Gnangara Director of Development and Trade Skills regarding the history of the community, an explanation of the issues the community faces and the projects the community is currently engaged in. Aboriginal dancers and a didgeridoo player entertained Elon during lunch January 8, 2003. Cost/Budget: The approximate cost of the materials needed was $2000 including wood, paint, shade cloth, concrete, sand, bolts, etc mentioned above. Assessment: Several methods were used to assess the project. Two committees of Project Pericles students were selected. These included the Project Pericles Interviewing Committee (three students) and the Focus Group and Reporting Committee (two students). The Interviewing Committee task was to interview leaders and elders as well as to observe unobtrusive measures of success, e.g. aboriginal children indicating interest in the equipment. The Focus Group and Reporting Committee led a focus group discussion of the experience with our students while we were at Nannup Valley. The Focus Group and Reporters reported on their own observations and led fellow students in a discussion. Students were asked to reflect on their experiences in field journals and make observation of the Gnanagara community and assess the success of our project. Overall the project was a success in that the sandpit was built and the playground equipment was refurbished. However, our ideal was that our students to work side-side with the aboriginal community on these projects. We had hoped to challenge service learning models based on the "hand out" or the "we do something for you" model and move into a more collaborative model-a "sweat equity model." This clearly didn't happen. On the first day, only the sandpit crew worked with four aboriginal youths and a leader Warren Davis. While the other students broke into three groups working on sanding down the apparatus. On the second day, Elon was left to their own devices with no participation from the community, including the leader Warren Davis or Brendon. Brendon was not available for interviewing and Warren had left town. Without any community members present, our students couldn't interview elders to ascertain their response to our project. The only indicators of community support and interest in our playground project, were several children who came over to one of the apparatus groups and sanded and painted with the Elon students. Two came on the first day and then a total of five the second day indicating the children's interest in our project. Some of the drawbacks to the project were the materials. There were not enough paintbrushes to go around so that on the second day there were a number of students without anything to really do. The two days could easily have been rolled into a one full day for our service project instead to two short days. Our focus group discussion pointed out that perhaps a bigger project is needed, such as cleaning up the grounds. We also felt the nature of Gnangara makes it difficult to connect with the aboriginal peoples. Given the atrocities suffered at the hands of the colonists and the white Australians, there is a great deal of mistrust by aboriginal peoples of whites generally. Secondly Gnangara is a temporary community. It is one in which individuals stay a short period of time and then move into permanent housing outside the community. On the positive side, we completed the project, learned about the community and saw some excellent aboriginal dancing and didgeridoo playing. Next year we have in mind a different service learning project that will take place later in the coursed after the students know more about the issues and one in which the community is a more permanent one. However success of this project cannot be established in the short time. Realistically, success of the project must be undertaken over the long term. Success of the playground project measure in terms of children's use and community members' response will necessarily be monitored by Gnangara community and Curtin Volunteers. Assessment must ultimately be measured in whether or not children use the playground. Since we will not be there to observe children's use of the playground, we ask that Curtin Volunteers take responsibility for this and report to the faculty of the Soc. 253 Aboriginal Australia course/ and or the Project Pericles committee at a later date. |
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