Claire, a consultant with the Management Consulting practice, recently spent 13 days at a school in the remote area of Elcho Island northwest of Darwin to extend teaching, mentoring and building maintenance support. “An experience like this challenges you in terms of how you accept other cultures,” Claire says.
Claire, a consultant with the Management Consulting practice, wanted to provide support to indigenous children living in a remote area of Australia such as Elcho Island.
Traveling almost three hours northeast of Darwin and through a partnership with Bayside Church, Claire recently landed at the island’s Gawa Christian Primary School and spent 13 days in this far-flung area to help the local school. Despite its austere appearance, the school takes pride in the recent addition of two school buildings to accommodate the fluctuating student population of between 10 and 47 students, a full-time teacher and a teachers’ aid. Several support staff also teach traditional skills such as hunting, land stewardship and the local Warramiri language.
Without the help of volunteers like Claire, the school would not be able to offer the children the same experience to learn the English language. Claire notes that the children tend to fall back on their native language, but understand and speak English, especially in the classroom.
During her volunteer period, Claire particularly enjoyed teaching the children to read, organizing a sports day, restoring library books, preparing midday meals, mentoring and helping with building repairs.
“I feel strongly that education amongst rural communities must be strengthened,” Claire says. “We really need to help this generation better understand and value education, and provide the foundation to help them understand the concept of work to live in today’s society.”
Bridging the old and new I am a consultant, in Systems Integration & Technology (SI&T), aligned to SAP.
Claire was motivated by the opportunity to work in an unfamiliar environment and forge relationships with people from a different culture. She hopes she succeeded in helping open the children’s eyes to a bigger world, and is encouraged by the increasing number of children attending the school, although school is not compulsory for them. She looks forward to the day when the two 10-seater vehicles are replaced with ones large enough to bring the kids to school from nearby towns.
“Yes, their culture is a beautiful thing,” she said. “But the reality is that these kids need to understand the broader socio-economic makeup of Australia and be exposed to what life is really like on the mainland. I truly believe that they are getting the foundation to mature intellectually and to position themselves for a future with secure employment some day.”
The volunteer expedition left Claire appreciative of Accenture’s leave policy which encourages service in more disadvantaged areas. For her, it was a life-altering experience.
“I found the experience really challenged my way of thinking,” Claire said. “It is very easy to assume that our way of life is normal. An experience like this challenges you in terms of how you accept, communicate with and understand other cultures. It’s really hard to put yourself in other people’s shoes.”