Which doctor?

Good morning!

I don't have the right attachment for the camera I am using, so for now, you will have to trust that my photos are amazing!

In the mornings I drive the school truck into town (ten minute walk) to collect all of the students (approx ten-on a good day) and bring them in for breakfast before starting class. Today was a little more interesting. I arrived as usual to collect an elder-Naomi. Usually Naomi is doing what everyone else in Docker is doing at that hour, sitting around a fire making tea, not this morning.

Today there were a lot of people pacing around the yard at Naomi's house there was chanting accompanied by exaggerated gestures . I pulled in to see what all the commotion was about and was informed that there was a Witch Doctor in town to perform a healing ceremony on a nephew of Naomi's who was being taken by the 'bad spirits' (I later discovered that these 'bad spirits' were manifesting themselves as a marijuana habit).

Naomi's nephew started walking around the community, trying to escape the attention (and no doubt find a cookie). The Witch Doctor followed him, along with around 30 other people, oh and me, trailing in the truck, trying to entice the students in with promises of painting and pottery at school! I got 2 in the end, a win by anyones standards!

Lots of love Shan,

P.S. HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the lovely Lucy McAlary! xxxx

Pitchury

Computers are slow, I rarely have access and there is so so SO much to take in about this place, the people, the intervention, the politics, the culture. Sorry for being a crap updaterer. I will attempt to share some of the details of Docker with you over the next week to give you an idea of what it's like here.

I will start with what I thought was a whole community of people with mouth cancer. Pitchury. You can see it in the mouth of the girl to the right in the photograph above.

Docker is a dry community, I was warned on arrival that there is a $50,000 fine for anyone caught with alcohol (rather severe for a community where there 99% of the population are unemployed don’t you think?). Petrol here no longer contains any mind altering qualities so people have come up with their own mind altering concoction. Pitchury.

Pitchury is a mix of ash from a particular tree (this tree looks albino, tall, thick and bright white, the contrast to the deep red earth surrounding it is pretty amazing) and tobacco, it is then then rolled into a ball and placed inside the lip. I am told that it brings numbness to the face and has a relaxed calming affect on the body and mind. The youngest person I have seen with pitchury is 3 years old. It is common for parents to give this to their children to chill them out.

Tonight I am moving houses, I have been living on my own in a little house (I was housesitting a cat-Finn, who despite my preference for dogs I ended up becoming rather good friends with). I am moving into 'the shed' where I will stay for the rest of my time here. I will update more throughout the week.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY for Sunday Mum.

Love Shan xx

Bush Camps

As of next week I will be going on weekly 2 night/3 day bush camps with Luke (the teacher-there is only one) and the students as part of a project that involves the students collecting photos and information about bush plants. This information will be then passed onto the elders who will share the traditional medicinal use for the plants. Luke hopes to publish these findings from Docker River to create funds that will go back into the community for future projects.

The camps will be at outstations, which are smaller communities that are so remote that they don’t come under a council. I am told that it is just a tin shed where a three or four families live. We will be sleeping under the stars in swags which will give me a good chance to track stars with my newly purchased constellation map. I am looking forward to story telling time when the sun goes down.

Oh, did I mention that the landscape is Amazing? Although I am not going to be able to do it justice I will try to get some photos up.

Have a good week!

Camel stew?

So, the deal l is, there are camels roaming wild here in Docker. Oh…and 3 donkeys (not to mention dozens of camp dogs). The only meat in Docker is camel. Camel snags, stew and even pizza…!! So I shouldn’t really have been all that shocked to be asked to go and open up the recreation hall so that some elders could go in and debone a camel. The camel is for the community stew night (that happens every Monday night). I help out Monday nights at the recreation centre so it will be my job to organize the cooking of this hump stew. Ummmmmm….sorry but I think I have swine flu!!

My plan was simple. To hide my dislike for all things with feathers, blood, guts and any other hints of grossness from the good people of Docker. I thought maybe this would help me to get a some much needed cowboy about myself. I knew it wouldn’t be so easy when I walked into my accommodation to see Emu feathers as a centre piece on a table…’Oh….is that?????’ Yes Shan, aren’t they beautiful Emu feathers? Ummm…. YESssssss…. I said as I was hiding them in a drawer (with my eyes closed). Surprisingly I managed to do ok when I was shown a camel hump with no skin on it, breathe, then answer, that is the trick! Oh right… so you make soap with the fat? Great! (Note to self, don’t buy soap in Docker).