There was something irrepressibly cheerful about today. The weather was perfect, Gary came over for a cup of tea at the aged care hostel, Don and I talked with Kiticat (the hostel cat), and Maxine LAUGHED with me & gave me a "sista slap" (kind of high-five on the shoulder). And that's kind of all it took to have a really good day.
As I mentioned, Maxine has been doing community service hours at the hostel to pay off a drink driving offence. Her four kids are in care down in Bunbury due to her past troubles, and her life seems pretty hard. I noticed that her mood seemed to have improved since she started working with us, and that she does a really good job at the hostel, so I took time to say that to her, and to Raelene our boss. I asked Maxine if she liked the work and she said Yes, so I suggested she apply for a proper job there when she finishes her hours. Today she showed me her completed application form! I congratulated her and said it would be great to have her there.
Our two lives could not be more different. I learned from Maxine that it is immensely difficult to break out of the aboriginal cycle of alcohol & drug abuse, crime and all the rest of it partly because of family pressures - no matter what you do or where you go, they follow and create hassles in various ways. People say that it's aboriginal tradition not to "own" personal property & everything is shared and so on, but I think that's bullshit, another excuse to play victim & steal from anyone you want (and yes white people do it too). It's complicated & I don't get it, but it was good to hear Maxine talk about trying to break that cycle for herself. We'll see. I'm glad we have something positive to offer her at any rate.
Meanwhile, Lynette's husband has come back from jail. Guess what he was in jail for? Beating the crap out of Lynette. Shelley was organising rosters, and she said - I'm not making this up - "I'll see if Lynette can do Saturday, if she's still alive." Great! Welcome home hubby!
The aboriginal women are so disenfranchised that they put up with all this horrendous crap, because it's NORMAL. Jesus christ. The other comment I hear a lot from them is that the kids get into petrol sniffing and setting fire to stuff etc because there's nothing for them to do here. This just makes me stare in bafflement. The ENTIRE OUTBACK is right across everyone's street, how can you be a kid and not find stuff to do there? Not to mention school, the pool and all the various programs the council puts on. I also don't see how "nothing to do" leads automatically to Lord Of The Flies; of course it's the parenting, the drinking & violence that are constantly in their lives. Round and round it goes.
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