Day three. Fregon.
It’s a town close to Umuwa and it doesn’t take long to get there.
Wade, Ross and Sash head out to Amata at 7:00am. From there, they’ll continue on across the border to Pipalatjara, which is about as close to the intersecting point of the SA, WA and NT borders as you can get.
We leave one hour later to take the short tripe down to Kaltjiti – Fregon – where Pauly, Choppy and Taliqua will deliver the program to their classrooms.
Fregon is a town that has benefitted from the presence of the defence forces in the last few years.
There, ADFA constructed a number of new buildings including a church for the local community.
We arrive at the school and are greeted by the principal and a number of teachers, Fregon has about 30 kids in today’s classroom in the primary and junior primary age groups and few students in higher primary aged groups, but unfortunately many students don’t continue into high school.
Given the students today are much younger, the program needs to be more flexible and patient in a few areas, given the curriculum of WillPOWER is designed for children a few years older.
Apparently, the younger you are out here, the louder and more boisterous you’ll be; these kids don’t know the meaning of quiet work, and engage openly with their teachers and helpers as they go about the program.
Parents, too, are involved in helping kids learn in the classroom, as are two Aboriginal Education Coordinating Officers who, like Adrian yesterday, help to bridge the gaps between traditional and non-traditional languages.
Once the program is done, and the kids have all completed their ‘find-a-words’, it’s time for sport.
Red Rover, Stuck in the Mud, and footy are all favourites out here. So too is softball.
It’s one of the preferred sports in this area, and it’s not uncommon to see more metal bats and leather mitts around than synthetic footballs.
Certainly, it’s the choice sport for most of the girls out here.
Football has had an inconsistent history up in Fregon, and efforts are being made to bring back the local boys’ footy program, which fell over several years ago after a brief period of success. The school and its teachers are looking to drive its resurrection.
Once we’re done, it’s back to Uwuma and from there we head out to Pukatja to check out a great view of the surrounding Musgrave Ranges.
On Wednesday we’re off to our final school in Yunyarini – Kenmore – where we’ll wrap our week before heading back to Uluru for our final night up here.
