We have been getting into routine with community life and starting to feel truly "at home" in Milingimbi. May was a month of change, but for the good - the dry season has started little by little, with the local area having areas burnt off before it gets too dry. This helps to give more nutrients to the soil, and protects the area from uncontrolled bush fires later on.
The smell of smoke in the air seems unusual in the tropics, as I used to associate it with cosy fireplaces in a snowy or frosty winter! Here it is the smell of the start of cooler nights and sunny days with little rain. We have hosted dinner guests from other areas of Arnhem Land, and also some friends from the community in the last few weeks... Even enjoying a friend's birthday in the mix. Many good times of fellowship, fun and friendship building.
I have had the interesting experience of the local island health clinic this month. The system here is that if you arrive early... Then you will likely be seen pretty pronto. If you arrive later, you join a large line of people waiting for all sorts of different things - not necessarily in order of urgency. Someone may have a scratch and want a plaster... And someone else may be out of medication... Another may have a broken leg or a deep cut (these usually will be treated first if the wound is visible...) others like myself are waiting to see the midwife for a routine checkup. It can vary greatly. Also, many people will come with many family members in tow, who have decided to wait with them in the clinic because the t.v inside is showing cartoons for children (enjoyed by all ages), and the air con is nice and cool. Overall, my waiting times have been 5 minutes one day, and 3.5hrs the next day. So it's wise to bring a book and a water bottle when seeing the doctor!
I visited Gapuwiyak again, and spent time with the local ladies teaching how to give a manicure, and hand massage. This was popular and the students picked up the basics quickly, which was encouraging. One local lady showed me how to make traditional seed pod jewellery, and I look forward to trying to make some back home in Milingimbi... I will just need to do some bush exploring to gather the right seeds! On my flight home I had beautiful weather, and could do some animal spotting... Seeing a small herd of buffalo drinking from a billabong, some cockatoos flying across the bay like seagulls would, and also sea turtles entering the lazy waves on the coast. Milingimbi is part of the crocodile island group, and one of those islands has a turtle sanctuary on it. This means that there is a strong connection to these quirky creatures, and Mooroongga island (18km for our group of Islands) has the sea turtle as their sacred totem.
David has been flying to many small locations nearby and has had some interesting passengers - several times he was transporting the primary school children who catch the plane from Mooroongga island to come in for sports tournaments, in order to strengthen their friendships with the students at Milingimbi primary. There are also teachers who travel to the island to check on the education progress of the children living out there, and ensuring that they are learning well. Another regular location is Djamardi, where men sometimes have unusual carry on requests - like spears (gara) fish traps, and fresh fish. They come over to the "big smoke" of Milingimbi to shop at our little store for groceries and other items. Sometimes David goes out to Dhipirri, to take tourists out to the Barramundi fishing lodge that is based there and bring them back - with their beaming smiles and tall tales in tow. Another common destination from Milingimbi is Maningrida as they have close family ties to Milingimbi and regularly come over for funerals and important ceremony gatherings.
The end of the month came to a close with us preparing for MAF conference. June has been pretty cool so far for us. We had a fabulous queens birthday weekend worth of inspirational and challenging sermons, fellowship time with other staff and support from our head office leadership. It seemed to fly by so quickly, but we enjoyed every minute of it. The following week after conference we got to have the first trimester ultrasound and see our little baby giving us a wave - yes that's right... For those of you who don't know yet, our mission team is expanding to a 3rd little helper, due to start in January next year. Please pray for a healthy pregnancy and for us to stay safe through the changing seasons ahead.
Secondly, so far we have started our language learning by attending a 2 week introduction with MAF at the main base. Fabio and Brett were our patient teachers each day, we have been so blessed as they shared their wealth of knowledge. Learning Gupapuyngu in 2 weeks is very intense, with vocabulary being the first thing to build up... We know we have just scratched the surface. Our brains were pretty tired each day. My respect for those that speak English as a second language has certainly skyrocketed! We were blessed to have a local Yolngu evangelist Bunumbirr (some may know him from MAF newsletters as Gerard) come in and explain more about culture, his friend Keith (from the Torres Straight) also spoke with us about "building bridges" for sharing the gospel and they both gave us tips on our pronunciation - will be sure to share some more language learning and the discoveries of this unique culture as we know more.
Bless you all and thank you for your prayers and support!
Kimberley and David Caradus
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