5. First Home Weekend for 2007

Good to get away from the 'hot house' of boarding school. The Southbank beach is wonderful, and then you can ride a crocodile back home in the pool - if Ellie and her friends don't attack!

The kids were hosted by the Indooroopilly Swimming Club on Friday night, the Greater Brisbane Junior Tennis at Uni of Queensland on Saturday, by the Catholic Community at Kenmore for Mass and by the Society of St Vincent de Paul for a pizza meal after mass.


The kids know the help is there for them!

The Society of St Vincent de Paul has underwritten the project and for the time being we will keep the the number to five. Downlands is doing a terrific job adjusting to Traditional aborigines. It puts great pressure on the community to have kids arrive with all sorts of medical problems and without the medical files you expect with the normal enrollment. But they realize that this is the reality of poverty - the systems medical, educational and public health do not reach out equally to all Australians.

We engage in 'blame the victim' that we assume anything else !!

It would make your hair stand on end if you heard what has gone on in the lives of these kids!

Noel the grandfather and his daughter Eusebia were delighted with the reports they got of the kid's performance at Downlands. They thought they kids had developed magnificently because of the school.

It was noticeable how when the girls returned they relaxed immediately to be in a safe environment once again.
For this term and for next term, we will stick with five students as we all adjust to and fine tune our methods of handling the project.
Tiwi know there are five places funded for and available at Downlands for the next five years.

We all need now to do what is necessary to get the most from this opportunity - so the community back home can become more peaceful.

The donated money has so far been used to pay for Fares. it cost $1000 each time the kids move between the Tiwi Island and Toowoomba. The school uniform and the clothing so they feel okay and are warm in Toowoomba costs another $700 per student per year. There are plenty of other incidentals as you can imagine!

If you would like to help us, go to https://www.vinnies.org.au/show_appeal.cfm?table=appeals&parentid=0&id=43