Strangers in their own country: A diary of hope.(education)

DAY ONE

WE ARE EXPECTING Charlotte and Margaret to begin a ten-week educational marathon. To what extent can they catch up? I met Charlotte s mother, three years ago, when she was making a rare visit to Sydney from a very remote community--let us call it Wangupeni--on a beautiful stretch of the East Arnhem Land coast, but 200 kilometres from the nearest hospital, police station, high school and Woolworths supermarket. Last year Charlotte's parents sent her to an Indigenous boarding school in Melbourne. She had been attending the Wangupeni school for nine years--whenever it was open--but in Melbourne she was unable to keep up in class. Teased by the other girls, she became so miserable that she had to return home.

Now Charlotte's mother and father were worried about her future. Photographs showed a smiling, pretty, well-developed girl of sixteen. Could I help? My European cousin's fifteen-year-old twins had come to us when they had barely been able to speak a word of English. They are now finishing their PhDs at Sydney University. Why not? But following experience with the twins, I thought the transition from a remote community in East Arnhem Land to a Sydney harbourside suburb--Newbay--would be much easier if Charlotte had a friend to share the experience, so her fifteen-year-old cousin Margaret is coming as well.

Now the beds in the spare room are made up with new sheets, rose-patterned pillow slips and warm blankets. There are new towels in the bathroom the girls are to share. At seventeen barely older than her two pupils, Josephine, who is to tutor the two girls, is settling in. She has experience of remedial teaching in country Queensland where she has just finished high school.

A Sydney Rotary Club that has been working in the Wangupeni community is providing support. Charlotte's parents, both urgently in need of medical attention, are bringing the girls to Sydney. They are being cared for by Rotary families who will also be mentors for the two girls throughout their stay.

There's a hubbub at the front door. The girls are very tired after their long journey so that speaking a few words of English is a major effort. Margaret has almost no experience outside Wangupeni and is desperately shy, but we become acquainted over a light meal. Afterwards Margaret falls asleep instantly, but Charlotte, though also very tired, is too excited to get to sleep so I sit on her bed and hug her till she too drops off.

WEEK ONE