Sporting Chance Academy kids play AFL

Article from the Australian
www.theaustralian.com.au

There were delighted stares on Sydney’s Bondi Beach this week as a group of fully-clothed Aboriginal children bounded into the waves.

Well might they rush into the foamy water — it was the first time many of them had ever laid eyes on the ocean.

The children, from Ntaria School at Hermannsburg, 130km west of Alice Springs, were visiting Sydney as part of an eight-day camp run by the National Aboriginal Sporting Chance Academy.

Only one of the 43 kids, all aged between 10 and 16, had visited Sydney before, NASCA’s chief executive Charles Prouse said.

“Coming to Sydney is literally like coming to another country for these kids,” Mr Prouse said. “These are kids who don’t see as many trees, they don’t see anywhere near this kind of traffic, they even said they wanted to see some stairs because they’d never seen stairs at home.

The camp was designed to inspire career aspirations in the children, who have grown up in a community with mass unemployment and low school attendance. It was the second camp for remote children to be organised by NASCA, which was established earlier this year.

“It’s really to get them thinking about their future, and certainly for a lot of indigenous kids from wherever they may be, they often don’t think about life beyond school,” Mr Prouse said.

During their eight days in Sydney, the children walked across the harbour bridge, visited Luna Park, went to the Blue Mountains and had a swimming lesson.

Yesterday, they visited Taronga Zoo. It was the first time they had seen elephants, giraffes or zebras, other than in a book.

“Just getting on the train was a huge thing. They were wondering where all these people had come from, where were they going and why were they going so fast.”

Ntaria School principal Darryl Fowler said: “They are (now) far more aware of the big wide world and what’s available to them.” The trip was funded by the Department of Education and Training.