The People

We are the Yolngu people of Ramingining, in the northern part of Central Arnhem Land in Australia's Northern Territory.

Ramingining is a town of about 800 of our people. More of our people live on outstations different distances from town. Also about 50 Balanda live here.

The nearest other town is Maningrida, more than two hours drive away except in the rainy season, when we can only fly there.

In Ramingining we have a store, a clinic, a school, a new police station, an arts centre, a resource centre, houses and not much else.

But we have history and culture here, that our ancestors have been growing for more than forty thousand years.

They passed that culture on from generation to generation. Now it's our turn to pass it on, not just to the next generation, but to people everywhere, all over the world.

That's because our way of life is changing fast now, and what you can see on this website is for every generation to remember and keep our culture alive.



Taken from http://www.12canoes.com.au/

Sunday, February 20, 2011

day seventeen - arrival in Ramo

20th February 2011 - 9:00pm


Next challenge - survival through a cyclone.

After the weekend, we just spent a couple more days lazing around in Darwin. We spent most of the time in our hotel, with the strongest winds and heaviest rain I've ever experienced on Monday night and all day Tuesday. Whereas in Tassie, we get four seasons in one day, in Darwin, it was constant rain. And I mean constant. It didn't stop. All day. And often on Monday night on the TV, the broadcasting was interrupted by a message saying that the weather was too bad so there was no reception. When Ben checked the satellite to see what the weather was like in Ramingining, it became apparent that there was a cyclone heading straight for Darwin - meanwhile the weather in Ramo was perfect. So we turned on the TV to be inundated with cyclone warnings. Every 15 minutes at least, a warning would come up on the screen giving an update of whether it was a 'cyclone watch' or 'cyclone warning'. We decided to head to the supermarket across the road to get some essential supplies - the TV warnings suggested getting our 'cyclone packs' ready. What we saw at the shop was absolutely incredible. NO water on the shelves. NO bread. NO milk. NOTHING left in the deli. It was incredible. People were stocking up on all of the essentials in case the power was cut off or they were caught in their houses for a few days. I've never seen anything like it. Meanwhile, Ben and I picked up the essentials for our last few days in Darwin - soft drink, chocolate to take back to Ramo for his workmates, wine and scotch. We did get a few funny looks.

It was surprising, though, that when the cyclone finally arrived, it was nothing like the two nights before. There was plenty of rain and a little bit of wind, but nothing like I was expecting. Thank goodness. Although we did have an interesting move of rooms. After Darwin airport was closed, our flight to Ramo on Wednesday morning was cancelled. Which meant an extra two nights in Darwin, and a room change. Although it was only about 30 metres to our new room (which thankfully was inside without a roof to hear the rain pounding down on), we got saturated. And I mean saturated! We were completely soaked to our underwear, as were our bags. Not fun! And to make matters worse, after our two trips back to the room to get all of our bags, we had to walk up the four floors because the lifts were out in case there was a power failure. That was our exercise for the week! But we finally made it, and celebrated our achievement with a quiet drink.




After those slight dramas, we made it to our flight, complete with chocolate and day old McDonald's for Ben's workmates, at Fly Tiwi for our flight to Ramo. We were half and hour late leaving because of the weather, but we got a bigger plane which made me happy - not so many bumps. Well, so I thought. Having never been on a small plane before (except for a sea plane years ago, which flies much lower and doesn't have any issues with turbulence because of the clouds), I was a little uptight to say the least. At least Nicki, one of Ben's workmates, was on the flight too, and she was a bit worried. Ben was fantastic. Laughing at me the whole time, and making loud scary noises to scare me. Excellent. This was almost as extreme sport as para sailing. But I'm pleased to say I made it to the end, alive and in one piece. There were a few hairy parts, with some pretty big bumps. And the landing was quite smooth except that they fly in so much faster than I expected!



 My welcoming committee


I was greeted at the airport by about 10 four-wheel drives. Obviously not all for me, or for the four of us passengers. But it was mail day, so everyone was there to pick up all of their important mail. But it meant I got to meet Barry who is the cleaner around Ramo, and who is also Bev's (Ben's Administration Manager) husband, Chris from BulaBula Arts Centre and Jay from the school. And a few other people who's names I already can't remember! We drove in along the dirt road, full of pot holes because of the strong recent rain. There are ditches along the side of the roads that lead into little river-like things that take the water into the bush. But they weren't working quite as planned, so we had quite a few bumps, and driving through metre-deep water on the roads. We went the scenic way, meeting Bev, Rose (who's family are the traditional owners of the land in Ramingining) and Richard from Ben's work, Roy from the Alpa Store (the local supermarket) and seeing the sights. Which are rather limited. The Alpa Store, the Council offices, the bank and Centrelink (which were pretty busy), the Health Centre and the School. We also went to the Visitor's Quarters where Ben has been living for a while - they're fantastic for people visiting, with individual rooms off a shared lounge/dining/kitchen. And the new Visitor's Quarters are even nicer. Then we made it home!

It's a fantastic home! Three bedrooms - one is full of storage things, a study for me to do my degree and our bedroom. A huge kitchen. A great bathroom and laundry. And a MASSIVE recliner chair and lounge. Leather of course. And a 42 inch TV. Ok, so obviously it's not an overly 'happening' place, so there will be a lot of TV watched. We also have Austar, and my Wiivegie patch in no time. Assuming I can manage to get things to grow without being killed in a downpour.

 The balcony with Buddy at the end. Covered in a towel because he was being naughty.







 The beautiful bush backing onto our house.


 The obviously very comfortable recliner.




 The not quite yet organised study.

 The view of the back balcony from the treadmill.


We haven't really achieved much since I've arrived, except unpacking. We've been to the Alpa Store a few times, and I met Bobby (who is a very famous singer and artist from the area), Ronnie (a Councillor) and his wife Mia and Sylvia, both who work at the school. I'll head into the School in the next few days, so I'll have another update soon. But for now, time to upload the photos I'll put on here to go with my story!

2 comments:

  1. sounds like you've made a good start, heather! hope you're settling in and enjoying your first few days.

    am about to point a few of my students towards your blog for some literacy work. so pleeeeeeaaaasassseeee keep it up so i can keep them busy (hope that doesn't put too much pressure on ;p)

    take care,
    stu

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Stu - yeah, I'm settling in well, and loving it up here so far!

    Wow, talk about pressure. But maybe you should check the posts to make sure I haven't said anything inappropriate before showing the kids!

    ReplyDelete