We headed toward Kerry’s house where Graeme showed me the proposed land for the new clinic and school, which has been purchased by some Queensland Rotarians and from the funding from Barclay’s Bank. It seems Kemsour and Kerry are one step closer to realizing their dreams with this funding, however the approval process is extremely complicated requiring approvals from the Village Chief, the Apsara Organisation (which manages land and heritage development, “overseen” by UNESCO, and no doubt countless others along the way!)
We crossed the river toward the increasingly impoverished village. Graeme was well known with all the villagers having wandered down there for a look and a chat on most days. He happily called out greetings as we walked, and the kids happily walked alongside him, competing to hold his hands.
While not nearly as desperate and shocking as the village behind the hospital, which I saw earlier in the week, this was still pretty frightening. What was worse was that these were the homes of the kids we teach each day. One of the little girls who has taken a shine to me in the past few weeks happily showed me her house and her mother. I was mortified that she lived there, in a hovel half the size of the bedroom I’m sleeping in at Globalteer House.
There was an up side to it however. One family was successfully growing a crop of beans, which they would sell at the market and use to feed their family. They proudly posed for this photo in front of their crop.
Back at school we briefed our students to paint their interpretations of Australia with a view to Janet taking their artwork back to share with her students in Murray Bridge. With the help of reference books, some of them produced some incredible work. Check it out, it's amazing.
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