This semester the MK student ambassadors participated in a river workshop in May and decided on a number of different things to help the local rivers. They decided to create a river education art project for local council (completed by students before I joined the MK team), run a clean up the river program, plant tress in a river catchment (about 200km away in the countryside), plan a local community tree planting day (I was able to join MK at this stage and have participated in many local tree planting projects around South Perth), adopt a native animal and help recreate its habitat (oblong turtle), and a celebrate Indigenous culture day.
So along with participating in these community outreach programs, I also work in the office where I research the oblong turtle of WA and work with Jane, the MK Indigenous Education Assistant.
Recently, Jane and I have designed a workshop for the South Perth schools in which we travel to multiple different schools in the area and teach students the aboriginal story of the turtle and some Indigenous language. The students practice the turtle story in groups and then perform the turtle story as a play for their classmates/teachers. I then facilitate a discussion at the end of each session, so students are able to reflect on the importance of the local turtle population and habitat.
This picture was at the ICEA Classic 2013 in Cottesloe Beach, WA. I ran the MK booth at this local surf competition where people were able to learn about local wildlife and sustainability. We had stimpson pythons and bobtails available for people to hold as well.
This is a non-profit organization that aims to work with children and bettering the environment and is exactly what I was looking for, but I'm also able to do a lot of work regarding Indigenous Australians. And I think that's the most important aspect of this internship for me because the mistreatment of Indigenous people in Australia has been a longstanding issue and has only recently been recognized globally. As an American, I can be honest and say I was completely unaware of the hardships and problems faced by the Indigenous culture here. So, I feel very lucky to be able to work side-by-side with Jane, who is my age, and Millennium Kids. Not only do I get a first-hand insight into what it's like to be a young Indigenous woman, but I've also had experiences with Indigenous culture and knowledge that many native Australians do not have.
I'll post more about what Jane are up to throughout the rest of the semester!
Wish us luck!
