Farewell, East Kimberley Kununurra

And so, after nearly five weeks, my time in Kununurra is over.

Here at the other end of my secondment, I have experienced a great number of things I wasn't expecting.

Firstly, and most importantly, I'm the proud owner of a 40-page, 10,000 word strategy that sets out a way forward to develop and support leadership amongst Aboriginal people in the East Kimberley. That's practically a thesis. But better than a thesis, I actually think it's achievable.

I have at least 937 tropical-strength mosquito bites.

I have survived Wolf Creek, explored the Bungle Bungle ranges in Purnululu, driven a manual 4WD, camped (and more surprisingly, actually enjoyed it), worked up to running 9.5 km in one go, swum in crocodile-infested waters, seen rock art in situ, eaten goanna, met amazing people and made new friends, both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal.

I even have - wait for it - a tan. I don't think I've ever had a tan before in my life.

Best of all, I've lifted my eyes to the sky in a way I haven't done before. I am so glad I was given the opportunity to be here and experience all this.

Before embarking on this secondment I didn't know very much about Aboriginal affairs. Now, I have a much better understanding of the way white settlement has impacted on first Australians, and I have some things to work through as a consequence. I struggle with what colonisation has wreaked on their society -and what we continue to perpetrate today - and I am convinced we need to work together to set that right.

How? I don't know how. But I am hoping that my being here has made a difference, albeit a tiny, infinitessimal one, and that I will continue to carry that difference with me as I go ahead.

Getting a grip on things

So it’s back down to earth with a thump today.

I may have survived the saltwater crocodile sighting, the freshwater crocodiles in the lake, being nibbled by fish in a natural waterhole, getting sunburnt despite every best effort not to, camping, camp food, snakes, learning how to drive a 4WD without killing myself (or my passengers), the Kununurra Coles, the tropical strength mosquitoes, the blistering sun, and the army of crickets at the caravan park we're staying in – but now the rubber's really hitting the road.

Let me go back a bit. You might be wondering exactly what I’m here to work on.

In a nutshell, I’ve been asked to scope out a pan-regional leadership strategy to catalyse change across the East Kimberley.

 … sound difficult? It is! And it’s even harder than you might think!

As part of my work I need to take into account a range of complex and often conflicting factors around the social and political frame both here and nationally, concepts of leadership, avenues for support for emerging/existing leaders and the cultural sensitivities and pressures they experience; not to mention a whole other bunch of things like the historical and social context; endemic and systemic problems like grog and substance abuse, minimal education, entrenched apathy, and social dysfunction

That is a lot to take in.

To help, I’ve arranged a bunch of meetings for tomorrow so that I can get a handle on the local perspective, and hear from some local leaders about their experiences and ideas.

Then with any luck, all of that info will slosh around inside my head over the weekend (while I’m taking in some of the local scenery) and provide me with a bit more clarity, so that I can actually start the hard yards of drafting up a scoping document.

Fingers crossed.

My Creative Space

Well looky here, I actually have a creative space today! For the first time in OVER A WEEK. I know none of you are reading this though, because you are all at the Stitches and Craft show in Melbourne, you lucky lucky things. I curled up with disappointment when I found out I was going to miss it.

For those of you not in Melbourne and swanning about the show, you might remember my dilemma about what crafty thing to bring with me to Kununurra (known crafty spot that it is ..... not).

There were strong recommendations for embroidery (which I need to learn), crochet (which I need to learn) and knitting (which I will never learn because I am crap at it and my mum is excellent, so I don't need to.)

I was all set to choose embroidery, and then time got the better of me. I managed to buy a little book to show me how to learn the stitches, but I didn't even get close to buying the right needles, a hoop, or linen.

In a last minute panic, I shoved some scraps into my bag along with the necessary button-making equipment. So now in the evenings here, I'm going to make myself 200 buttons. I think that's achievable in the three and a half weeks I've got left.

My hands have been itching and tingling to keep busy, too, because I'm not used to being without my sewing machine. I gave My One True Love strict instructions to have it serviced while I'm away - it's the perfect opportunity - but I have this feeling that it might have fallen off his list of things to do. Poor machine, that means it'll have to wait until .... um .... er ..... Christmas? to have its service. Ah well. As my Greek tailor would say, What can I do?

Kununurra, the last frontier

The shire of Kununurra used to be known as "the last frontier" of the East Kimberlies. Having been here only a little over 24 hours now, I can understand why.

It wasn't the three (three!) freshwater crocs I saw yesterday evening, nor the bat that swooped in and climbed up a railing near our dinner table, or the giant lizard or the monster catfish. Though those things helped. 

The town (population around 3,000) lies right on the edge of civilisation. It's truly a physical frontier environment - in over 424,000 square kilometres of land, there is approximately 1 person per 12.5 square kilometres. Work intruding on your life? Need space in your relationship? This is the place to come. 

And it's a strange cross between the proverbial ragged ranges and the barren desert. The dirt is red like blood and the sky is the colour of sapphires. At four o'clock in the afternoon, gun-metal grey clouds move in low and open up, throwing down the last fat gasps of the wet season.

The Kimberley ranges lie off to the south, where running out of water basically means running out of life as well. Getting lost is a ticket to hell. The cold can kill you at nighttime and the sun can kill you in the day. All in all, it's a spot where people survive on the proverbial knife blade.

For all that though, there's a sense of vibrant life brimming around the area. Money is pouring into the region via the Government's stimulus package, and various investment initiatives - too numerous to count - are designed to assist and support industry, irrigation, mining, people and services around Kununurra. For example, there are 19 separate programs aimed at helping the young Aboriginal kids here - of which there are about 700. So there's a lot of activity and it's not all connected or coordinated. 

Package that up with the overwhelming openness that comes from the landscape, a certain kind of freedom that you feel in the isolation here, and a peculiar brand of recklessness that results, and there you have the second kind of frontier I'm referring to - the psychological frontier.

It's the feeling of a town on the edge. The edge of what, I'm not sure.... but it permeates the air, this feeling of possibility teamed with hopelessness, of vibrancy paired with apathy. There's optimism and indifference, in equal amounts. I get the sense that many of the people and organisations are hacking their way through the undergrowth of the metaphorical jungle, trying to carve a way through to something better.

They're pioneers, almost, in a place where western civilisation has only been in existence for 40 years - and trying to bring everyone along on a journey where maybe we're driving too fast, but slowing down could be disastrous. Social norms here are different, or non-existent. Some of the problems run so deep, and are so interconnected, that untangling them seems like an inconceivable prospect.

How can change be effected in an environment like this?

It's one of the questions we're here to consider, and I think it's going to be a long road - but I'm hoping for lots of fascinating stops along the way. 

But what will I wear?

So I am standing in front of my wardrobe. Actually that's a lie. I am standing in front of *one* of my wardrobes, because I actually have three. And a chest of drawers. And randomly scattered piles of clothes living in metaphorical "wardrobes" around the house, admittedly some of them on the floor - the "floordrobe" as a highly esteemed colleague cleverly termed it - but all of that doesn't sound as snappy to say, so for the purposes of this post let's just refer to it all as one big mammoth overstuffed wardrobe.

To recap, I'm standing in front of my wardrobe. And I have absolutely, positively nothing to wear.

My secondment to Kununurra starts on Tuesday next week, and I'm currently struggling with the biggest challenge of all - not "how do I unravel some of the complexities of the impact of welfare and alcohol on the Indigenous communities in the area", but the much more serious question of what does one pack to wear for five weeks away in the East Kimberlies?

I've been advised to dress down for the office in Kununurra. Corporate wear is unheard of (which is perfectly understandable, because who would shoehorn yourself into the full kit of suit, stockings, heels and accessories unless you had to?) and everyone there wears t-shirts and three-quarter pants. Of which I own precisely none.

I've been advised to bring "dress shorts" - is there such a thing? - and "weekend shorts" and "smart sandals". Sandals! I think the last time I owned a pair of sandals was also probably in primary school. And then there's the question of the shorts themselves ..... I have no idea of what constitutes a "dress short" as opposed to a "weekend short". All shorts are weekend items in my opinion. In fact, shorts of all kinds are quite foreign to me. Do my black linen Laura Ashley shorts count as dress shorts? Or are they *too* dressy? Or are they weekend? Oh, the quandary.

The temperature gets up past thirty-five degrees most days - so I need light, floaty things with long sleeves that will perform the dual function of keeping me cool as well as keeping as much sun as possible off my skin - but the weather gets down to 15 degrees at night, so I'll also need pants and cardies and possibly a jacket. Maybe leggings, as an alternative?

And how do I choose which cardy and jacket to take? It's beginning to dawn on me that I won't be able to coordinate all my outfits, shoes and accessories as I usually do. And not coordinating is anathema to me - I simply do not know how to do it. If by some chance it happens accidentally (usually when I'm packing my gym bag the night before), then I spend all day feeling wrong and broken and awkward and have to go home and change at the first opportunity before the panic completely takes over. Not coordinating will be - I don't know - it's pathological. It's part of me. It's who I AM, dammit, it's my identity!!

Ahem. Do you see what even the mere thought of not coordinating does to me?? I've never had any talent for the 'capsule wardrobe'.

I can't make it simple by just taking black clothes either, for two reasons: one, I'll boil to a crisp with all that absorbed heat, and two, no one will take me seriously, and both things - either death or dismissal - will doom me before I even start. People in the country just don't wear black in the same way Melburnians do. (In fact, not many people anywhere wear black in the same way that Melburnians do, a fact for which we should be profoundly grateful). So I will be taking colours, which is totally fine with me because I love colour, but how am I going to match everything to just one or two cardies? Impossible.

And then there's pajamas. I have to buy pajamas too, because I'm not only sharing accommodation with my other fellow secondees, but - get this - I will be sharing a room. You heard me right. A ROOM. A room! I haven't shared a room with anyone except My One True Love in over a decade, and he is challenging enough. And so I need jammies, not little camisole-y jammies that are actually comfy to sleep in for the hot weather, but proper shorty pajamas of the kind I haven't owned since, oh, primary school at least, so that I am decent enough to walk from bedroom to bathroom in mixed company. Where exactly does one buy shorty pajamas - as winter approaches and all the shops are filled with flannelette? Why especially didn't I think of this a month ago, when I had time and I could have *made* some??

AND, as if that weren't enough to think about, there are the Kununurra Races on while I'm there. There's a fashion on the field competition. But here's the rub, can I also squeeze racewear (and a hat) into what is already going to be a clearly overstuffed suitcase??

Then there's swimmers, and a sleeping bag (I have to bring it), and toiletries, and at least four pairs of shoes - running shoes, aforementioned sandals, weekend shoes and thongs - plus a nice outfit for dinners, and a hat, and buckets of sunscreen, and two sets of exercise gear, and, and, and, and, and I'm beginning to hyperventilate now.

Oh dear. I think I need to go and sit down, with a cool drink, and start meticulously planning. Then I'll do a trial pack, and leave it overnight while I sleep on things, and then in the morning when I wake up my subconscious will have sorted it out and I'll know what I need to take out and what I should put in instead.

Now, if I just do that for each of the four nights left before I go, I should be fine. 

I'm sure of it. I'll be fine. I'll be fine. (insert agitated rocking in a corner here......)

My secondment to Kununurra ....

So, it’s about time I gave some detail on this secondment to Kununurra, isn’t it? Seeing as I’m leaving next Tuesday, and time is rapidly running out ….

One of the good things about working for a large and profitable organisation is that it has a lot of money to devote to community programs. My company does an immense amount of good work across Australia and we’re recognised for the contribution we make. It’s a nice side-effect of being hugely successful.

Our community work is in fact one of the really rewarding things about working here, in fact. Every year we get two days of paid volunteer leave – last year I helped out at the Sacred Heart food kitchen, and it was an eye-opening experience.

The secondment I’m about to embark on is an extension of that volunteering program. It’s medium-term skilled volunteering, hence the five-week duration; and the program is part of our reconciliation action plan.

I’ll be spending the time with an Indigenous NGO (non-government organisation) in Kununurra, in the remote East Kimberlies. I’m not sure how much I’m allowed to discuss externally, so until I find out otherwise I’ll keep things vague enough here so that no person or group is specifically identified.

I know I was selected because the project I’ll be working on is a complex one, with a lot of ambiguity – and I’m good at dealing with ambiguity and change. The organisation wants some input around creating a strategic plan, itemising some clear actions to articulate the plan, thinking creatively about identifying and developing young Indigenous leaders in the surrounding communities, some strategic mentoring and facilitation, and long-term communications planning. I can do all that.

But what exactly will I be doing, I hear you ask? The answer is that I don’t really know yet. And I don’t expect to know until I get up there and start talking with people.

I think that’s part of the challenge, which is to begin thinking and questioning and talking it over with my friends and family – so that there’s an element of becoming an advocate for the program and stimulating other people to perhaps think about things too.

So please, consider this post the first part of a series relating to my secondment – I’ll try to update things as regularly as I can over the time I’m away.

I’m leaving in just over a week, and I’ll be gone til the first week of June. My heart’s beating pretty hard in my chest at the delicious thought of being away from work for that long – I’ve never had that much time off work before. Since I was 18, in fact, I’ve worked through all my uni semester breaks, and I started a full-time job when I was 21, so that makes ….. a really long time since I’ve had a five week break. On reflection, it may well have been the Christmas period when I was in Year 10, before I got a weekend job.

That’s a long time. But I digress. I won’t be on holiday, I’ll be working – but it will be in a completely different way, and I’m excited at the prospect.

So the rest of this week will be spent in briefings - crocodile briefings (yes, seriously), 4WD training, cultural appreciation, planning a side-trip to the Argyle Diamond Mine (heh heh heh) …. can’t wait!

My embryonic twinset develops

Ooo, isn't that a lovely creepy thought .... an embryonic twinset developing - growing - starting to kick its little woolly arms - breathing - feeding .... but what would a twinset feed on? It would have to be wool moths, surely.

Do you remember this post? About my lovely new embryonic twinset, made out of this wonderful merino wool?

Well, it's certainly coming along. My mother and father came to visit for Easter (bless them, it saved My One True Love and I from a whole iss-yew about finding cat sitters for the furry babies, never fun at the best of times but practically impossible on big holidays like Christmas and Easter) - and mum brought the twinset to work on.

Here it is in its current form - isn't it delicate and beautiful? I love it!

That lacy detail is just wonderful; it's going to be the perfect trans-seasonal piece, to borrow one of the fashion pack's fabulous phrases. (Now say it with me in a Tim Gunn accent: "well de-sign-ers, that could be  the per-fect trans-seasonal piece! Make it work.")

Mum hasn't done a lot of knitting lately, as it gets too hot at home to even bear thinking about loading oneself up with woolly goodness in one's lap during the summer months. And while the twinset is technically my birthday present, and my birthday is roaring up quite a bit quicker than I'd like, of course I won't actually have ANY need for woolly goodness for nearly two months - because I'm heading off to Kununurra on April 27 and won't be back until at least the first week of June.

Mum says it should certainly be ready by then, so that will be perfect timing. And what a lovely present to come home to! 

Grow, little twinset, grow ......

(PS - my mum is now an official Project Runway addict too, thanks to me lending her a series to see how she took to it .....)

My Creative Space

There is so much to see in My Creative Space today that I couldn't possibly fit it all in!

I'm working on a small mountain of projects right now, in an attempt to make everything I need to for my June markets - because of course, I'm going away to Kununurra on secondment in around three weeks time, and I'll be away for six weeks, and I have a market in the first week of June straight after I get back. Then five markets following in quick succession  in the weeks following.

Usually I spend May creating lots of stock and having a "market month off" .... but this year I haven't got that luxury. So I'm wondering: is it possible to spend every moment not working, eating or sleeping, at the sewing machine? And more than is it possible - is it sane??

I have some pretty high goals right now. I need ten pencilrolls (at least), an assortment of cushions, around 15 more Hoots, some new Catticuses, a dozen doorstops and matching snakes, a dozen new fabric necklaces, and a collection of other small bits and pieces.

PLUS I have two baby quilts on order - one is needed by Tuesday, and the other is due for a baby that's arriving in May, so I have to get it ready before Anzac Day as I fly out shortly after.

Whew - that's a lot of work. But I'm up to it! Perhaps I should have put a photo of the spinning Tasmanian Devil here in this post instead, because that's kind of how I imagine I'm going to feel for the next little while .....

After a (long) pause, she returns .....

Right, I think it's fair to say that my break turned out to be a slightly longer hibernation than I had anticipated. Where does the time GO, people??? Any minute now it's going to be Easter, and then my birthday will come roaring up, and then it'll be the middle of the year, and before you know it, I'll be buying Christmas presents again. Cripes.

So where to start? It's been a month since my last post (egad!), and I have MISSED IT and MISSED ALL OF YOU. Perhaps I should start with an apology, in fact. I am deeply sorry.

A lot has happened in the past four weeks. As Innigo Mantoya says in The Princess Bride, "Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up."

First, without really trying, I got offered a new job. Then, to my surprise, I got offered another new job. Both of them good, in very different ways. So then I had to decide between the two new jobs - one with a big schmicky law firm, and one with a small credit union. I thought I had decided - credit union - when my current job came to me and offered me an Amazing, Incredible Opportunity in the form of a five-week secondment to the East Kimberlies. Asotnishing stuff. The kind of secondment that can be transformational - working with a remote Aboriginal community organisation in Kununurra, how cool is that?

So I had to decide between both brand-new sparkly jobs and a five-week secondment. Readers, I chose the secondment, which means that on 27 April I'll be flying to Kununurra to do something that totally scares the pants off me. It's going to be great! Was I crazy, though, to give up both new (permanent) jobs in favour of a short five-week secondment?? I'm trying to take the perspective that when one door closes ..... you know the one.

More on the secondment later. What else have I done in the past months?

My One True Love and I spent our second wedding anniversary traipsing up and down the Grampians, which was absolutely wonderful (though my knees thought it slightly less than wonderful, I'll admit). Lots of Grampians stories for further posts, I promise.

I also have my first retailer, Tender Vuillermin in Auburn Road Hawthorn, which currently stocks my Hoots, Ellyfumps, birds and snakes - I seem to have an animalistic vibe going on right now. I am super excited about this news and will do a post solely on Tender Vuillermin in the days to come. Hooray for me! This is a milestone in my Flickettysplits development, and I am very proud.

Oh, and I made a new Ellyfump pattern of which I am VERY proud! Now Ellyfump stands up by herself, which is great - previously she was only two-dimensional and had to lean against something. Now, she stands up by herself, even if her gusset is not quite the work of art it needs to be just yet, and requires a little bit of tweaking.

So on that note, I would like to welcome myself back into the fold and hope that I haven't lost every single reader I ever had. My huge thanks to those of you who are still here!