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Published: March 26th 2015
Being off line so much is messing me up. Back to Alice Springs. Just going to give you the highlights. Lovely resort, cool pool despite 100 degree temps. Skipped first tour to do laundry, swim and shop downtown, which is ten minutes away by foot. Then off to an aboriginal school where I dropped off two-thirds of the school supplies I brought. My suitcase thanked me for it. We got to read to the kids and have lunch. Reminded me of the migrant workers when I was young, they never seemed to have enough clothes. Most of the kids, even in fourth grade can not read. No one at home can help them, sometimes when they come they bring a family member who sits in the back of the room all day just listening. Off to the Purple House, the local dialysis clinic for the indigenous people. Aboriginals have exceedingly high numbers of cases of diabetes, heart problems and renal failure at young ages. This is a non. profit center that works six days a week and has several clinics and mobile dialysis facilities,spread across the country to keep families together. They do not have the enzyme in their chemistry that processes sugar and yet they eat large quantities of junk food, so diabetes is rampant. From there we went to visit the School of the Air. Children from distant places: cattle stations (some up to 1600 square miles), outback medical personnel and police are taught on line. It used to be all by mail, Teachers would put together two weeks of work, it would take six weeks to get tot the children, six weeks back after completed and another six to see grades. If missed a concept there it was hard work to correct. Over 200 children attend, meeting 4 times a year in Alice Springs for a week of testing, sports and just being kids together. Children attend from 4 years of age up to year nine in school, then they either go to Sydney, Adelaide or Melbourne to boarding school or take correspondence courses. Each child receives a computer, web cam, microphone, mouse, etc because they all have different classes at the same time. Classes are only a couple hours a day. They are actually online during classes and can interact. Everything needed for a class is sent by post, inclouding art supplies, library books for entire family, scientific equipment, books, tests and so on. Each family hires a tour or a parent helps with work later we went to a desert park for a nighttime exhibition.
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Jo bellow
non-member comment
Fun
It's been fun traveling with you