Prepared by Jillian Pryor, Principal, Canberra Campus, Unity College Australia
© 2011 Unity College Australia
“I remember you!” cried the little girl of about 9 years of age, as I walked across the Barunga school grounds, about an hour east of Katherine in the Northern Territory. “You came to Manyallaluk last year – where I used to live”. I had taken a photo of Sheona with some of last year’s mission team members and had included it in the power point to share with this year's potential supporters. It was such a joy that she remembered me and it showed me the value of returning to the area to renew friendships forged 12 months earlier.
Face painting, bead craft, ball games, sewing, music, puppets and drama kept our mission team of 12 Unity College Canberra students and staff busy and helped us connect with children and adults of all ages in Manyallaluk. These daytime activities led into Bible studies, prayer and praise times and we enjoyed singing and chatting around the campfires which helped keep us warm in the surprisingly cool evenings. We were led in songs in the Kriol language and again reminded of the indigenous people’s love of dancing and movement to express their praise to the Lord.
We helped make 90 bandanas for a youth convention using the sewing machine we donated to the community last year. Both community members and team members developed sewing and tie dye skills in the process!
Our goal was to be “salt and light” as we interacted with people during the Barunga Indigenous Sports and Cultural Festival. There was a never-ending line up for our face painting activity and this drew audiences for our puppet plays with messages about God’s love and the joy of the Lord. We also had the opportunity to learn about Aboriginal customs such as spear throwing, dancing, damper making and storytelling. At one point our puppet play had to be moved to avoid being the target of the spear throwing competition!
We were welcomed into local community schools where we performed a puppet play about bullying and acceptance, and our international students shared about the different countries they come from. Music was a great connecting point and as well as running instrument teaching workshops we were invited to assist the Barunga children with their performance in the festival’s Road Safety song competition.
During the Battle of the Bands competition at the Barunga Festival I noticed a familiar face in the crowd – a young indigenous man from the Bagot Community in Darwin, which we visited on our last 3 mission trips. Isaac loves music and we have been able to encourage him in his passion during previous visits. It was great to see his band performing at the festival.
“We need encouragement” was the heart cry of the community leaders before we left on mission. Feedback indicates our prayer, that our visit would bring just that to the people of the communities, was answered. As well as connecting with and encouraging the local indigenous Christian leaders we also met some of the Bible translators working in the area. We were also blessed to have the opportunity to encourage some community members who had drifted away in their faith.
10 nights camping in less than 10 degrees, not-so-clean toilet blocks with cold showers and red-eye plane flights were small prices to pay for the experience of again sharing God’s love with the people of the Manyallaluk and Barunga indigenous communities. Mission is always a two-way experience and we returned home knowing God had both worked through us and in us during the time. Thank you to those who supported the mission team in prayer and financially. Your partnership with us is very much appreciated – we couldn’t have done it without you.
Jillian Pryor (Canberra Campus Principal and Mission Team Leader)