The Brumbies Wild Horses Program, which is part of the Service Learning model, continues to achieve great things for the students at Matthew Hogan School. Now in its second year, this innovative initiative developed in partnership with Horse Handler Greg Powell and Father Chris Riley.

Service Learning is a character-building values education program that provides opportunities for young people to develop skills, self-esteem and positive values through service to the community. Helping young people to understand the importance and value of being generous to others is one of the key features of the program’s success.

The Project encourages young people to learn a way of communicating that is based on trust and respect, rather than violence. They do this by training wild, endangered horses, guided by the horse handler.

The young people on this program come from backgrounds of severe neglect and psychological, physical and/or sexual abuse, suffered at the hands of those who should care for them. Consequently many of the students find it difficult to trust adults, yet we know from experience that they find interaction with animals therapeutic. Many of the young people already care for animals on the farm, and this project takes their rehabilitation a step further by introducing a challenge and learning aspect in the form of a structured program.

Fr Riley first thought of the idea at a time when he was working with a group of young people who had anger management issues. At around the same time he heard about the brumbies being slaughtered in our National Parks. It seemed to Fr Riley that rescuing these beautiful animals could be of benefit to the animals and to some of the young people who he was working with.

In 2004, five boys ages 13 – 15 participated in the Brumbies program in the Southern Highlands. This group operated around the Positive Peer Culture model, which means that teamwork and group negotiation skills are used to manage young people. The program ran for six months and the new group of boys were fortunate enough to observe last year’s participants who returned to demonstration some of the skills they gained through the Brumbies Program.

Aims

• To teach damaged young people social skills that will build character and break the cycle of violence in families
• To enhance the school curriculum by extending young people's learning into the community
• To enable young people to learn a way of communicating that builds trust and a respectful alliance
• To encourage students to take responsibility for their life choices
• To provide a character-building program that will facilitate the rehabilitation of damaged young people into mainstream society, including education, employment and relationships

Each horse in the Brumby herd lives by the laws of absolute allegiance. They care about each other and their loyalty to their family is absolute. This in itself is a powerful teaching aid for the boys. All of them have been discarded by their families. They have few attachments to anyone and so this will be a life altering experience for them. This is an innovative way of enabling them to learn some rules about how a family operates so they will be able to bond and nurture their own children in the future, forming the first step in undoing the generational family breakdown they have been entrenched in.

‘Walking in my Shoes’ Camp for Children with Disabilities

Service Learning is an innovative values-based intervention program being used with great success in our long-term residential programs. It is a character-building program specifically designed for youth dealing with issues of violence and aggression, which aims to teach young people generosity and empathy for others.

Walking in my Shoes is a series of 3 day camps for children with disabilities, where young people from Youth Off The Streets deliver a specially designed, fun-filled activity camp to help them to understand the importance and value of being caring and generous to others. The project aims to:

• Accommodate and care for children with disabilities between 7 and 11 years of age
• Give parents of children with disabilities a well-deserved rest knowing that their children are safe and happy
• Give an opportunity and challenge to Youth Off The Streets young people
• Provide a fun, exciting program that meets the needs of the children
• Teach empathy to our young people to allow them to better understand and relate to people with disabilities

Youth Off The Streets aim to hold a camp every school holidays, where young people from our programs are matched as individual companions to children with disabilities for the duration of the camp. The participants play a number of roles in the camp:

• Committee members to assist in the preparation of each camp
• Companions to the disabled children
• Activity helpers, assisting with many different tasks in the camp

Some of the fantastic activities during the camp included:

• Visit to Sydney Aquarium H A ride on the Monorail
• Playing in the children’s park H Music, singing & stories
• Colouring in & craft H Paddleboat rides
• Pacific Fly Motion Bungee Jump H Tour of battleship & submarine

Our trial camp in April 2003 was a powerful experience for both the companions and the children. It proved that given the opportunity to show greatness, compassion, empathy and ability, these young people were willing to help others and discover themselves in the process.

We received very positive feedback from the parents of the children, with some requesting they be considered for future camps!

Comments from the first camp include:

“We found companions feeling reluctant to hand the children back as they had cared for them over the four days and strong bonds had been formed.”

“There were many hugs between companions and parents. Contact numbers were exchanged and relationships developed.”

“The camp was a solid affirmation of the power that is within each of our young people. Given the opportunity to show greatness, compassion, empathy & ability, these young people are willing and able to help others and discover themselves in the process.”

Can you help?

We are always in need of volunteers to assist with these camps. If you would like to help us, and be part of these very special camps, download the volunteer form below, complete your details and return to Judy Gorton, Youth Off The Streets, PO Box 8, Merrylands NSW 2160.

Camp Volunteer Form (pdf ~90kb)

The East Timor Service Learning Project

Objective : teaching youth social skills that will build character.

Four major themes for successful learning service projects:

• focus on the strengths, rather than weaknesses.
• help develop a sense of power versus helplessness.
• create worthiness instead of worthlessness.
• provide opportunities for giving instead of depending.

Definitions

• Character Education: refers to the deliberate effort by schools and communities to help young people understand, care about, and act upon core ethical values.
  
• Service Learning : is a method of instruction in which youth learn and develop through active participation in thoughtfully designed service experiences that meet the actual community needs. The approach should be integrated into the young person’s academic curriculum and provide a structured time for a young person to think, talk or write about the experience.

Empowerment

Empowerment is not something you can give me.
Empowerment is something that I must achieve.
You may assist me.

• ENCOURAGE Show me and tell me you believe in me.
  
• ENVISION Help me see possibilities.
  
• EXAMPLE. If I do it wrong, show me; I want to Learn.
  
• ENDURE. Help me remember that things take Time.
  
• EXCITE I really want to feel positive about my future.
  
• EVALUATE Help me to help myself rise above adversities.
  
• ENABLE. Just give me a chance to try.
  
• ENRICH. If I help to improve another’s life it will enrich me.
  

Aims

Enhance the school curriculum by extending youth’s learning into the community.
Help foster the development of a sense for others.

Foster leadership development, team building, collaboration and civic responsibility to enhance the essential skills of citizenship.


Six Pillars of Character

1. Responsibility and self-control.

2. Cooperation and teamwork.

3. Respect and appreciation of diversity.

4. Trustworthiness.

5. Fairness and justice.

6. Caring

Basics of Service Learning and the Learning Community:

Service learning projects incorporate the following characteristics :

• Meet actual community needs.
• Are coordinated in collaboration with school and community.
• Are integrated into each person’s curriculum vitae.
• Provide structured time for the youth to reflect on the service learning experience through talking, thinking and writing about it.
• Provide young people with the opportunities to use new academic skills and knowledge in relation to life and community situations.
• Enhance what is already taught in the school be extending learning beyond the classroom.
• Help foster the development of a sense of caring for others.
  

Strength-Based Outcomes

For youth who participate in service learning projects, there are numerous positive outcomes. For example, they learn to be more responsible for their actions, to solve problems to care for another person and to get along with different people from one’s self in direct service projects.

The participants will be asked the following questions to reflect on at the end of the project:

• Q. What have you learned about helping others from their work in service learning ?
• Q. Has your opinion about yourself changed with the work in service learning?
• Q. Has your opinion about working with classmates changed with your work in service
  learning?
• Q. How can service learning help you with your future success and plans?
  

REPORT ON A SERVICE LEARNING PILOT PROJECT East Timor 2002

“When the kids first saw the destruction and poverty in East Timor, they realised that in so many ways they are well off.”

“But if you peel off the layers of our boys’ lives, they in some ways have faced similar vulnerability through sexual assault, rejection by their families; they have overcome histories of drug abuse, physical assault and poverty. However, through this experience, they have managed to shrug off their victim mentality. They now know that they can make a difference in this world, they can contribute and they can overcome their pain through learning to be generous.”

Father Chris Riley

In October 2002, 5 senior school students of Matthew Hogan School travelled to East Timor with Father Chris Riley and Sir William Deane to change the lives of many orphans.

They flew into Dili where they stayed for two days. The poverty was confronting and the boys could not believe the way some people are forced to live.

Six hours later, the group arrived at the orphanage in Baguia where 50 orphans are cared for by only 3 staff. The orphans receive one meal a day (primarily rice or noodles), do not have any hot or cold running water and there is electricity for only 4 hours each evening from 7pm–11pm. Their accommodation consists of one large room for the boys and one for the girls and their only bath is in the open air with water carried to it. They have no toys – even colouring-in books and coloured pencils are a luxury.

During their stay in Baguia, the boys from Youth Off The Streets slept in swags and experienced local meals and customs.The days began at sunrise to the sounds of children laughing. As a rare treat, they went swimming at the local waterhole which was a 30 minute drive away, the orphans all piling into the back of a ute, singing all the way there and back.


They loved playing games like ‘follow the leader’, tunnel ball, captain ball, ‘Simon says’, colouring in pictures or making necklaces out of beads. However their favourite game was soccer.

Communication was limited however they managed to learn a little of the local language, Tetum. At school in Timor, the children are taught English for 2 years, along with Biology, Physics, Maths, Social Science & Portuguese. Before the youth left Baguia, they presented a cheque for US$2,000 as well as 2 guitars, an electric keyboard, a CD player, sporting equipment, clothing, toys and school supplies. In addition, a further commitment was made to donate $40 per month for a period of 1 year.

On the way back to Dili, the group stopped at one last orphanage in Venilale where they made a final donation of US$2,000. Once again they were overwhelmed by beautiful singing.

It was anticipated that the trip would be a life altering experience for the young people from Youth Off The Streets and it proved to be just that. They experienced people living in absolute poverty who found great pleasure from simple things such as colouring in, playing ball games and a treasure hunt for lollies. They were able to make a small difference in the lives of others and see how people who literally have nothing, still manage to find great joy in life.
Here are some comments from the boys who participated in the program:-





“We might have problems, but there are some people out there with far worse. I can make a difference and all I have to do is apply myself….”

“When I wake up in the morning I worry about what to wear, they worry about what to eat. This experience has taught me about having [and not having], learning and generosity”.

Two of the young boys participated in the project with Father Immanuel Pinto from East Timor, Sir William Deane and Lady Helen Deane at the Building Resilience Conference in November 2002


If you can help – please send your donation to

The Timor Project, Youth Off the Streets Limited
PO Box 8 Merrylands NSW 2160.

Your donation is tax deductible and a receipt will be sent as soon as possible.

Watch our Web site for more news on the Project.