VOICES

Our family of five lived in Darwin, Australia for a year on a teacher exchange. We swapped our jobs, cars, houses and kept our wives and children. 
Darwin was an amazing city to live in, fast growing, cosmopolitan and hot. The humidity level in the wet season would often be 100% and still it wouldn’t rain. All ethnic groups and cultures appeared to be accepted, except one - the aboriginal people and their culture. 
On one occasion, I was walking outside and sought refuge from the oppressive heat by sheltering under a tree and sat on a park bench. Another person was sharing the seat with me. Me being me, I started up a conversation. The aboriginal man and I were talking away, when we were interrupted by a loud voice, 
“Do you know what you are sitting next to?” Instantaneously I replied, “What did you say? I’ll sit next to who I like!” Our heated exchange finished abruptly. Since when was a person a ‘what’? Another time on a family visit to Alice Springs, we were walking along the main street when without warning a group of aboriginal people walking towards us were surrounded by police, screamed at and then hurled into a police van. The van roared off and we just looked at each other, wondering with open mouths, what was that about? Cattle being loaded on a truck were treated better. 
Has anything changed in Australia? The recent Voice referendum result would suggest not much. But let’s be hopeful. Years ago, such a referendum wouldn’t have even been contemplated. We all need to remind ourselves that ‘Everything has a voice, you just have to listen’

POINTS to PONDER
Don’t sit idly by, if you see any form of injustice. Be brave with your voice and the voices of others. 
Call out racism. How are we doing in Aotearoa/New Zealand with how we embrace Māori culture and cultures from around the world?
Kindness is cross cultural. It should be based on the thought, ‘We are in this together’. It is driven by love. It demands action.


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