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Showing posts from May, 2006

ai bin gulijap krai

"Ai bin gulijap krai" means 'I nearly cried'. Here at Ngukurr, middle aged and older people all have stories about being banned from speaking Language at school. I don't hear the stories that often, but I know they're there. I don't push them because I worry they might be painful or make people feel no good. But in the press release I sent around a few weeks ago, we approached the issue. Here's what I wrote (it was published in the Koori Mail): Once banned, Elders now teach children language "Older generations of Aboriginal people in the southern Arnhem Land community of Ngukurr were banned from speaking their traditional languages at school when they were children. Decades later, a dedicated group of the same people are putting their languages - now endangered - back into the classroom and teaching new generations. Now in its second year in its current form, the language program at Ngukurr Community Education Centre incorportates five langaug

Ola langgus mob

Believe it or not, but this motley crew is responsible for the revitalisation of Ngukurr's endangered languages. And they're deadly. Standing left to right are my mami (mother) R, baby M, and my wawa (brother) A, who are the Rembarrnga mob. Then there's my maari (mother's mother's brother) T, our Waagilak teacher, then me, then my nephew D, who works on Ngandi and my magarra (uncle's daughter) B, a Marra teacher. Sitting down are my anggul (uncle) E, our Ngandi teacher, my anti F, a Marra teacher, and JBJ, our chairperson. Thank you to my mami Sophie for the photo.

media whore

I'm too vain to not be excited by being mentioned in any kind of media... and I'm doing okay at the moment. You can see me on two blogs: bulanjdjan talking about the opening of the Community Language Library last night, and the other bulandjan talking about me dancing (performing more like) and the big disco at Ngukurr last weekend. Apart from that, I was interviewed by ABC radio and the opening of the Language Library last night. I just went to air around the NT and might be on Radio National too now. And a press release I sent around about the Ngukurr School Language Program has got a response. The April 26 edition of the Koori Mail has a colour photo on page 2 and the story on page 28. But my name isn't mentioned on that one... so I can be a bit humble. :-)