I have been doing quite a bit of work with small communities looking at some goals that they want to achieve in the next 12 to 24 months. Inevitably when we are looking at some of the things they would like to do it is the young people that they are worried about. In many places there is very little at all for the kids to do. In the last week this is come up at two separate places.
The first is Ivanhoe. This is a small community of just over 200 people 150kms from the nearest town. In the past Ivanhoe has had football teams, cricket clubs and various other activities. Now however there is no organised sport left. The nearest picture theatre or maccas is 375km away. The nearest skate park is 200km, none of which is practical on a regular basis. The town does have a swimming pool which is great in summer.
Ivanhoe also has a Youth Centre which houses some broken gym equipment and other old sporting gear. It is this centre that some of the locals and the Aboriginal Working Party and now trying to raise money for so that it can become a place kids can use. My input has been to run a Grant Writing Workshop in the town and also to provide some help with grant applications.
The other town is Goolgowi, which is 60km north west of Griffith and has a population of about 100. The town has a swimming pool and basketball courts at the school (that can’t be used outside school hours). A very enthusiastic local committee there is well underway to building a half tennis court and wall for ball practice. They also have plans to put in a bike track and incorporate some bike road safety training. My role in this process was to help get the committee together, run the goal-setting workshop and get members of the local church involved.
Both committees have a passion to make it better for their kids and it is great to work with these enthusiastic people and to represent the church in these places.
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