Occasionally I invite some of our readers to write up their thoughts and experiences. Mal W Good describes himself as a pastor, intercultural worker and working class theologian. His experiences of working with Fourth World peoples are sobering and important to think about. In this post he talks about a week in my Australia – a very different week to the ones most of us enjoy. I am grateful to him for recording his experiences. If you would like to get in touch with Mal you can email him using the format malgood at gmail dot com (written like that lest you are hacking computer!)
Here are Mal’s reflections…
I wonder what kind of week you have had. Maybe the kids have gone back to school, after their holidays (not a holiday for you though). Maybe the pressure is on at work. Maybe there are some family relationships that are strained. Maybe there are health issues that are of concern to you, either your own or of someone close to you. No doubt life is hard for you at times. I remember someone saying that ‘the sooner you realise that life is hard for everyone, the better you will be’. I’m not sure if this is helpful or not, but I think it does have an element of truth about it. Whilst life may be hard for all of us, what I have come to realise is that life is certainly harder for some, than for others. We don’t all get a fair crack at life.
As I write this, I am thinking of one couple with three adult children, each with significant health challenges, mental, physical and developmental (or a combination thereof). It is a hard gig. How do they cope, you may ask. Well, they pray and are part of a loving caring and praying community. There are meals made and delivered, taxi runs undertaken, people dropping by just to check in. But even with that, I suspect that they have their days of not coping all that well. A healthy community can make all the difference to a family who have been dealt, what looks like a raw deal. This is what a broken world looks like. We are all broken, and some more than others. Or maybe it is just more visible for some, depending on the kind of brokenness.
But what if the whole community is broken. What if every family in a certain community has multiple challenges, on multiple fronts, with multiple members. This then would become overwhelming. Even the healthy families within this community would be swamped by the very real needs of their neighbours, many of whom would also, no doubt, be extended family and close friends. Does a healthy community have a responsibility to care for an unhealthy community? I guess it is a kind of, ‘who is my neighbour’ type question.
And what if there are hundreds or even thousands of kilometres between these communities. And what if there are massive cultural differences between these communities. These are the questions that I am asking because I am regularly sitting in the midst of one of these broken communities.
Let me tell you about a week I recently had. On a Thursday Chris and I drove the 900 km south from Darwin to a small community that is located at the northern end of the Tanimi Desert. There is another community about 120km to the north and yet others many hundreds of kilometres to the south and west (across the border into WA). It takes a few days to settle in and during this time we catch up with a couple of friendly faces to let them know that we are around and back in town. We have been coming down to this community for about six years, but in the last two years our visits have been more regular (as we have taken on a part-time role with a mission organisation as inter-cultural support workers).
On Sunday we joined a small group of people who gathered at the Church. We sang and read scripture and prayed. All the things that people do in many churches around Australia and around the world. But there is a heavy heart amongst these people. One of the key leaders is hundreds of kilometres away in another community for the funeral of her daughter. And later in the week there is a funeral to be held in this community for an 8-year-old boy who died in a car crash a few months back, and yes, alcohol was involved. (Funerals can take a long time to organise.) Following this funeral there is a second in the town to the north of us. This funeral is of a woman who was killed by her partner whilst they were in Katherine. (Yes, another Domestic Violence statistic that you may hear about if you watch the news.)
On Monday we became aware that royalty money was around, and people were returning to town with near new cars, motorbikes and alcohol. Children are riding small motorbikes and quadbikes up and down the main street at all times of the day and night. This is part of the rhythm of life for this community and many other communities just like it.
On Monday evening there is a crowd gathering outside the Health Clinic, and word spreads around town that there has been a stabbing. The Bush Telegraph works well in these parts, and it is usually accurate, as it proves to be this time. A 46-year-old man had stabbed his 42-year-old partner, and later that evening we hear that she has since died. The man was set upon by some in the community and received minor injuries before being taken into police custody. This is a community that is struggling. Just last year a family of six died in a head-on car crash, and not long before that, two teenagers were also killed in yet another car crash. This town is all too familiar with trauma and grief.
At the far end of town there is a dusty area, void of trees, which is called ‘Sorry Camp’. It seems that every time we visit this community there are people in Sorry Camp grieving. The day after the stabbing death, I took the main church leader, a man in his late 80s, to visit those at the Sorry Camp. This man is also the last remaining community Elder and is greatly respected by everyone. As we drove up to the camp, I could see that there were about 80 to 100 people there, men in one area, to the left, and the women in another area on the right. As we entered into the camp area eyes turned towards me in suspicion, but when they saw the old man seated next to me in the passenger’s seat the glare subsided, and they were pleased to see that their wise old Elder had arrived.
We parked about 10 metres away from the main men’s group. I took the walker out of the boot and gave it to the Elder, one of the men then came over and escorted him back to the group. Each man, from the eldest to the youngest, got up and greeted the wise old Elder with a handshake and a hug. I stayed with the car and after about 15 to 20 minutes I was beckoned to join them. I was guided to all the brothers and nephews of the deceased woman and greeted them each with a handshake and hug. I then sat quietly with one of the other men (that I knew well) and in a whisper, he explained the proceedings to me. And then, after a period of time, we leave.
This is a community that is broken. Every family in this community is facing challenges, on multiple fronts, with multiple members. I have another friend who is very much part of this community and works with the shire, I asked him, ‘how are you going’, a simple enough question. He replied, ‘I’m tired of digging graves.’ Each grave is for someone he knows or may even be for a family member. Even the healthiest within this community are overwhelmed.
And so, I come back to the question, how was your week? I’ve just told you about mine. But the real question I have for all of us, is this, who is our neighbour?
Will you pray for this community and all the others just like it? Will you display loving justice in tangible ways, (even if, at this point in time, we are not really sure what that would look like)?
On behalf of my friends in this community I am asking for HELP! After all, this is Australia!
Photo by Mark Vegera on Pexels.com
Copyright for this article belongs to Mal Good and it can only be reproduced with his permission.
