2002 School Magazine

rinections service

community

BY comparison, girls have been volunteering to go to the Salvation Army Centre for Adults with an Intellectual Disability at A1kira Village since the program began five Years ago. Because of their caring attitude and imagination, many of them have truly made a difference to lives at A1kira. and regard their experiences there as having made a difference to them too. However, this placement will 00 longer be available as new policies mean the residents will be moving out to live in the community. but the association between BGGS and the Salvation Army has been a most rewarding one over the years and we have valued the opportunity to work with them. Vanessa Lusink 110W) and Samantha Gregg (100) were two of the last group to go there When we offIved on our first day wondering how much of a challengei't was going to be, we were introduced to o11 the lovely ladles we were going to be working with We were both nervous and found it hard to understond what some of the ladi^s were saying, but OS time went on it become clear what they were talking about We started o routine every Tuesday afternoon. Fitst we pointed their nails, then we baked muffins, pancakes or cokes, and OS we winted for the food to cook we played games such OS memory and bingo, or we would 90 for a walk. Then we enjoyed afternoon tea together before we come back to school During our time there we mode strong rdoti'onships whith involved the joules playing jokes on us, o110f us shoring laughs together and having fun. We learned to communicate with people who had on intellectual disob^I^fy but who trusted us and gove us the confidence to develop ski\s that enabled us o11 to work together We learned about the lives of other people and featsed how fortunate we ore We like to think we o150 mode a difference for that short time. As we left they o11 cried, "Please don't 901 We will miss you too much!" We were touched when they sold how much they loved us. it was a fontostic experience and one we will never forget

Service 2002

The Service program in Year 10 is now a traditional part of the school calendar but there are changes from Year to Year which keep it fresh and alive for all involved, not the least of which are the different personalities of girls coming through who always make their contribution in their own special ways. The focus has always been on people and how girls can make a difference to someone else's life which was emphasised by Dr. Heather Beattie in her fascinating talk that she gave at the Year Ten Community Service Conference at the beginning of the Year. She spoke about her own life and work, and through that her contribution to the community, giving the girls some valuable insights into working with people in aged care and how to approach relationships with compassion and empathy The range of diversity that 15 offered to girls is illustrated by experiences related here in two very different settings. A new placement was introduced in Term 3 which enabled two girls to go to the Queensland State Library. Julia Lloyd 110Hj and Susan Yang 110L) were our pioneers in this opportunity and proved to be valuable ambassadors in their painstaking efforts. They were engaged in making old diaries and original documents come to life for those people seeking information about family histories and original settlers. The work was tedious at times but very rewarding Upon arriving we were greeted by our supervisor Miss Stephonie Runn, who then in turn, introduced us to other staff and volunteers we would be working with Throughout our time at the library we were assigned specifically to the Family History deportment. Here we searched through newspapers from the 1800S, lookih9 fortsts of overland passengers provided by the AUStrol^tin Joint Copying Prey'ect On another machine we scrolled through and printed out pages of 10shuo Hughes3 chary written in 1863 about his voyage from Liverpool to Brisbane on the ship, the Montmorency Although it could be very frustrating at times because the pages of the d!dry were worn away and the script was so fernt in okihg it hard to read, we were very glad to be help!'rig to make such informoti'on more access!'ble, and we look forward to continuing our time at the library

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Suson Yong deciphering overtond possenger fists from the eony 1800s

Jul^^ LIDyd transcribihg 10shuo HugleS diary from 1863

Vanesso Iusink und Sumontho Gregg with restdents of A1kiro Village