Boys ceremony from our Yolngu family

We were invited by our Yolgnu family to the boys ceremony. We had asked around Maf people and Yolgnu Christians if this was ok. But the best way to find out is to go and find out yourself. We felt quite privelaged and decided to go. They had asked us to bring some bread and soup to share. So we went after church with warm soup and the bread. It was a big happening. The whole week there was clapping on sticks and dancing and the sound of the digeridoos. 4 boys would become a man...by circumcision. The boys were dressed up with a skirt and waiting to be picked up by the dancers.

Brought to a place where they got a painting on their stumich, a story of their family which took 3 hours!! While the Yolgnu man sat around the boys there was entertainment by music(clapsticks and didgeridoo) and singing and and dancing. Telling stories from baby to man.

We were still sitting on the ground on a bamboemat, while the soup got colder and the kids got bored and hungry. We decided to start eating and after that the kids had enough and decided to go home. I had to wait for the boy to finish, because than he could eat, before the real circumcision took place.
Done by the Yolgnu people themselves.
We didn't want to see this part and went home.

it was a privelage to be part of it although we didn't understand it at all. We were really welcome and part of the family.

Christmas and New yearseve

The last day of the schoolyear was a real surprise for the kids.

I had made certificates for each one with a personal writing on them. We started the day first in bible reading and prayers, praise and worship. Thanking God for this schoolyear! He has guided us through.
Then it was time to hand out the certificates, the kids were blown away! It was so fun to do this for them, as they had worked hard and done awesome work in this year of moving everywhere. This was not the only thing we had for them, we also surprised them with a meal at the Gove house!

And as the holidays started so did the rain. The temperature dropped by 10 degrees, we really enjoyed it, and the kids played even outside in the rain, they had lots of fun with their togs on, on their bikes going through puddles. There was a Cyclone coming our way, so we had to teach the children about it and what to do. We made a box with extra food and found out where to go if we had to move. We had some bad weather from the cyclone, but it didn't come towards us, but went south.

Christmas was different again: In a new envirement, culture, new friends, and without family, and with a different Christmas tree, a Jesse tree. We had focussed on the familytree of Jesus, from Genisis to Matthew, the birth of Jesus, that started the end of November. Every day we did a bible story and a devotion and the kids hang a symbol of the story in the tree, that they made themselves. It was waiting for something exciting to happen...Jesus birth, Jesus taking more place in our hearts, and now waitng for His return.

On Christmas eve we went to Yirrkala church, because the kids from kidsclub had practised some dances on Christmas Carols. The plan was to go out on the streets and sing songs, and dance, but it poored down with rain they had to do it in church.

We also had invited our Yolngu family for a Christmas dinner. I had cooked a meal and Eric had to pick them up, they forgot. Only our 'yapa'(sister) came with her 3 grandchildren.Usely they sit on the floor, but our kids had made the table so nicely.The conversation went a little bit hard, as yapa was sitting with her back towards me and didn't look at me when I asked or told her something. Once we were sitting on the couch, it went better and we had a nice conversation.

On Christmas day we came together with 5 new families, we enjoyed each others company.Everyone had prepared something.


Eric went fishing with 3 men, they enjoyed it al.

On New years eve we had invited everyone to our place to celebrate the new year. We had made the tradional oliebollen and some other snacks. We had fun by playing a game: spoons. Even the Paas family could still come. Aartje was already overdue. They put the girls to bed at our place. After 12 they took the youngest, Tamar with them home.

At 5.30 in the morning Arjan called that they had to go to hospital.So I rushed down to their house to babysit Tamar.

An hour later he called me already that they had a healthy baby boy: Ethan! What a joy to start the new year like that!!

see www.bushpiloot.nl