Today we depart Yarrabah.  This is the first school where I gave my presentations.  The students were able to articulate and write down goals.  They also wrote an action they could complete tomorrow to move them toward their goal and actions they could take in a month and in a year to move them toward their goal.  I was pleasantly surprised that several students had university aspirations.

I think I had more impact at the local swimming hole with three adorable little girls.  While I was swimming, the three girls started swinging on the rope swing.  It was pretty shallow so they would take turns swinging out and back.  I went over and started talking to them and after a while I asked if I could have a turn.  It was pretty tricky and a few times I couldn’t get back up and had to swing out a few more times to get momentum and different angles.  The girls all thought that was quite entertaining.  After the rope swinging, they invited me to play Tiggy.

Tiggy is the Aussie equivalent to tag, but if you’re “It” down here, you’re “Tig.”  I’ll tell you what, 🙂 those girls knew that swimming hole, were quick, and of course I was the most fun to tig.  I tripped over rocks, fell off logs, slipped all over the place to their utter delight.  I finally had to call “Time Out.” to catch my breath.  At least that’s the same down here.

When we finished, they hadn’t brought towels, so I gave them mine to use.  We ended up back at my place to have water and fruit.  We chatted and had great fun.  Then they were on their way to meet their cousin.

I realised there will be so many lovely children that I will encounter, but are too young to have email accounts.  I may never see them or hear from them again, but they made a great impact on me and I hope I got them thinking about possibilities for their future.