ICAI Network Exchange

WHAT DOES ABORIGINAL RECONCILIATION MEAN TO ME?
By Ilana Chaffey, 10 years old and in Year 5

It’s a freezing cold day. I’m in a Year 5 classroom in a NSW public school about to do a practice for the basic skills literary test. I open up the booklet and what’s on the page in front of me? ‘What does Aboriginal Reconciliation mean to me?’

At school we only learn a little bit about Aboriginal people, their way of life and their beliefs. It’s mostly about the European view of history. Actually, it’s a whole less than a little bit about Aboriginal people, because what we learn comes mainly from books, television or the Internet. We don’t get it from the people themselves, we don’t get to hear their story.

Reconciliation. Hmm. It’s an English word, in an English dictionary. It’s a long word. It’s hard to spell, and the truth is that Aboriginal reconciliation doesn’t mean a whole lot to me. I mean, do Aboriginal people even have a word for reconciliation??? Probably not, because they most likely haven’t ever had to reconcile before Europeans invaded their land.

I’ve only been on this planet a decade, so what can I write about reconciliation of 200 years of invasion??? Not a lot. What I can write about though, is my experience of reconciliation.

My group of friends is a great group. We play well together and help each other out. We play harmoniously with other groups of kids. But not everyone is like us.

There is one girl and her friends who just come into the playground and try to dominate our games. They never even give us a chance to invite them to join in. They just invade.

They make fun of what we look like, what we eat for lunch and our names. They pick fights and try to take over the ground where we play. They just invade.

They don’t respect the way we use the space to play in and want to make us like them, just like the Europeans did to Aboriginal people.

We defended our games, our space and ourselves. We tried different ways of getting them to stop bullying us. We asked them nicely to stop. We got some back up from other friends and classmates. We tried to ignore them. We reported them to teachers.

When they were confronted with their actions and how it was affecting us, they denied everything and tried to pretend it hadn’t happened. They couldn’t even be bothered to say sorry. I was very angry. It doesn’t take much to say sorry. All you have to do is look the person in the eye and say the word.

The whole experience made me feel really stressed and upset. Much as I’d like them to go away they can’t just disappear. It’s school you know. They have to be there every day. For my survival, I had to find a way to live with them, whether I wanted to or not. With the help and kindness of my family, my friends and my teachers I’ve found some tricks to handle the situation and I’m trying to teach my friends from what I’ve learned. It isn’t always easy. Some days they get up to their old ways again.

I know I won’t ever really trust them until they say sorry and mean it. Hey! Isn’t that what happened to the Aboriginal people??? They were bullied and invaded. For their survival, they’ve also had to find a way to live with people who aren’t like them, whether they want to or not. And they are waiting to hear the word ‘sorry’ too.

Maybe that’s what reconciliation means to me. Looking for a way to live together and waiting for the day when the invaders will say ‘sorry’, and mean it.

I think we’ve made a start on the long road to friendship and equality with Aboriginal people. I think people just don’t realise that it takes time for things to happen. The major message is to keep trying, isn’t it???

I’ve got a lifetime ahead of me and my understanding of what reconciliation means will change as I get older. The things that won’t change for me are the importance of respect, sharing and kindness.

(This was the winning entry in a story writing competition organised by the Harbour to Hornsby Reconciliation Group and Willoughby City Council as part of the Guringai Festival 2006)