| Events
Tutor Talks
We will be conducting our first major ‘feedback’ talk from
12:30pm on Saturday, 19th October in the Chapel. Heather, our School
Liaison SAILor will be leading the discussions and calling for suggestions
on how individual students can be better assisted. Sudanese community
leaders will also be present. This is a vital opportunity for every
tutor to put forward their ideas about how SAIL can be more effective.
The Spielgeltent set to rock to the sound of the Southern Sudanese
beat
The Southern Sudanese drum and dance troupe, as fronted by our tireless
and talented bus driver Akon Deng Shok, are currently preparing for
their Australian Professional Debut as part of the Melbourne International
Festival. They will be performing in the World Famous Spiegeltent in
front of the Arts Centre Spire from 6-8pm on Thursday, 24 October. SAIL
has an allocation of just 50 tickets at $13 each for the evening. EVERYONE
IS INVITED TO COME ALONG WITH FRIENDS OR FAMILY – BUT GET IN QUICK!
Matthew will be selling them on behalf of the group every Saturday.
All proceeds will go to the development of Akon’s group.
Requests
Out of hours contact
We are currently in the process of drawing up a SAILing Charter to outline
the rights and responsibilities of tutors and students. One provision
of this document we want to emphasise straight away as we view it very
seriously.
As student and tutor relationships develop more and more incidents
arise where tutors are invited to or chose to initiate out-of-SAIL-hours
contact. We are deeply concerned about how this practice is regulated
and recorded. We advise that no tutor is to have contact with a student
(of any age) outside of hours without previously informing us and, where
applicable, discussing it with the parents. The simple rule is to let
us know in advance. We want to make it clear that we do strongly encourage
trusted and trusting relationships to develop between students and tutors
however we will not allow unauthorised contact outside SAIL time. If
you have any queries or plans to let us know about, please contact us
at any time.
New Students
As you’ve probably noticed, there has been a large increase in
student numbers of late. Many of these students have little or no English
and have come directly from very tough environments, and communication
with them, be it lessons or a quick ‘Are you OK?’ or ‘Please
be quiet’ etc. can therefore be tricky. Please be as patient with
them as you can, and keep in mind how rocky and confusing their life
has been lately – particularly in regards to the kids. It does
explain a lot. However, if you feel they are behaving in a truly unacceptable
way, either towards a tutor, or students or in general (examples include
stealing food from the kitchen and randomly hitting keys on the computers)
do not hesitate to make clear to them that this is not on. Or you can
point them out to us at some point, and we and a Sudanese adult will
have a chat with them.
Thankyou to those who have been piggybacking the new students along
with your old ones – we have a lot of new tutors coming in and
we should be able to gradually pair everybody off.
The case of the wandering baby a.k.a Nomad Watch
On a weekly basis, our nomadic population seems to rise. We are clamping
down on nomadism for any child between the ages of 0 and 5 years- except
when they are with their parents. Whenever you see a wandering child
please return them to the SAIL Baby room (the Chapel) or alert Matthew
or Anna Grace immediately. This should reduce the distractions for all
other tutors and their students.
Library maintenance
The library has had an overdue overhaul and is now fuller and more ordered
than ever before. We beg and plead with every single tutor to please
ensure that books you or your students take out are replaced in the
correct spot within the library. If you are unsure where books belong
please ask Mary or Sarah (our new librarians), Matthew or Anna Grace
and they will gladly show you around.
Testing times
For all uni students it’s coming to that time of year again. We
sincerely hope that people's time management skills allow everyone to
continue regular attendance even as the essay due dates and exams approach.
Some suggestions of what to cut back on before you skip a SAIL Saturday
include TV, parties, food and sleep.
Car parking
Father Don will be braving the perils of May St. this week, redirecting
cars to our new car park on Ballarat Rd. We ask every one to park firstly
in the garage/car shop on Ballarat Rd. (which is before the church if
you are coming from the city direction, on the same side of the road,
and there is a large building site between it and the church), then
on the lawn in front of the church and at last resort in May Street.
The reason we have to ask for this is because of the repeated requests
of the May St. residents. We have also recommended they watch a certain
programme on every day at 3:30pm and 6:30pm on Channel 10!
Second and final call...
The Art Extravaganza is all coming together for the grand opening in
SAIL time in two weeks. This is final request from Lynn, Peter and Kate
(Art Team organisers) for tutors to submit their own art and the art
of their students for display.
Freebie Gang
We have two new SAILors who are dedicating their time to the pursuit
of the free ticket- a very worthy cause! Kevin and Charlotte will be
working with us on a long-term basis canvassing various theatre companies,
sports team, produce suppliers, venue holders and any other organization
that may be able to donate tickets or goods for the benefit of the Sudanese
community. They have already netted 10 tickets to see Rove Live being
filmed. If you have any suggestions or contacts for any event please
contact them via the SAIL email account SAIL@Melbourneemail.com.
Plastic bags
Every week we encourage all SAILors to take home the bread that Maureen,
SAIL tutor, collects from Bakers Delight. We are constantly in need
of recycled plastic bags to package these. If everyone could bring all
the spare plastic bags they have at home and collect each week this
would make the job of the culinary team a lot easier.
Library Newspapers
Thanks to the kindness and organization of Bill and Lesley, SAIL tutors,
the library now has the most recent newspapers every week. We encourage
everyone to use the newspapers for reading and cutting out.
News
SAIL Home Help
The SAIL Home Help Program has begun. Like SAIL itself, it has started
humbly with three SAILors visiting two SAIL families for three hours
during the week to help with homework, housework and generally provide
support to the single parents. If anyone is interested in this new feature
of SAIL or knows others who may be, please email us at SAIL@Melbourneemail.com.
Summer break
For those long-term planners amongst us, the final SAIL for 2002 (and
the famous Christmas party with our
very own Santa) will take place on Saturday 21, December. We are hoping
to have a repeat success with a tutor social bash before- this is in
the early stages of planning. We will be breaking for all of January
and some of February too. Please let us know if you will be away in
February so we can arrange the most appropriate day to set off SAILing
for 2003.
Pew sale
This has nothing to do with garden fertiliser. The mass of pews stored
in the Hall are on their way out. The All Saints Council have kindly
agreed to sell them to allow more space in the Hall for SAIL use on
Saturday. Any pew collectors amongst us are advised to speak to Don
about their pending departure.
SAIL bank account
We are both having great trouble sleeping at the moment- the sole reason
is the excitement which fills our every cell following the (grand) opening
of the SAIL bank account. We now have our own account with all our money
accessible to us. This means that any outstanding debts we have to individual
tutors can now be very readily rectified with a SAIL cheque- bring a
receipt and we’ll happily do a swap.
Thank yous
Uni Volunteer Fair Day
On Tuesday last week, there was a volunteer fair at Melbourne University
for the good folk of the Uni’s Student Ambassador Program. We
want to thank Rita, who organised the whole damn thing and Ben Hopper
who helped represent SAIL. Hopefully, we’ll be gleaning new tutors
from it in the coming weeks.
SAILing on Phillip Island
Camp III, the final camp for 2002, was another great success. Forty
SAILors headed down to the comfortable surrounds of Phillip Island to
enjoy some intense rest and relaxation. Endless thanks to Maja, Al,
Jesse, Elise and Marty who accompanied the group down with us and led
the bevy of SAILor cadets on a list of misadventures. Highlights of
the camp were the (free) visit to the Penguin Parade, the soccer match
with a local team and the daily trips to the beach. We hope to repeat
the camping adventures later next year and provide even more SAILors
with a chance to get away and enjoy each other’s company!
Starting Time
A big thank you to all those arriving at SAIL before the 10:30am start.
And an even bigger thank you to SAIL Senior tutors who are arriving
early and starting early. We have begun to take records of those who
arrive after 10:40am each week. We will be asking individual tutors
to 'please explain' (© Hanson Pty Ltd) when they do not arrive
before this time.
Thank you
A much overdue thank you to all those patient and dedicated drivers
who ferry 140 odd SAILors into SAIL every Saturday. Also, thanks to
all those (an enormous majority) who are making use of the Can’t
Come sheet to keep us posted of when they will be away. This assists
enormously in week-to-week planning. For example, last week we were
able to plan how calm we would be when 30 tutors were unable to make
it!! Thanks also to all those who have been bringing in their photos
and negatives- keep them a-rollin’ in!
Total Trivia
We have five Marys, three Dahls, Chols, Nyibols, Emmanuals, and Dengs,
two Angelos, Annas, Agoks, Fatimas, Emilys, Florences, Monicas, Johns,
Johnsons, Bens, Fionas, Achols, Davids, Akons, Sophies, Susans but only
one Anna Grace so far!! That means over 25% of SAILors share their names
with other SAILors!
Thanks for your continued attendance, energy and commitment to SAIL
and the Sudanese Community.
Smooth SAILing,
Matthew and Anna Grace
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