SAIL Program Newsletter

The 'let us know' list
1. If any of your contact details have changed, please let us know.
2. If you are planning to have contact with your student outside of SAIL hours you must let us know first and then complete the contact request form.
3. If you intend to bring a friend to SAIL please direct them to the website first and direct them to apply online or just let us know beforehand.
4. Let us know if you are going to miss a Saturday by email, phone or the "Can't Come Sheet".
5. Please check your email account each week- if possible, Friday is best!
6. Please let us know before you speak publicly or publish an article about SAIL.

Important Diary Dates (Please note that SAIL does not take school holidays or long weekends off!)
1. Tutor Talk (in service) sessions are at 12:30pm on Saturdays 4th October, 8th November, 13th December.
2. Please bring any second hand clothes for recent arrivals in the Sudanese community on the Saturday before Tutor Talk weeks. Second hand toys are always very welcome in SAIL Junior.
3. There is no SAIL Xtend on the listed dates ie no Arabic or short courses.

Cars and lifts
1. Flinders Street- there are three cars that collect tutors from Flinders Street station every week. Cars leave at 10:05am from (and returns to) the post box on Flinders Street. Feel free to catch the lift!
2. Clifton Hill, Brunswick, Parkville, Collingwood, St Kilda, Richmond and Ringwood also have tutor collection points. Contact the co-ordinators for more information on 9819 5223.
3. Car drivers please note that, unless you are bringing non-human cargo to SAIL, we ask that you park your car in the Mephan Street car park located on the far side of the school (at the top of May Street) or, if you are early, at the front of the church on Ballarat Road.

Ongoing offers
1. Arabic classes- free to all SAIL volunteers from 12:30 – 1:15pm.
2. Photocopying- for any SAIL related photocopying, simply mark the pages from the books you want copied and give the book to Matthew or Anna Grace on Saturday- it will be ready for you the following week!
3. If you would like to post an ad or some other information relating to SAIL or another not-for-profit venture in which you are involved, please email the text and it will be included in the next newsletter.
4. The Tutor Resources section of the website is available at all times to provide tutors with ideas, games, work-sheets and support. We strongly suggest that if you are experiencing difficulties of any kind when working with your student, you post a request for advice on the SAIL Panel of Experts Bulletin Board (accessible from the Tutor Resources section).

Please read this entire document in the following week it gives updates on SAIL past, present and future!

Saturday Coordinator role application closing date
As promoted in the last newsletter we are keen to receive expressions of interest for the Saturday co-ordinator role. We omitted to mention that we will be accepting these expressions until mid-September. If you would like to take on a more instrumental role in SAIL and its never-ending growth, please drop us a line. Please note that at least one person has expressed a keen interest in job-sharing this role and is keen to find someone to job-share with. If this could be you, let us know!

Are you game?
You may have noticed that the game supplies at SAIL have been rather low of late. Despite the fact that they are nothing more than cardboard and some plastic, games are ridiculously expensive, and so we removed what was left of most of them a few months back, due to, well, extreme ‘(wo)manhandling!’ However, we recognize that games, cards, puzzles and the like are very useful and important learning tools, and we do want to make them available to everyone. So, we recently went to town (well, technically we went to Chadstone) on some fresh supplies…and we now have a new system designed to stop these latest learning tools becoming SAIL road-kill.

From this week, every game will have a clean A4 piece of paper attached to it. On this paper, one librarian will record who has borrowed the game (tutor and student) and the date. The librarian should also sign off that they allowed the game to leave the library. The same details and the game name will be recorded elsewhere in the games borrowing book. At the end of each session the games that are returned will be signed off. Those games that are not returned or are only partially returned will be reported to one of us to follow up.

Twinkling toes and SAIL
Yet again we have the unique pleasure of having tickets to offer to SAILors for the Australia Ballet series called First Impressions. First Impressions is partly organized by our very own, chef-genius and Xtend cooking leader, Lilla. Through Lilla, we are able to offer 12 tickets in row D (!!) for the First Impressions performance at 11:30am on Tuesaday 16 September 2003.

We also have three tickets to see the Playbox Theatre Company’s latest world premiere, Yangai! Yangai! This play tells stories of the Yorta Yorta (Aboriginal) People of Northern Victoria, the traditional owners of the land. It would be a very appropriate introduction to indigenous issues for those able to attend.

If you would like to take your student on either of these SAIL About excursions please contact us by email as soon as possible. As always, first in best dressed and all completely free!

Discussing Behavior on the Bulletin Board
For a while now, we have been looking to add experts to our ‘panel’ who can help provide guidance to Australian SAILors who have concerns about how to handle issues of trauma that evidently affect their students, or are concerned about their student’s trauma-related behavior. A few common concerns that we hear are: students who are very shy, introverted and have trouble trusting tutors or relaxing around them, students who display aggressive or angsty behavior during SAIL time, and the prevalence of violent images in the drawings of many SAIL children.

We recently had a meeting with the Victorian Foundation for the Survivors of Torture (aka Foundation House). We talked to two workers, Ndungi and Jackie, who kindly agreed to be a part of their own bulletin board panel. Both have years of experience working as counselors with the African refugee communities, particularly with adult trauma survivors. They are able to suggest some possible causes of and solutions to the kinds of behavior that some volunteers are witnessing and are troubled by. We urge anyone with a concern about their student to get in touch with them. Remember that we can also be contacted about these issues and very much want to know about your concerns so that we are aware of how you and the students are going – but we can now also offer you guys something in the way of professional guidance.

We also put out a general call to all SAILors that the Bulletin Board is still there. Please make use of it as a means of resolving concerns you have about your time with your student/s. We would welcome more activity and encourage you to think about what advice would be of use to you. In our experience, the chances are very high that someone else will have the same concerns! For those who are yet to register, please do so.

SAIL Xtend and Car drivers!
SAIL Xtend numbers on Saturday afternoons are dwindling. Not because young SAILors don’t love every minute of the fabulous courses offered by other SAILors but because they are being taken home! We put out the call the all drivers of tutors over 8 years; please check with your passengers before they leave if they would like to join in on one of the short courses. If they would, they are very welcome and we will organise a lift home for them at the end of the day. If they wouldn’t, that’s fine, they can be taken home as usual. Thanks for your assistance in monitoring this crucial part of the SAIL Program!

Can’t Come E-sheet
As mentioned in the last e-newsletter, the Can’t Come E-sheet is now online and e-waiting for your input! We would encourage all e-SAILors to let us know they can’t e-come on a Saturday by this means rather than phone, text message or e-mail. The e-form is designed to e-minimize labour for our wonderful e-administration volunteers. E-thanks to those who have already done so and e-sorry to anyone who found it faulty. Happy e-signing it!

Keyboards of any description
Got an old musical or computer keyboard lying around at home or work? We are desperately in need of both after our store room was raided of them in the last month. Please let us know if you are able to oblige or alternatively if you see someone with a box full of computer keyboards let us know, and we’ll send them a personal note requesting their return!

Good Work sheets spring back to life
For all those tutors who were previously using the Good Work sheet system to reinforce good work during SAIL time we would like to encourage back into the fold! The Good Work sheets will be available each week from 12pm from Matthew or Anna Grace. For those wanting to know more, please visit the website and read about the Good Work sheet craze and the way that it can be useful for tutoring at SAIL.

Porky the Suggestion Pig
Pigs might not fly but they do SAIL! Meet the newest member of the SAIL team – Porky, a small ceramic pig who will now reside in the kitchen at SAIL. Some people don’t have internet access, but still have questions or suggestions about SAIL they want to raise with us. Other people may have concerns they don’t feel comfortable about raising with us personally. Porky is the antidote to this problem. Easily identified by his bright, spotty coat and teethy smile, Porky has a small hole in his back where any SAIL related thoughts or grumbles can be poked – anonymously if you like. He’ll be in the kitchen from now on. Please take time to introduce yourself in the coming weeks, he is very keen to meet all of us.

Smoking mobile phones!
Although this is technically impossible, these two activities separated have arisen out of nowhere around SAIL just recently. We are requesting that all SAILors please refrain from smoking at all during SAIL time and also refrain from smoking while in May St, at the school, or anywhere around the church. Essentially we ask that SAILors please stop smoking anywhere that there is a chance it will be seen by any student. We ask this for the basic reason that each and every tutor is a vital role model, not only for their individual students but also the children generally.

Similarly, there has also been a bit of mobile phone activity going on during SAIL time, and while we are not ideologically opposed to mobiles (well, one of us isn’t), it usually means that kids end up wandering around while their tutors are talking. This is very unfair on the students who are invariably left to their own devices while the conversation goes on on the phone. We ask that all SAILors to please keep your mobile phones off between 10:30am and 12pm. If you’ve got a teenage student who is also a little chat-happy, feel free to remind them of the same rule!

Childcare during the week
We currently have a mum who desperately wants to go to extra English classes at Centrelink on Wednesday and Thursday mornings between 10am-12pm but is unable to afford childcare and therefore can’t attend. She has two little girls aged 3 and 5 who are very easy to look after. Would anyone be interested (or know someone who is) in providing some voluntary childcare at her home in Braybrook on these days? This childcare would also be included as part of the SAIL Home Help Program and thus the volunteer will have SAIL resources at their disposal and will be eligible to attend the free SAIL Home Help training.

An apology in advance
Did you know that the human mind can only remember 300 names at once? Primary research that we are currently conducting on ourselves indicates just this. We would like to formally and publicly apologize for the fact that our little brains have maxed out on SAIL names. We would also like to apologise for all those whose names we get incorrect in the coming weeks and months. We are continuing to study the student-tutor list on a nightly basis in an attempt to catch up. In the meantime please be kind to us as we struggle to grow extra memory. Please also note that if we do get your name wrong, we formally bestow upon you the right to call us “Gertrude”, “Boris” or even “Wilbourforce” at your discretion!

Babysitters still wanted!
Thanks to all who have been in touch with AG about babysitting work. There is still one specific spot that is unfilled. It is a regular Wednesday morning babysitting session from 9am – 1 pm, the family in question live in Clifton Hill, are incredibly nice and have a super-cute 4 year old girl who is very easy to look after. Anyone interested, please let AG know as soon as you can. For anyone available outside of the inner-north, AG also knows some families in Camberwell, Ivanhoe, Williamstown and Elwood who are keen to get in touch with some more casual sitters.

Birthday Madness as SAIL turns two in style!
The revels kicked off at Kris and Ally’s house on Friday 29th. There was tutor-provided food that Gabrielle Gate would have been proud of, bargain drinks and more little round fruit flavoured lollies than we ever want to see again (how did we end up buying 30 kilos of those?). The conversation was lively and the topics of these conversations deviated from SAIL and other SAILors at least once which was a pleasure to see. When it came to the speeches, the two of us had degenerated into a teary mess. By (repeated) request, an abridged version of Matthew’s speech can now be found on the website. Akon and two members of his Dambai dance group performed four songs, the atmosphere lifted and the streets of North Fitzroy throbbed with African vibes. All in all, the Tutor Bash was, as predicted, a great success. Thanks so much to all of those who came and brought yummy things to eat. Special thanks must go to Kris and Ally for offering us the option of invading their house with such good humour and for encouraging such a warm and supportive atmosphere. Thanks also to the Dambai Dance Group for their amazing performance and to Poly for helping to pull it all together.

Moving on to Saturday – well, aside from what was probably the most boisterous tutoring session ever (and that’s saying something!), it was an extremely successful day. The first ‘treat’ was the film, The Great Pretender (1999) starring a couple of unlikely local celebrities. For those still wandering, no, it was not a documentary and no also , that was not Anna Grace’s body in the incriminating shot. It was, in fact, a 15-year-old, heavily padded boy! The kids reactions were priceless, and comments from them post-event have been thankfully more on the side of ‘you guys were funny’ than ‘you’re a couple of huge losers.’ We then stormed across to the soccer field for the group photo. Somehow everyone was grouped together , somehow almost everyone complied - amazing! At one point a tutor was heard to comment, ‘Of all the insane things you guys have done, this tops the lot.’ But our lovely photographers were so patient and willing to work with our large numbers. Three shots - silly, smiley and friendly – were taken and then it was into the hall for the concert. Our thanks to Greg, Martin and Cameron. For their patience and skill. We will be making the group photo available online as soon as we receive it.

Anyone who wondered what our lovely teenage SAILors have been doing during tutoring lately had their questions answered. The ‘Flow’ group have been working on the theme, ‘My life as a River’ with creative writer Berni Jansen. The performance of their writing on the day was gorgeous. Getting up to perform in front of that many people is daunting, especially when many of them are your peers, and these guys did an amazing job. Again, their script will be available online in the coming weeks on the Student Reflections page.

After a bit of filling that tested Matthew’s crowd-stalling tactics, the next item soon burst on stage. Our very own Sudanese rock-star, the one and only Akon Deng Shok, had gone all out this time, and he and the young adult members of the Dambai Dance Group blew our socks off. Decked out in full Dinka costume, these guys “went off” and pretty soon so did the entire church. Audience participation was almost compulsory, with even the tiniest SAILors doing warrior dances on the pews. It was a concert that could have gone for hours, and very nearly did, but we had to wind things up…so – a hat was presented to Akon for all his hard work, Happy Birthday was sung, the candles on the cake were blown out, and the celebrations ended as most SAILors headed off home with the sound of Dinka songs and chants ringing in their ears.

This day was very, very special to us and we sincerely hope that everyone else had a great time as well. There are so many people to thank for making it happen. EVERYONE who brought cakes – they were amazing! Holli and Hop for sourcing and then rigging up an audiovisual system for the film with such apparent. The photographers for donating their time free of charge. The kitchen staff for coping with all the extra demands. Matoc, for translating. Berni, for her professional expertise in the form of ‘Flow’, her patience, and her commitment to our loveable teenage monsters. All the tutors who have been working behind the scenes to get Flow happening, especially Anna Egan, Billy and Anne who’ve been with the project since the beginning, and Guy for his help with the music. Rob and Bridgid for the extra jobs they did on the day. Akon, as ever, for his energy as a performer and his positive words about SAIL. And to all those who stayed, herded, cheered, clapped and laughed with such generosity and enthusiasm– thanks for making it all so memorable.

New Look Library
From Bridgid!
Thank you to everyone for your patience during the very exciting library facelift. The new shelving is near completion (so “in theory” the mayhem should end in a few weeks) and as you will have noticed there is a lot more room! No longer will you be bombarded by an avalanche of books as you try to remove just one, no longer will you have to look in three parts of the library to find the white books, no longer will the tutor references be squished like sardines. You will hopefully have noticed a few new sections arising in the past few weeks such as ‘poetry’, ‘plays’ and the favourite ‘magic board books’. We have also had a donation of some incredibly beautiful picture books that have made their way to our shelves. Books and resources will still be moving around as we decide how to make the best possible use of the space, so be sure to ask us if your favourite atlas is lost! With the new space there is opportunity to create more sections, and be really creative with the set up of the library. So please feel free to make suggestions to the librarians about new categories you would like to see, or about anything in general regarding the library, resources, etc…. Some things are obviously beyond our resource capacity, but there is definitely scope for your ideas and we are always keen to hear them.

From us!
The latest leap forward is thanks to the hard work of three camps. Firstly Sue Hunter, who worked tirelessly to track down $1300 worth of timber from Fowles Timber Group and a particularly high-quality and varied load of newly donated books. Secondly the VUCIP Work for the Dole Scheme who have built the gorgeous shelves. And thirdly, our amazing Library team, headed by the indomitable Bridgid, who have all put a huge amount of time and energy into resorting, reshelving, and reorganising the whole shebang. Massive thanks to all. The library will soon be available to all tutors for summer holiday rental accommodation at very reasonable prices (all proceeds to SAIL) although we have booked it for our family holidays over Christmas – sorry!

THANK YOUSE!
A general thank you to all those who have responded to notes we have previously posted in the newsletter. We greatly appreciate the fabulous responses we always get from requests we post in this news sheet. We are also glad and very appreciative that everyone takes the time to read-up about all the goings-on for the SAIL community.

SAIL tutor Jesse also gets a special mention. Jesse has been moonlighting in the kitchen towards the end of SAIL sessions for some months. He has done this totally without us asking him to and we really appreciate the gesture! Without his help, the bread simply would not be ready to go out to all the SAIL homes.

Total Trivia
The word “sail”, when pronounced as it is in English, means absolutely nothing in Arabic, Dinka or Swahili. This means that all the fabulous images conjured up by the word for most English speakers are completely lost on a majority of SAILors!

Many thanks for joining us on-board at SAIL and sincere thanks on behalf of the Sudanese community for the time and effort that you continue to donate. And, of course and for one last time, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Matthew and Anna Grace