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SAIL Program
Newsletter 14
October 2002
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 .
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 .
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,