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Surry Hills NSW 2010 
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Australia Workcamp Story
Olivier Lozano and Ysabeau Rycx were interviewed by Zoe Porter

Bonjour!…
......Shalom!
Olivier Lozano and Ysabeau Rycx took a year out from their jobs in France to volunteer in workcamps in Australia and Africa. Their two weeks spent on a workcamp at Shalom College in Townsville opened their eyes and their hearts to the local indigenous culture.

We asked Olivier and Ysabeau:
What is Shalom College?
Olivier: The college is a day and boarding school created especially for local Aboriginal and Islander children to suit their learning needs.
Ysabeau: There are many facets to the college. There is a boarders’ college, a day school, an elders’ village and a drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre. Only secondary students live on site. The younger children come from the Townsville area and around.

What did the workcamp involve?
Olivier: I assisted local Aboriginal builders in building a small administration office at the college. I helped with brickwork, cementing, putting up walls and laying the flooring. I also assisted the teachers in the classroom, helping the children learn through play and drawing. I helped the college administrator set up the computer network. I checked the computers and cleaned each one, then put them together, cleaned and formatted the hard drives and formatted the software. The administrator was very pleased with the work I did and wanted me to stay longer.
Ysabeau: My work was very varied, I changed tasks every two hours or so. I helped the administrative staff in the office on the first day, photocopying and creating a powerpoint presentation. After that I worked with the volunteers painting one of the school buildings. We ended up painting each other! In the second week I worked in the classrooms helping the teachers.

What did you learn from the workcamp?
Olivier: We discovered a lot about Aboriginal culture, both through the kids and also through John Adams, who is one of the founders of the college. Every morning he came to speak to us about Australian history, local culture and the community. There is a really strong feeling of community there. We learned that Aboriginal and Islander children needed a place where they can learn together in the same capacity as a normal school, but with a structure that is better suited to their culture and with Aboriginal teachers.
Ysabeau: In Europe we know hardly anything about Aboriginal culture and we found it very interesting. The Australian volunteers on the workcamp took notes and translated things for us, it was a very nice thing to do. Some of the volunteers were curious to know about the didgeridoo. The kids didn’t want to speak about it, we didn’t know why. Later the bus driver, who was Aboriginal, explained to us that the didgeridoo has connections with black magic and people don’t like to talk about it.
We learned that the European school system is not appropriate for these children - they are strongly connected with nature, they don’t respond well to the 9.00am to 3.00pm structure. It became obvious to us how completely different our culture is to their traditional culture. Sometimes it was hard for us to understand certain things. I can understand how it is difficult for them to live in a European culture.

How well did you interact with the children at the college?
Olivier: During the first week of the workcamp there were no kids at the college because it was the last week of holidays. When the kids arrived in the second week, they looked suspicious of us at first and were very shy. We explained where we were from and told them some things about Europe. They wanted to share things from their culture and they told us about things they do, like hunting and fishing.
Ysabeau: I talked a lot with the kids and even taught them some French because they were interested. They thought it was funny and tried hard to remember the words, so they could greet their parents in French!

What did you do when you weren’t working?
Olivier: We spent time together with the other volunteers. Each of us were very different which was interesting. We explored Townsville and went out to dinner to get to know each other. One evening the college organised a BBQ on the beach with some local people undergoing rehabilitation for drug and alcohol problems. Shalom College coordinates a drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre for these people. They were very interested in talking with us and learning about our different countries. Our group cooked dinner for them one evening which they really enjoyed. We talked together and later we played a game of football.

What was the food like?
Ysabeau: At first we ate together with the children in the dining room at lunch and dinner time, but because the boys and girls ate separately and we only had a short time to eat, we preferred to make our own food. Also there were a lot of vegetarians in our group and they couldn’t eat a lot of the prepared food. We went out to dinner in Townsville as well. I have to say that French wine is superior to Australian wine!
Olivier: The food we made was really good, everyone took turns to cook.

And the accommodation?
Ysabeau: We stayed in a guesthouse at the college. It was very comfortable and nice, we had our own kitchen and bathroom.

Would you do another workcamp?
Olivier: Yes, we have already organised to do one in Melbourne this month, for the CERES Return of the Sacred Kingfisher Festival.
Ysabeau: We spent three months on a workcamp in Tanzania before arriving in Australia. We decided to go to one undeveloped country and one English-speaking country, where we could improve our English as well as help people. We are thinking of maybe doing some work in Latin America one day, but first we need to go home to France to earn money - we have been one year without a salary.

What advice would you give to anyone considering a workcamp?
Ysabeau: Do it! Just don’t go in with a lot of expectations. Be open-minded, patient and ready to discover new things. You might even have a romance!
Olivier: Try to understand people before making a judgement. You will learn new things about yourself as well as other people.

Ysabeau is an environmental engineer and Olivier an electrical engineer. They live in southern France.