By Seth Bogardus
The third group of boys coming from Eungai Creek’s term stay have almost returned, and the excitement has settled enough that we an interview can be held with one of the boys to take a closer look into life at Eungai apart from the brief words in an assembly.
This was from a boy in Term 1: it might change in the future.
Here are the responses to some questions aimed at getting a deeper dive about the activities, schoolwork and what’s keeping them busy.
How often did you complete activities? What did you do?
“It was quite a while ago, but we did service on Mondays, farming and surfing on Tuesdays and one 2-hour lesson. On Wednesday, we had an activity that was different every week, and our one 3-period day of school, consisting of 2-hour lessons. On Thursday, we had service, where we had multiple different choices to help in the local community. On Friday, we went snorkelling, fishing or kayaking for most of the day.”
“There were a few options to help in the community, such as cleaning up the environment in the local park or the beach to make a shell pile, which was interesting to see how many shells there were, as well as the layers and their age. We also got to help kids from Kempsie with both school and surfing, which was a new experience for sure.”
How much schoolwork was there? Was it difficult?
“It was easy: essentially reviewing basics to stay ready for school when we got back. We had 4 periods every week that were 2 hours long, so about 8 hours per week in total. We did all the required subjects (Maths, English, Science, History) and Drama.”
What’s one way life was different at Eungai Creek?
“The biggest thing was probably that there were no devices (aside from watching sport, a couple movies and MP3 players). It didn’t really impact me, but it made a lot of people more active: instead of scrolling on phones, people would hang out in person and focus more on their hobbies.”
What did you do during your free time?
We played a lot of board games (and chess tournaments) in cabin groups, as well as reading or sleeping. There was also a lot of touch footy when we wanted to interact between cabins. I hadn’t played it before, but I found it a fun way to pass the time. We also had to do journalling every few days to cover what you’d done up here, and you could also write letters to people back home.
Did the experience change you or others at all?
Yes. It definitely changed me short-term, and partially long-term. The single most different thing that changed me was improving my gratefulness: seeing the kids at Kempsie made us more grateful for what we have in Sydney and it’s so much more different and moving seeing it in person as opposed to TV. We got to teach some kids surfing closer to the end of the stay, which was a nice experience, but while doing that, we heard stories about how different life was at Kempsie: it seemed extremely chaotic, even to the point where houses would get firebombed multiple times a year. It just made me a million times more grateful for what we have at home. The space from devices didn’t stay for too long, but I learnt a lot more about alternatives and myself – more hobbies and things I can do outside of a screen.
Finally, what did you think of the term stay overall?
“Absolutely a 10 out of 10 experience. I was sad to leave – I wouldn’t do it again straight away, but I would like to go back, if only for a short time. It was nice having some distance from urban life and experiencing something different. However, my academics would likely suffer if I went back again, and you learn most of the lessons you’ll bring with you in just the term stay.”
