Today we had an exciting day out.
Three of the older women – Hilda, Mary and Dort Dort – took us out to collect
pandanus leaves for basket weaving. Rita, Amy and I took two troopies full of
the women, and girls from the program. Basket weaving is a women only task –
although Mary’s two grandsons couldn’t bear to part with her!
The process of collecting the
leaves is difficult. The ones on the outside are dead, so the aim is to collect
the leaves in the middle of the plant. The plant is covered in needles, so pulling
back the outside pandanus to collect the middle ones can hurt! Hilda
demonstrated with her huge knife and then some of the girls tried their hand at
cutting their own. Some proved to be naturals and others (including Rita and
Amy) struggled with the prickly plants; I had to use tweezers to pull out five
needles from Marcianne’s hand!
Collecting the leaves is only the
first step. What comes after is arguably more difficult. We went to a billabong
where, with the company of three pelicans, we started delicately shredding the leaves.
First in half, and then the top layer needs to be removed from the bottom
layer. It’s a very fiddly process and I’m far from mastering it.
It was a great day to get out of
the school and participate in the cultural activities. It’s possible that we,
the activity leaders, learnt more than the kids! The three women were glad to
be able to take the girls out, and they are even more excited about our fishing
trip on Sunday. Since finding out my skin name, given to me by Mickayla, they
now call me ‘gajin’, which means daughter in law. Apparently you’re not meant
to talk to your mother in law, but I think it just means they can be more
cheeky. “We prefer cordial,” Mary said smiling, when I offered her some water.
Regardless, they find it very funny to give me a title!
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