I drove to a remote Northern Territory Aboriginal community of Kalkarindji to provide a mentoring session & a community disco to Youth. Upon arriving, I saw a bunch of kids hanging around. So, I decided to set up a pair of turntables, speaker and a Mic. Shame is common in Youth gathered in group and to take a first step, you have to demonstrate while motivating the bunch to express themselves. I started rapping and encouraging them to sing/rap to instil confidence, break barriers and help them face their fears.
Within 10 minutes these kids conveyed messages of their daily life coupled with some fun and well-articulated stories. This went on for 1h before I realised that this moment should be captured on Camera. I only got few segments at the very end when full confidence was at its highest point. This particular kid in the pic below is very talented. English is his 3rd or 4th language, yet real vocal bars were thrown/spat to the little crowd in awe.
There’s a whole new challenging world outside of their small worlds, but baby steps are necessary in order to achieve bigger goals. y
