Charlie

I am so proud of Charlie. On Tuesday he came into the workshop with little computer experience. On Thursday, he made a great little movie about his family. It was a beautiful tribute to the people he loves and belongs with. He searched through 500+ songs on iTunes to get just the right music and the result moved me to tears as I watched it. Charlie is about 43 and a well respected man here. He speaks slowly in English and we have to work to understand each other but we get there.

Sometimes I realise what he has been asking during the night & go back & fix it the next day. He asked me if we could put "the internet on his memory stick" (we give each participant a memory stick for their work) and I dutifully explained that the internet was very very big and it was not possible to put it on the memory stick. he looked at me blankly & I figured I had misunderstood something. Later that night Michelle said he had asked her about saving his internet stuff to the memory stick & then I realised what he meant. He had started a Word document to write his email address, passwords & how to access Gmail, Internet banking etc and it was the Word doc he wanted to save. Sorted it the next day.

By Friday, he had mastered internet searching and probably used a Gig of the Next g allowance single handed. He had a great time finding local dance videos on YouTube. he had earphones on so the music did not disturb everyone else but occasionally broke into song or started clapping along. It was great to see him so confident. He is an effective personal computer user after four days.

As we packed up he got all excited. "We go hunting when you come back. Take the camera, maybe movie camera. Get geese and kangaroo and crocodile. Make hunting movie and show everyone." I am not sure if that was an invitation but Charlie wanted to know when we were getting back. I can send him an email to remind him. I suspect he is sufficiently fired up to find a computer he can use to continue his exploration of the electronic world. Of special interest is the considerable amount of Indigenous knowledge there. Over time, more and more records and photos from the past are published allowing that knowledge to "come home".

Charlie tells his own story on our participant blog at bianorthernterritory.blogspot.com

Scroll down a little to find it or click on the Charlie Ramandjarri link on the left.