26/10/09 - 9/11/09
Week 9
Monday the 26th of October through to Thursday the 29th of October - The students began demolition of the toilet blocks at the swimming pool. Attendance has been consistently good with 9-10 students participating each day. However, pay day was on Thursday and only 1 student attended training on Friday.
Tommy (mentor) left the community on Sunday for personal reasons. The Roper Gulf Shire has given him some time off on leave.
Kevin (traditional owner / elder) continues to assist IST by picking up the students each morning and taking them to the relevant work sites. He is passionate about ensuring that the students take advantage of the opportunity they have been given to work and train in their own community.
Week 10
Monday the 2nd of November to Wednesday the 4th of November – Students continue with the demolition of the toilet block.
Derek returned to Ngukurr on Monday.
A welder by the name of David Warboys is helping IST to finish of the welding at the airport shelter. He will also assist with the footings and foundations for the stage. David is only in the community for a week, and is not doing any training, just assisting.
James Connell, a trainer from IST has just finished a job at another remote community called Oenpelli in West Arnhem land, some 360 km from Darwin by road.
James will be heading out to Ngukurr on Wednesday the 4th of November to assist Derek and Kerry for a period of a week. He is bringing extra insulation batts out with him.
Thursday the 5th of November – James arrived yesterday with the extra batts. Kerry and James continued working with the students to install the extra insulation batts at the Youth Centre.
In the meantime, David and Derek started final set out on the stage footings.
Nurses from Royal Darwin Hospital (RDH) were in the community giving people Swine Flu injections and suggested that all of the trainers get vaccinated. Derek said that after the shots they were all sore and had really bad headaches, which slowed down progress in the afternoon.
Friday the 6th of November – Only 2 students attended training today. The set out on the stage area was completed. It was David’s last day today; he heads back to Darwin tomorrow.
Possible delays
Removing the exposed cladding and walls of the toilet block has revealed how badly corroded and rusted the columns are. Derek has taken several photos and sent them through to the engineer to have a look at. He is awaiting further instructions, and will then need to order in the appropriate materials to fix it.
