Since setting up the shop as a boxing gym in Easter, this was the third trip I have made to Bourke to work on the Boxing program and talent-id vision. When you start something like this you hope but you have no idea how it well be received and although I’m running free classes I wasn’t expecting a deluge of students as the town is rightly suspicious of outsiders and do-gooders who can be charletans in disguise. So many NGO’s and organizations get funding only to swallow most of it and a only small percentage finds it’s way to where it is needed. This is why I am taking my time an building organically before I attempt to find funding. I need runs on the board by getting some successes whether it be in boxing or say a full schalarship to a private school in Sydney and prove to the locals I intend to be there for the long haul and in fact the vision is that what I set up endures long after I am gone and my ultimate dream is that the model can be replicated accross Indigenous communities in NSW and hopefully beyond . Besides the fun in this is growing one person at a time. For once in my life i don’t need to make ends meet and at the same time I am transported back in 36 years in time when myself and a small group of friends started our first karate dojo in Sydney. The excitement, the challenges the excruciatingly slow growth and i get to do it all again I am truly blessed and this time ready to savor every moment.
This is not Sydney for one thing the kids at a very young age have dexterity that is hard to believe but the boys have the attention span of a gnat so it is finding that button to push that unlocks the concentration gene but as boxing is just as much about girls now I’ll be happy regardless.
Because the kids or their parents may not be using Facebook, I have had to get creative to attract attention. As most people know I am happy to collect unwanted clothes, books, toys, tools and household goods, I found that by putting ‘Free Stuff’ in front of the shop to encourage attention and obviouly give stuff to where it’s needed. It has worked well with everything disappearing within hours and people poking their head in the door to see what is going on. So please keep the stuff coming, I can store unlimited amounts at my property at Ryltone and now have a VW commercial van as well as my hilux and trailer. As i do the maintenance around this building which includes taking alot of rubbish away there may be a delay until i can get to you for bulky stuff but please ask anyway. As long as it’ running or in reasonable condition I’m happy it doesn’t go to council cleanup. Because Domestic Violence is high in Bourke women and their famillies are often left with nothing so furniture, even beds can make a huge difference to a family and by proxy the children we are trying to help.
I was rendering the bricks on teh outide of the house behind the gym and the kids used the wet mortar to sign their names then turned up to class. I kind of gave them a hard time but in my heart I quite enjoyed that they claimed the property as their own. The problem though is that graffitti encourages more graffitti but then will escalate to break-ins and it is common that properties burn down there.
This was a photo from last time and I have done significantly more work on the bricks to the right under the window. As the house was built in the 1800’s of a locally made brick over time the bricks have decayed and although the walls are over a foot thick I want to stabilize and reinforce the structure before opening the door at the back (where the Primativ Warrior sign is) to the shop which is where the current gym is. I will then have a small boxing ring in the house (The house is 6 metres wide and 12 metres long inside the bricks 72sqm). It has a small verandah to the rear of this photo which houses a shower and another which i will soon install an inside toilet. The gym has a kitchen and toilet but the house has an outside toilet at present. Once I have set the house up and connected to the current gym I can move to a section Fords Bridge a small village 70km north of Bourke which is now 61km sealed and commute a few days a week to Bourke assuming the club has grown to the point that it is not practical to stay there.
