His mother, Melita Bell, is very proud of him. “The school
introduced him to a world that he never knew … I get all emotional when I
seriously think about it because he’d still be in school – achieving what? He’s
at Scots College achieving because of the Exodus
Foundation. They do more than just teach him to read. They gave him confidence
and an understanding of how important an education is. He said to me one day ‘I
go to school because I want to learn and for my [Aboriginal] people.’
Now he wants to be a doctor. I say that’s all due to the
Exodus Foundation. Tyrell is probably a story of many.”
Last month Reverend Bill Crews opened the Tutorial Centre at
the Robinson Centre Church Hall in Alexandria.
South Sydney Uniting
Church is sharing in the
project by proving the hall and also office space at a reduced rate. This will
temporarily house the program until the defunct Redfern Public School
is refurbished.
Thirty-two students, mostly Indigenous, from Darlington Public School,
Alexandria Park
Community School
and Our Lady of Mount Carmel Primary School at Waterloo began classes a week before the
opening. “The first week has been fantastic,” head teacher Kyle Pitt said. “It
surprises me how fast the kids adapt. They come from 8.30am to 11.30am and we
work them hard. Every minute is accounted for. The reason I do it is because
it’s a literacy program that works. What I get out of it is seeing the kids
gain confidence – they come with low confidence – that translates to every
aspect of their life. After a term or less, you can see kids’ outlook almost
physically change. That is the most fulfilling thing as a teacher.”
“It’s great [to open the centre] but there’s more to do,”
Crews said. “In the scheme of Indigenous kids and education, it’s a drop in the
bucket. We’ve got to move if we want conditions of Indigenous people to
improve. We need to provide top quality education and that’s what we aim to do.”
Source:
South Sydney Herald April 2007 – www.southsydneyherald.com.au