Preparing for a close encounter with Bear Grylls

This week Ian Redpath, our Mission Australia Dubbo Leadership and Cultural Development Program Support Worker, is the envy of his workmates and students.

After a busy week taking his 90 Indigenous school students tenpin bowling as a reward for their application to the program, Ian will head off to Sydney to meet the ‘Man vs Wild’ star at Saturday night’s Hillsong Church service.

Ian (pictured) expects the meeting with Bear, who last year used Indigenous survival techniques during his Top End adventure, will be inspirational:

“It’s definitely an exciting opportunity – I don’t think it could be described as anything else,” he said. “He’s an international icon. It’s a great opportunity as he has experienced so much in his life and is able to motivate so many people, which is what my field also asks me to do.”

In his role, Ian leads a program that helps Aboriginal students from six Dubbo schools to gain relevant life skills through practical activities such as fishing, repairing bikes and cooking.

This week the students, who are aged between 10 and 18, were rewarded for completing educational activities.

“At the start of each term I sit down and explain that if the students show commitment to the activities, they’ll be able to do something fun,” Ian said. “So they spend three or four weeks on an activity like scrapbooking, which helps them understand the importance of creating memories and helps them to tell their stories in a non-verbal way – a lot can switch off when talking begins. 

“It’s definitely an enjoyable activity, but some of the kids struggle at first to understand why it’s important and how it can help them. So offering a reward for commitment works well.” 

While managing 90 students can be challenging, it’s also very rewarding: “It just occurred to me the other day that I learn as much from the children as they learn from me.”

All proceeds from the sale of Saturday night’s tickets will be donated to Mission Australia.

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