My name is Laura and I work with the ALNF. Wall of Hands 2015 launches today as we honour National Sorry Day. This year, we celebrate Indigenous children’s progress in literacy in our Wall of Hands communities – we’re so glad you’re here to join us!
Celebrate with us by supporting our ongoing work in remote communities.
Every child should have the opportunity to learn to read and write, but the 2014 NAPLAN results show that in very remote areas, only 2/5 kids can read at the minimum standard. In some parts of the Northern Territory, this figure is as low as 1/5. But things are changing. Together, we are giving kids like Chance the opportunity to have a voice.
Chance attended our writer’s camp because he was passionate about sharing his stories. He was so proud of his final work, which he read out to me:
A horse galloping is like the rain at night
Thrashing a hot tin roof.
And the hooves are like thunder
Crashing the sky
With lightning zig-zagging through
The blackened night sky.
But buffalo are like the driving rain
Strong and deadly
Like lightning stomping
And hooves thundering
Beneath big blackened bodies
Muscles rippling
Like threatening wild storm clouds.
Our literacy programs give children like Chance confidence in their remarkable abilities.
In my job, I see the ALNF’s literacy programs in action all over Australia. The people who welcome me into these communities are the warmest and most resilient people I’ve ever met, but their stories remind me how hard it is to overcome deeply entrenched disadvantage. But things are changing: I have seen parents, children, elders and assistant teachers empowered with confidence to teach their children English and First Language.
We won’t stop until 5/5 kids can read. Will you help us finish what we started?
Help us reach our Wall of Hands 2015 goal of $500,000 to enable Indigenous children across Australia to fulfil their potential.
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