Community Life
The first step toward change is awareness. The second step is acceptance
Nathaniel Branden
Nathaniel Branden
Living
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Working
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Passing through
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An unusual life. I spent much of my late teenage and early adult years wishing my growing up had been more normal like everyone else I came to know. Later I came to realise there is no normal and life .. your life .. just is. We do what we can to interpret the past but ultimately we were never asked to be born or to choose the life of our formative years.
I never take for granted living in this lucky country. There are wins and losses but I no longer wish to have been "normal". In fact I embrace more as I get older the uniqueness of those years. As for how others see me .. less and less I care.
I have been in, on and through around fifty communities in as many years. These pages have images of places I have lived, worked and visited in some meaningful or professional capacity. More recent photos are my own. Those from the past are by family members and colleagues. For the obvious gaps I have tried to source photos from that time, from the internet and some from an unpublished memoir.
To those I hope one day will want to know more, these pictures are for you and I trust add some images to an interesting tale..
I never take for granted living in this lucky country. There are wins and losses but I no longer wish to have been "normal". In fact I embrace more as I get older the uniqueness of those years. As for how others see me .. less and less I care.
I have been in, on and through around fifty communities in as many years. These pages have images of places I have lived, worked and visited in some meaningful or professional capacity. More recent photos are my own. Those from the past are by family members and colleagues. For the obvious gaps I have tried to source photos from that time, from the internet and some from an unpublished memoir.
To those I hope one day will want to know more, these pictures are for you and I trust add some images to an interesting tale..
I had an idea to convey the contrast between the often tranquil remote community locations and the often less than tranquil lives of many who live there. As I contemplate having been a welfare worker for thirty five years, to remain effective I find it necessary to maintain a level of detachment . Ageing certainly, gaining wisdom hopefully.
This role has taken me around the country and opened up a bit of the world outside this large island we call home.
I have been asked before to detail this story as many have little idea of the vast disconnect across our affluent lucky country.
However, involving yourself in the welfare of others, no matter if sanctioned, is a sensitive business with complex often unclear, interconnected views. Much of what was seen and done must remain private which is as it should be. These times are best left for others more sophisticated to interpret.
Hopefully a few images will go towards showing where I was more so than what I did when there.
If these experiences have taught me anything it is to take it one day at a time, as you are almost always led to the right place in time.
This role has taken me around the country and opened up a bit of the world outside this large island we call home.
I have been asked before to detail this story as many have little idea of the vast disconnect across our affluent lucky country.
However, involving yourself in the welfare of others, no matter if sanctioned, is a sensitive business with complex often unclear, interconnected views. Much of what was seen and done must remain private which is as it should be. These times are best left for others more sophisticated to interpret.
Hopefully a few images will go towards showing where I was more so than what I did when there.
If these experiences have taught me anything it is to take it one day at a time, as you are almost always led to the right place in time.
As real as it may be it is not my place to talk about poverty, disenfranchisement, isolation, variations in quality, violence, dependency or challenges coping day to day. Nor it is my place to talk about the quiet dignity and resilience of individuals, families, workers and government officials who square their shoulders and push against the tide every day.
Others can do that with greater eloquence and passion than I. Yet I have come to know a bit about this type of work and the remote areas people live in.
More than half of my thirty five odd years in this business, and a lot of my growing up before hand, has been in out of the way places.
Throughout, I am often struck by the contrast between the beauty and harmony of the landscape in front of me and the less than satisfactory conditions over your shoulder.
It is the view in front that I have tried to capture with my photos and this is what I want to share.
I already know what I will find when I turn around.
Others can do that with greater eloquence and passion than I. Yet I have come to know a bit about this type of work and the remote areas people live in.
More than half of my thirty five odd years in this business, and a lot of my growing up before hand, has been in out of the way places.
Throughout, I am often struck by the contrast between the beauty and harmony of the landscape in front of me and the less than satisfactory conditions over your shoulder.
It is the view in front that I have tried to capture with my photos and this is what I want to share.
I already know what I will find when I turn around.
There are events in one's life which, no matter how remote, never fade from memory
Jim Corbett
Jim Corbett
Wasting Time