cyclone Yasi – our story – Page 6

Wonder a day 8: Aftermath Project part 1

kite fun being filmed — Documentary Day (c) June Perkins

Aftermath a project of ABC Open from the last 6 months, but beginning with a journey from 2009, has been just amazing. It has now launched.

You can go behind the scenes by reading Catherine Marciniak’s post Behind the Scenes of Aftermath. There you will discover that it covers 6 natural disasters, 115 community storytellers, 1197 contributions as well as details of the process and motivation behind the site.

As a contributor Aftermath I think this project was about having people take the time to listen to our family’s story, learning new skills like how to make mini video documentaries, reflecting on environment and people around me, reaching out to tell friends’ and community stories, photographing interesting images, seeking beauty in sky and wildlife, observing regreening, demolition, and being aware of the many stories of the people who had a tough 2011 and chose to be resilient, kind, brave and caring towards others regardless of what they had been through.

Aftermath was a wondrous experience. Sometimes it was emotional, especially coming across the stories of people like Marty Warburton, Kirsten Landers, Sandi Semmler, Kathleen Mealor, Rob Cox – and the many others involved in contributing to the project. And watching the video footage we had taken of our precyclone and during cyclone experience was a bit hair raising and tricky to watch initially but actually it was probably good for me to watch it and confront that experience.

But the great thing was that it was as if these distant storytellers in Aftermath became our friends, because we had been through experiences that we were prepared to write about and or be interviewed about as we were going through them. Some of us shared stories beyond the personal, particularly Kathleen Mealor who found some absolute gems.

Other times the experience has had its funny moments, like the time Michael Bromage and Leandro Palacio made me laugh when we made up a silly song on the day they came to do some more documenting of our family’s story.

And there have been many poignant moments like saying goodbye to friends leaving the area, and the very touching concern of the many ABC open producers, especially Sonja Gee and of course Michael, Scott Gamble, and Leandro, who have let my family know that they care about what happens to us beyond just getting good stories out of people.

I think that this project to collaborate to produce stories that are thoughtful and insightful has a massive future in Australia and the world. We know we have not been forgotten after the headlines of massive destruction pass – and such storytelling ventures have the capacity to challenge some of the ways stories will be collected in the future.

It also has the capacity to give more people voices, that is opportunities, to represent their own stories and be listened to.

My heart goes out to the many countries around the world were disasters happen but who do not have the infrastructure of volunteers and SES and so on that we have in Australia. I met a backpacker who told me in her country there is not such a wide volunteer base after bushfires and other disasters she was amazed at what she was witnessing post Yasi.

Aftermath website definitely a wonder of January 2012.

(c) June Perkins

Wonder a Day 3: Mothers

Mothers are a wonder if they embrace this role and care not only about their children, but about other mothers.

This poster is inspired by that idea but also about special mothers who came together in response to Cyclone Yasi. They were the mothers involved in Operation Angel who raised and sent goods to mothers and other members of the Lower Tully community. Operation Angel is not just made up of mothers but they are at the heart of it.

Do you remember all the mothers in your life?

In many cultures Aunties are like mothers.

Mother figures can enter our lives at many points, acting as mentors, nurturers and steadying points.

Sometimes the mothering role is not well done and this can have far reaching consequences for the whole society, but an empowered mother, empowers others.

Launch of Cyclone Yasi Our Stories

Poets of Yasi, sometimes you can say more with less – the collection mixes it up with accounts or emotions that are sometimes expressed in poetry.

Seven of the Licuala WINQ writers took they time to contribute to the anthology of Yasi stories, four of them pictured here. Well done everyone for taking time out of clean ups and moves to write up your experience and share it.

Volunteers doing their bit for history, literature and thirsty launch attendees. A friendly bunch showing the community spirit of Cardwell is and strong. Cardwell Lions did a lot in the post Yasi clean ups even when they themselves had a lot to do! We love our volunteers on the Cassowary Coast, always thinking of others.

Catching up with Sue Tidey and meeting her hubby Robert was great. Wonderful contributors to the Cyclone Yasi, our Stories, who said it actually uplifted them to be included and to come along today.

We had fun discussing cameras, wildlife, ABC Open and blogging!

You can see more pictures of the launch here.

Watch out for a guest ABC Open post soon, but you can always find me here on my homebase blog.

Pearlz Dreaming.

For more details about the book visit Cardwell Historical Society.

For more go to the ABC Open Post on the Launch – Launch of Cyclone Yasi our Stories, Our Words.

Circle of Recovery

circle of life — Circle of Life – By June Perkins

Recently my family went to visit Edmund Kennedy National Park. Like so much else around us it has been ravaged by Cyclone Yasi and is showing scars.

The scars include stinking dead fish on the beach – and trees alternating between neatly piled to chaotically strewn around depending on where they are in relation to the access road.

My children rolled hoops along the beach as I thought about the circle of nature’s distruction and renewal, the circle of life, a circle of weather patterns and a circle of recovery.

Looking forward I could see that the national parks would recover and that it would take ongoing patience to see a beauty in their stark branches which allow one to see the sky so clearly.

The day before our trip to Edmund Kennedy my eldest son presented a personal knowledge pursuit project on physics of guitar. He was so nervous. Yet he had enjoyed the study of the year and his control of his time immensely. He likes to know everything about his guitars and spend a lot of time with them. I have a photograph of him playing his guitar the day after the cyclone as he walks down the road outside our house. I will always remember him playing it in the candlelight as the storm began to build up.

I wrote a post for abcopen about guitars and their part in our cyclone experience Legend of Five Guitars but the funny thing is we now have more guitars, as a friend Omid gave a bass to my eldest son (which was also used in his PKP project.)

DSC_1509_Pam_and_Joe — Galeanos – by June

Early this week I went to visit Pam and Joe Galeano to do some more work on the video story series I am doing on them. Pam took me for a drive around their property. We had a great time looking through her old albums too. This bought up so many more stories.

I think Pam and Joe could write a very interesting memoirs but they are pretty modest people.

As we drove to the very end part where they have a little patch of rainforest she related how usually there were thicky leafy overhangs from the canopy that cross over the road and in a high 4wd they would crash into you.

However now there is no canopy. I looked up to the sky and could see the tufts of green on the end of peeled trees and – it was then that Joe’s words from earlier in the day came to me.

”nature will recover, it always does – it’s people that mourn when it is damaged.”

Although he does think Yasi was a particularly tough cyclone and it make take many human years for that recovery to fully show itself to locals.

Thinking of photography I know I like to take portraits of people that come with a story. I admire people who can do weddings and families that they don’t know and can build an easy rapport with the people involved quickly.

Yet for me intimate storytelling photography which requires longer to pull off holds special appeal. I like to know that story behind the face I photograph and to have the time to hear it, retell it and convey it with an image.

Interesting faces which say something in every crease or twinkle of the eyes, or locations where the people usually reside (not studios) then hold special appeal.

I took several pictures of Pam and Joe in their country – environment and was very happy with quite a few of them.

My circles of recovery come from conversations that lead to these photographic moments – and writing them reminds me of how far myself and others have come.

I was delighted to learn one friend yesterday finally had her roof back, but sad to learn another has to wait until January 2012. Other friends are having watershed years where special amazing things are happening. They take on new jobs and challenges and have already been able to leave Yasi behind. Yet not everyone can.

I’ve been having interesting facebook chats on the recovery process too. Thanks to all those who take the time to chat and understand that some of us still need to unpack the recovery process.

Yesterday we had an amazing end of year surprise – we won the Christmas shopping vouchers that all the small businesses sponsor with the Tully Times. You fill out a form everytime you shop with a local business and go into the Christmas draw – it is an amazing prize.

It’s such a variety of vouchers – the butchers, bakery, seafood, photographic stuff, and the uniform shop and hairdressers. Amazing as I have been cutting the whole family’s hair to save money. I wonder who will use that voucher. It could be me?

Another surprise was having a blog with ABCopen make it onto another abc site for North Queensland. Originally it was featured here and of course the video is on vimeo.

I love making mini documentaries and taking photographs that tell stories – it feels like a vocation. Now I need to find more stories and more teams of people to work with. Heck maybe even a career path. Time for ebook and documentary bootcamps!

I’m back ‘dreaming’

Final sunrise at our brief stopover home before now…

So it’s been tricky keeping up with my blog. All my time has been taken up with packing, unpacking and cleaning. I will forever have visions of my daughter dancing with the mop and cleaning the windows with glee, and the kids enjoying the lift on the truck.

Even though we have settled not everything is done, we still have to get internet and a fresh water set up. We are on bore water and it’s so rusty. There’s a tank here, full of rubbish and not connected to the tap – it needs a lot of work. I can even smell the rust in my hair when I am showering. I load my hair up with heaps of fruity smelling shampoo to rid myself of it and just hope people aren’t going ‘there’s that rust smelling lady.’ Joys of country life I really must remember some people walk miles to wells to find their water at least we have water, but at the moment we are buying our drinking water as even when we boil it the bore water seems icky.

For now I am using mobile net and the library internet!!

Two hours free internet at the library per week for locals – great news for me just at the moment so I am taking advantage of it to blog. I’ve signed up to a five week course to learn how to use my mobile phone, no more asking the kids. It makes me feel like a nanny when I have to do this. Mind you finally getting more conversant with video editing, but really want to learn how to do sound transitions better.

I’ve read a lot of blogs and articles about blogging, social media and the art of selling without feeling like you are annoying people. It’s all about having a service people want and engaging with them as people not ‘customers.’

So a blog that is about people, but offers a service, so much so people want to support it and buy products off it. Sounds easy, well it is if you can think of the gifts you have that are of use to others. So many artists – some commercial and some in it for what they can so and do to change the world and some combine both wonderfully.

So rethinking my blog as both a personal blog which is there for my friends to catch up with me I realise I want to offer some products you can buy to help me keep up my blogging.

So watch this space and see what happens. I think however, outblogloud, that I love to make documentaries, and would love to be more and more involved in this, so you will be able to see sample documentaries embedded in my blogs.

You might also see places you can buy photographs, prints, books, cards and be able to purchase things you like or mean something to you. I love making photocollages and will let you know where you purchase some.

I love snail mail letters – I don’t write or receive them very often, but the personal handwritten letter is such a novelty these days. I do them as precious gifts, so handmade products based on the blog might be on the way.

I am touched by special things my friends and community do and love to blog on events and newsworthy stuff. A lot of bloggers world wide do that! I don’t like this to just be opinion based but like to research what I post and check out the background to things just like good journalists do.

What else, I love to keep up with the creative writing process and motivate myself and others to write and create. So I will probably continue to develop blogs on that but maybe I can make neat little ebooks and do more samplers here.

I personally love reading humourous blogs, and I love that you can subscribe to blogs and receive them to your email inbox – it almost like a snail mail letter in that it arrives where you can read it and you don’t have to go looking for it . It would be great to have more subscribers who are enjoying the blog and events and products I am making or part of.

Well my internet time is almost over so I better sign out and post.

You can catch my latest abcopen blog here http://open.abc.net.au/projects/aftermath-08vh8ac/posts/taipans-trucks-and-trust-95hp4ul

I have another one in the works on Graeme Connor and Robert Rose visiting with Australian Health Rotary on the way. I am doing my second mini documentary for that. I’ve decided that soon I want to do some voice over narration on my documentaries, and will need to be miked up for that. There’s also the one on Pam and Joe, so much interesting stuff to share there.

It’s really awesome learning new skills! I love it. ABCopen visited last week to document my family’s recovery since the cyclone. It was great having them in town. I have a blog on that visit typed up at home and will put it up when I get a chance.

I have been off chasing sunsets and waterfalls as well, with my camera that is! It’s always interesting being in a new home and having new things to photograph.

All the best to my family, friends and readers.

Feel free to subscribe to the blog it’s the easiest way to know when I have next posted without me making you feel like a ‘customer.’ Life, wow it sure can be one massive roller coaster ride at times, even with or without cyclone aftermaths.

June