Learn to `look, listen and feel' to learn about life
Text and photo by Tri Hafiningsih
JAKARTA (JP): "Look, listen and feel" is how Aboriginal children learn about life.
"We don't write books, we tell stories to our children," Maureen Watson, an Australian-Aborigine storyteller, told her wide-eyed, keen listeners, both children and adults.
Unlike many story tellers who use pictures, dolls, or other tools in telling stories to children, Watson waves, claps, sings, even dances with her audience. Her long white hair, in contrast to her dark skin, combined with her large, expressive eyes added to the attraction of her storytelling "performance" last Thursday.
To the audience seated in front of her at the main exhibition hall of Taman Ismail Marzuki art center, Central Jakarta, Watson told a story about a baby kangaroo which cried for help. He was afraid of hunters who were "looking for dinner" and would kill him. A little girl then came to help and assured the baby kangaroo that she would always care for and protect him.
"You'll be safe with me, you'll be safe with me,...." Watson sang, opening her arms then bringing them to her chest. She hugged herself like a mother cradling a little baby in her arms.
Some of the Indonesian children as well as adults in the audience might not have understood what she said because she both told and sang her story in English. Yet they seemed to feel all the excitement, humor and sadness expressed in her story when she waved, clapped hands, cried and sang throughout the storytelling session.
Maya, a seven-year-old girl who came with her mother that afternoon, stared in amazement at Watson throughout the session. She shrugged her shoulders when asked whether she liked the story, but smiled broadly when the storyteller clapped, shouted and sang. "She's funny," Maya commented.
Watson seemed to overcome the language barrier with her unique, attractive performance in telling tales.
The storytelling session highlighted the Australian Children's Book Week, which will end today. The event is part of the Australia Today Indonesia '94 campaign, which was launched earlier this month. Other ongoing cultural programs sponsored by the Australia Council of the Arts include a children's film festival, puppet theater, circus, musical concerts, and Aboriginal and Islander Ballet Theater. The programs are also held at Gedung Kesenian Jakarta in Pasar Baru, Central Jakarta, as well as in the National Museum building on Jl. Merdeka Barat, also in Central Jakarta.
Libby Gleeson and David Cox, respectively writer and illustrator of children's books, are among the other artists who held discussions during the exhibition.
Look, listen, feel
Watson said the "white people" came to Australia around 200 years ago and introduced books to the Aborigines. Their culture, however, did not know books.
"My people never write. We look, we listen, we feel. We tell stories. That's how we educate the children. That's the way they learn," she said.
The philosophy is reflected clearly in the way she told the story of the baby kangaroo. Watson touches her eyes whenever she means "see," she touches her ears and chest when she says "listens", and "feels." She repeated these simple, basic "signs" several times in various ways, including singing.
The audience may not fully understand the story word for word, but they understand "the message," Watson said, adding that conveying the message is the major concern of storytelling.
Watson said before the occasion that she tries to "share" her feelings with others through storytelling. "I share my experience, my feelings, my pride (of being an Aborigine)," she said.
Racism
Watson, who came from Queensland, the northeastern part of Australia "which has a hot climate like Jakarta," said that among her other concerns, is that racism still exists in Australia.
It is uncommon, she said, that Aborigines go to jail for not committing any crime nor breaking any rules. "You go to jail. It's just that. No need to have a reason for that," said the storyteller, adding it happens simply because they are Aborigines.
She has been jailed several times for both "nothing" and "something" which include demonstrations and marches against discrimination to the Aborigines. "It's not surprising that 80 percent of women prisoners in Australia are Aborigines," she said.
She pledges to continue to fight for equal rights for all people, regardless of skin color.
Watson, however, refuses to express her concerns on racism through storytelling. "I don't want to tell bad things," she said.
Her stories, on the other hand, relate the importance of sharing love and understanding among people. Her stories on the native-Australian culture, she said, also shows the people's (Aborigines') appreciation and responsibilities in environmental preservation.
"It's never 'my' land. It's always 'our' land and 'our' people, we share the land, we are responsible for it," she said.
Colored Stone
Maureen Watson's storytelling session opened and closed with performances by a four-member musical group called Colored Stone. Their instruments included two guitars, a pair of "clap-sticks" to keep the tempo, and a traditional "horn" made of a tree trunk called "Deejooleedoo."
Player Jeffrey Gurruwiwi showed the audience how he could imitate animal sounds such as a cuckoo-bird or dingo with the horn.
The lead singer and founder of the group, Buna (literally means Iguana, or giant lizard) Lawrie, sang the songs praising the beautiful land and culture of the Aborigines.
The repertoire of the group that has recorded eight albums in its 18-year career, include a popular number Black Boy, Gabi Bulga (Heavy Rain), Dancing In the Moonlight, and Blue Sky.
For the closing number, Lawrie sang Black Boy once again. The audience joined her in singing the fast, cheerful song about a young Aborigine who keeps his pride, courage and spirit, despite the humiliating discrimination against him.
Sticks and stones may break your bones, but names never hurt you.... Black boy, black boy, the color of your skin is your pride and joy. Black boy, black boy, your life is not destroyed....