Thanks Wybong and thank you Australia for giving this young man an opportunity that not many nations would.

Thank you all for such a positive approach, I suppose I have yet to be found by the group of pro-am knockers.

Poirot, Ludwig, CJ Morgan et all

If you all close your eyes and imagine, you can see this young cattle herder as a youth, we have exploited the image enough.

He left me with the impression that this is the outcome that was his surrogate destiny. I walked away feeling a sadness of sorts. Most would say how lucky he was, he has access to all we have to offer.

I suppose I have a different imagination than others, for I can see a world where the young African Cattle Herder should have been able to live in peace and where his access to food, shelter, medicine and education were exactly on par with all his peers globally regardless of race, religion or culture.

To have enabled him to have been able to have lived as he chose, to have the choice to live in his ancestral home as his people have since the dawn of time. To have given him the knowledge and ability to access the things that we take for granted. To have worked with his people to allow them to grow and develop their nation with all due homage to all reasonable traditions. Then he would have been lucky.

They are however fortunate, fortunate that there is enough people that care enough to make enough people feel guilty enough to help them.

Hey, working at a supermarket in Mt Druitt definitely takes second place to standing on the African plains with breezes washing across the ancient land whispering voices from ancient times.

Wybong,

I could not agree more with your sentiments about the African cattle herder.
His flight to the relative safety of a western nation would have been one of desperation - war and famine take their toll on ancient cultures.

I too felt a twinge of sadness that he was working at a supermarket - clocking on and off - forever having lost the opportunity to learn and pass on knowledge and skills through the links in his ancestral chain. It's a different kind of freedom than the one defined by western culture.

Westerners tend to pity any culture that lives so closely aligned with the earth and its seasons. As you pointed out, the scents on the breeze flowing through an African savanna must surely be more pleasurable than the cloistered confines of a shopping centre.

P.S. I think the knockers may be somewhat startled by the wisdom and gravity of your words.

Dear Wybong,

You did a gracious act by making this man feel
welcome. Thank You for sharing the experience
with us on OLO.

I'm sure that no matter what problems he faced
in his own country - obviously he chose to
come to Australia for a reason.

The reasons
for leaving one's home country are usually
driven by a compulsion or a necessity.

The fact remains - you made him feel welcome and gave
him the opportunity to talk and share with you
the proud tradition that cattle herding is south
of the Sahara.

I'm sure that he with the help of people like you will
find his own sense of belonging. He will be able to
change his life and the lives of his family for the
better. With time he will grow into his new society
like many others who came before him from somewhere
else from a variety of countries and backgrounds.
Each with their own stories, and the ups and
downs of adapting to life in Australia. His experience
provided you with a window on the experience of leaving
one home in order to create another.

"Our fathers toiled for bitter bread
While idlers thrived beside them;
But food to eat and clothes to wear
Their native land denied them.
They left their native land in spite
Of royalties' regalia,
And so they came, or if they stole
Were sent out to Australia."
(Henry Lawson).

Wybong, You said

"Hey, working at a supermarket in Mt Druitt definitely takes second place to standing on the African plains with breezes washing across the ancient land whispering voices from ancient times".

It was nice of you to engage a stranger in conversation, which would be less comon than in my local area. However I see you have the concept of 'the noble savage' and are a romantic. But a bit of reality and practicality must prevail.

What about the dirt, dust, flies and lack of hygene that kills many. What about diseases and lack of medical attention. Unfortunately the smell of the bush is often that of death and pain. It is impossible to provide good medical and education facilities to people in remote areas. What about famine and people starving.

I wonder how many of his siblings and friends survive today, or if his mother and his sisters had to endure FGM.

He is indeed lucky that we gave him the opportunity of a better life than those left in his country. His young wife can now have her babies in clean and safe surroundings, with good medical care. The kids vacinated against disease and get a good education.

I just bet he knows he is on a better wicket here, even without the smell of the savanna or the whispers of his forebears.

Banjo: you wrote "What about the dirt, dust, flies and lack of hygene that kills many. What about diseases and lack of medical attention."

Now are you talking about Africans in Africa or Australians in Australia.

For the first 20 years of my life I lived in rural NSW and that could describe many many places within our own country.

Now as is my usual habbit, I follow a number of other threads of my commentators to help me gaugue who they are.

Of you I see an underlying "Descent Bloke", and I mean that in the real Aussie "Country" way.

I spent many years of my political adolensence as an avid National Party (then Country Party) supporter. I inherited my ideals from my father and grandfather and I am pleased to say that I still hold those ideals firmly and adomently defend them. I am now however, strongly leaning towards the Greens and Labor.

I will however at any possible opportunity try to research the independents at every opportunity. I have this problem supporting people that can only vote "as their conscience dictates, if ALLOWED to by their parties"

What happened:

I am reminded of an incedent when I was young. My grandfather saw an add in the paper for a tractor, it was fairly cheap so we enquired. It apparently, they said, not been started for some time. So armed with the trusty can of Aerostart we headed of.

The owner took as deep into his property and we came across the tractor, slightly off the side of the tracj and with it's wheels deeply inbedded in mud.

Looks like he never quite got it back to the shed I thought. Looking more closely I noticed that the trach actually bent slightly to allow easy passage around the tractor.

Puzzled my grandfather asked what happened. "Oh it got stuck in the mud a few years back, and I haven't got around to getting it out." he replied.