SIXTEEN young Japanese students were given a warm welcome to Australia when they met with Aboriginal elders at the Bethanie Maali Social Centre on Monday.
The centre was injected with song and dance as the students performed for the elders, engaged in origami activities and shared morning tea.
Elder Dennis Jetta, in his Welcome to Country speech said: “A long time ago, the Noongar people walked this land alone, but now we walk together. May the good spirit of our Noongar country continue to look after you all.”
The centre’s coordinator Katherine Foster said the visit would forever hold precious and dear to Maali.
"I think having two very different cultures to get together, let alone intergenerational...the elders and the young Japanese children really formed a bond," she said. "Seeing the faces of the elders and the children, it said it all. It was just so warm.
"At the start, there were two separate groups but they quickly became one and the individual contact the elders had with the kids was priceless." Full gallery online.
Ivy James
Journalist for Bunbury Mail, Australian Community Media and Fairfax Media
Journalist for Bunbury Mail, Australian Community Media and Fairfax Media
