The Maholian Way - Part Two: The Maholian Way in the lives of two

As well as this, a number of residents managed to secure paid work on the estates, doing gardening, cleaning, maintenance and other tasks. As most of these residents had not been in employment for a long time, this was a big step forward, and the fact that it was usually part-time, plus the flexible hours, helped them to adjust. In addition, a lot of residents were involved voluntarily in maintaining and improving Lynvale – in the laundromat, the café, Friendship House, the community garden, working bees at each others’ places, and general clean-ups.  As these paid workers and volunteers talked with their neighbours about what they were doing and the challenges of keeping the estate in reasonable shape, residents’ appreciation of their shared responsibilities as stewards of their community grew further.

Other changes occurred. Residents lobbied to improve the bus service, and eventually managed to get more frequent services on weekdays, and some on evenings and weekends. This meant that folk without cars were no longer so isolated from the world outside Lynvale, and those involved in the lobbying process learnt much about government departments, the local council, the bus company, and ways to bring about change. Sports activities were started for Lynvale’s teenagers. Football and basketball teams were entered in regional competitions and did well. Carla’s daughter Emily joined a basketball team that was the runner-up in its first year. Parents ran the clubs, organised the training and ferried the kids to matches. In fact, training sessions and matches became focal points in the estate’s social life, occasions for picnics and barbecues attended by whole families. Team jackets for the ‘Lynvale Legends’ were bought and worn not only by players but by other family members as well. Especially when the teams won, residents who had previously been ashamed to admit they came from Lynvale walked tall in neighbouring areas with their Legends jackets on.

At Friendship House there was a full program of activities, including groups doing gentle exercises, relaxation, walking, weight control, healthy cooking, gardening and computer skills. The gardening group spent some of its sessions developing and maintaining a garden at Friendship House and some doing makeovers of participants’ gardens. A group of parents shared strategies for raising children. A second playgroup had begun and the men’s shed program had expanded to three days a week.

A group known as the ‘Thursday group’ had speakers and discussions on a wide range of topical social issues, and Carla was a member of this. One day a speaker from the local Further Education and Training (or FEAT) College addressed them about the courses the college offered, and for many of those present a new world of possibilities suddenly opened up. Most had had fairly negative experiences of school, but they had already discovered through the Friendship House program that learning could be quite different from those earlier experiences. The college speaker told them that one option was to do a ‘bridging’ course, which was a way people such as themselves could pick up basic skills and develop confidence to then go on and do further studies. In fact, the college ran these bridging courses in different locations within its region, and would be able to set one up in Lynvale if there was sufficient demand.

There was great interest in this and the next year a bridging course commenced, with Carla as one of its students. The twelve students – ten women and two men – convened at Friendship House three times a week to study English, maths, social science, study methods, career options and personal development. The atmosphere was informal and congenial as they sat round a large table, drinking coffee, absorbed in discussions or in presentations from the teacher or individual students. Their own experience and opinions were highly valued, but they also received lots of other material to draw from and work on. Towards the end of this one-year course, they would often convene at the central campus of the college to familiarise themselves with the library and other facilities and get accustomed to the idea of studying there. Carla wanted to go on and do a Diploma of Liberal Arts. Accredited courses like this, and basic education courses like the bridging program she had just done, were very cheap, with just a small general service fee to pay.

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