ABOUT D2S
desert2surf
initiative was conceived in 2007. Its aim is to provide
indigenous children in remote communities with the opportunity to
travel away from their home to engage in a range of targeted cultural
and outdoor experiences normally unavailable to them.
In 2006, Melbourne couple Deb Oliver and Robbo Bennetts spent six months teaching in the Northern Territory at a remote indigenous community Minyerri. They went to Minyerri hoping to 'make a difference', however they feel that going there made the biggest difference to them. Joined by a small band of supporters with a passionate interest in and dedication to indigenous issues, Deb and Robbo developed the desert2surf Collective . The Collective now hopes to make a difference by 'getting the kids out of the community' (Noel Pearson) and showing them a world different from their own.
The
desert2surf initiative will enable small groups of children to travel
to Victoria for around two weeks to participate in active and passive
leisure activities (such as surfing and sight-seeing). To make this
possible they are relying on the altruism of charitable corporations
who actively practise social responsibility. As support for the
initiative grows, it is planned that desert2surf will expand the number of children and communities with whom it works.
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