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AACAP rolls on
By Cpl Andrew Hetherington
Edition 1173, August 23, 2007 |
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| Community aid: LCpl David McMurray, a 17 Const Sqn combat engineer, puts the finishing touches to an ablution block he helped build in Doomadgee during AACAP 14. |
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| Cpl Alaina Rodway, 1CSSB, teaches dental hygiene to Doomadgee school children. Photos by Cpl Andrew Hetherington |
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MEMBERS of the Army Aboriginal Community Assistance Program 14 (AACAP) are working long hours in difficult conditions to assist residents of the town of Doomadgee, Queensland.
Maj Niall Pigott, AACAP 14 Commander, said the advance party of the contingent arrived at the Camp White Rock site on May 13 after a six-day, 2700km drive from Holsworthy.
“They began to build the camp on a former mustering station, which has been turned into our forward operating base,” Maj Pigott said.
“The area was full of snakes, long grass and only three buildings. The team that came here in the advance party built the camp in 10 days. They did some great work, it was very hard for them and they had to acclimatise to the hot conditions.”
The soldiers live and eat in tents, but they also have some of the comforts and conveniences of barracks living, with a mobile gym, toilets, showers, clothes-washing facilities and a bar and entertainment area.
AACAP 14 has 150 personnel participating from more than 20 Army units, with a diverse range of skill-sets represented to deliver the three main deployment outcomes of construction, health support and training support.
“On the construction side we have all of the building-type trades – carpenters, plumbers, electricians – building four houses in the community,” Maj Pigott said. “We also have plant operators and drivers who are working on a housing subdivision and combat engineers who had learnt block-laying skills and have built an ablution block in the town.”
In the health team there are specialists, medical technicians, a veterinarian, environmental health, preventative health and dental teams.
Maj Pigott said this year’s AACAP health program focused on health promotion and working with community health care workers.
“Instead of trying to run clinics where you would have an immediate impact, what we are doing is training the community health workers to give a long-lasting impact to the community,” Maj Pigott said.
“So the sorts of things we have been covering are dental hygiene and health, hygiene, nutrition and healthy living.”
The training aspect has focused on teaching 19 local people valuable trade skills at a training workshop.
“We have people from across the Army assisting and their main role is to mentor the students. Most of these people have some sort of trade background, a few of these members are reservists and they also have a trade background in their civilian life and are bringing those skills to the training team,” Maj Pigott said.
“In the workshop we have working with the trainees 10 patrolmen from 51FNQR and 10 trade mentors. They work in groups of four – two trainees with one trade mentor and one patrolman.”
He said the groups went through all the training together. The competencies were based primarily on welding as a trade as well as learning literacy and numeracy skills.
“They also do tobacco, alcohol and drug awareness, healthy living and nutrition training. It is quite a broad package … and the end state for them is getting a job and getting some work in the community,” Maj Pigott said.
“They have constructed kitchen table tops, lawn mowers for the council, stop signs and several other community tasks.”
One of the 19 local trainees was Tramaine Ned, 29, who had lived in Doomadgee all his life.
“At the workshop I have been learning welding and have built lawn mower parts. I have been on the course now for 12 weeks,” Mr Ned said.
“The course is pretty good. Working with the Army guys is fun, we have a joke now and then. When I finish the course I will get a certificate in welding. I might go and work in the mine, I will see what happens.”
The soldiers aim to finish their planned works by August 31 and will begin to return to their home units in early September.
“There is plenty of work to do and it is achievable. It is a privilege to be here and the community have made us feel really welcome,” Maj Pigott said.
“It is definitely tough to be away from loved ones for several months in a remote location, but it is great to be part of something at the end of the day you know will make a difference to the community. We get to practise our core trade skills, but we are leaving something behind as well.” |
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