Newsletter

Diversity—Avoiding Tokenism

Joy Lubawy

We have recently been on another road trip in New South Wales, some 3000 kilometres in fact. This year we have flown or driven to many centres in New Zealand, Queensland, Western Australia and Victoria as well.

I am often almost overwhelmed by the diversity of our wide brown land. On the road from Wentworth to Broken Hill for instance, I found the landscape so intense I couldn’t cope with the distraction of the radio or music playing. I wanted to drink in the changing earth colours and vegetation as much as I could. It’s so different to Wagga Wagga where I live and to Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane where I often visit. Every landscape is different. I am reminded of the poet Williams Blake’s wonderful words, To see the world in a grain of sand, and eternity in an hour.

I wanted to drink in the changing earth colours
and vegetation as much as I could.

Imagine the colours of the earth—the startlingly white sands on the beaches in southern Western Australia, the yellow sands I see in Perth, the grey sands of Bondi and the rich red colours of central Australia. Imagine them pouring out their wonder into your hands.

Out in the west, the sky stretches from horizon to horizon. You can see the curve of the earth, it is awesome. In the city I see tall buildings, crowded streets and people, so many people. I have begun to really ponder on diversity, what does it mean? So easily we fall for the tokenism of diversity, skin colour in particular or the clothing we might see diverse peoples wearing.

So easily we fall for the tokenism of diversity,
skin colour in particular or the clothing we might
see diverse peoples wearing.

Our earth, and closer to home Australia, is incredibly diverse. Not only the colours of the earth, but the types of houses we live in, the smallest towns imaginable and the biggest cities and all the places in between. For some the local shop is a mere drive away, for others it’s a whole day's journey there and back or supplies come by plane or truck. Some of us have modern indoor plumbing, some trek down the back yard to a traditional outdoor dunny. For some of us our extended family lives close by and we see them often, for others family lives far away and we see them so rarely. Some of us live underground, some in high rise buildings, some look out to sea and some gaze out at the mountains or the desert. For some of us the language we speak at home is the language we speak in the community, for others of us we use two or more languages to communicate. For some of us we use our hands to communicate our thoughts; we are indeed as diverse as our landscape.

… we are indeed as diverse as our landscape.

Let us indeed recognise that diversity is more than skin colour, religion or even the food we eat. Diversity is richness of experiences and our ability to adapt to almost anything. We can bring the world and all its diversity into our playrooms.

In my book Visions of Creativity, I have made suggestions in every chapter about ways we can enrich children’s lives with this approach. In fact, in a place like Wagga Wagga and centres like the ones I have worked in, it was even more important to encourage awareness of the richness of Australia because the children were so often from very similar families and situations. This richness came in the form of a grandfather’s hat collection for instance, or a calendar from Nepal with all its incredible smells and the resultant conversations and cooking we had as a result. I remember with such love so many amazing people who shared their lives, their songs and dances, played their instruments, told their stories in a variety of languages [including Australasian sign] cooked traditional foods, shared celebrations and brought the world into our playroom in real, authentic ways. I also remember with such affection the grandfather from The Gulf of Carpentaria who brought big brown seed pods for us to investigate and make musical instruments from, or the farming families who shared the grains and fibres they grew with us. Authenticity is about attitude and respect. We model and share this attitude every day in the way we talk, laugh or even cry with a family, when we share ourselves on a deeper level and become available to them.

I remember with such love so many amazing people
who shared their lives, their songs and dances,
played their instruments, told their stories in a variety of
languages…Authenticity is about attitude and respect.

I smile when I remember teaching a newly arrived mother to knit, visiting her home on weekends, and drinking the chai she would make for me. Who would know it would become a life-long friendship or that chai would one day be flavour of the month? Her lovely soft brown skin was not all that she could be, she was so much more and enriched my life greatly. That experience I added to that imaginary back pack we all gather ideas in and that we can later share with children.

I heard a child talking about how cold it was underneath the sand, as he sat in a hole he had dug. Other children were carefully covering his legs. It was an opportunity to enter a learning journey about coping with heat and cold with or without air conditioning or fans, rain water tanks, flat roofed houses in Syria [Clara from Aleppo in Syria came to share her stories and experiences] where families can take their beds onto the roof to keep cool at night, or the illustrations from Big Rain Coming [Kathryn Germein, illustrated by Bronwyn Bancroft] of families taking their mattresses outside to sleep under the stars. A staff member brought pictures taken at White Cliffs of an underground motel. All these moments generated such discussion over many weeks.

Children discovered from Clara that some houses have an atrium for the rain to fall on the garden courtyard in the centre of the house, and that marble is a rock that can be polished until it is shiny and smooth, making a wonderful floor that is not at all bumpy like the children imagined. They were thinking about the marbles they sometimes play with, Clara brought another perspective to the word and to their world.

What opportunities present themselves in your centre? What ordinary moments might become extraordinary moments because of your knowledge, experience, availability and willingness to think outside the box? Don’t miss the moments, be authentic.

What ordinary moments might become extraordinary
moments because of your knowledge, experience,
availability and willingness to think outside the box?

Yes indeed, we might see the world in a grain of sand and touch eternity in an hour.

Click here to subscribe.

Back to Newsletter Page