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Spills, sports and 'sauce boy'

21 November 2014
Spills, sports and 'sauce boy'

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It was meant to be a pleasant barbecue for the community following a Street Dreams dance class, run in conjunction with The Salvation Army. 

Lieutenants Phil and Rachael Farthing had recently taken on leading the Chifley Mission at Bidwill in Sydney's west, where they were living and ministering from a small house in the middle of a highly disadvantaged community. They thought the barbecue would be a great way to get to know the locals, but the day didn’t quite pan out as expected, Lieut Phil laughs. 

“We were quite new to the appointment and while we were waiting for the barbecue to heat up and concentrating on the class, one wild-eyed young boy turned up, stole the sauce bottles and poured them over all the cars in the parking lot,” Lieut Phil explains. “Plus, he covered the cars in spit and then decided to ‘flash’ the class through the window as they danced!” 

That particular boy, Lieut Phil says, became affectionately known to the couple as “sauce boy”. 

“From then on, every time we saw him, instead of being hostile to him as he expected, we’d greet him warmly with big smiles. 

“For some time after, he would still turn up if we had a group on, or there was a group on at the local church and just try and terrorise everyone. But he lives nearby, so we would see him on the streets and say ‘hi', and eventually he warmed up and started visiting and opened up a great deal about his challenging life.” 

As well as being known as one of Sydney’s most highly disadvantaged suburbs, Bidwill also has the second-highest proportion of young people anywhere in Australia. “There are kids just everywhere on the streets,” Lieut Phil says. “It’s a very friendly community and open place, but there are a lot of social issues, fatherless children, even malnourished kids.” 

To add to the challenges many young people face in the area, there are also huge issues with drug use and addiction, domestic violence and unemployment (estimated to be around 90 per cent). Even recreational space is a problem, as Lieut Phil explains, with the local reserve covered in broken glass and hypodermic needles. 

As well as hosting Street Dreams dance classes and holiday programs, the couple decided earlier this year to start a weekly sports program for boys (including “sauce boy”). 

Lieut Phil says: “We had a lot of good relationships with boys in the community, but many seemed to be very unmotivated. In reflecting on my own journey, I found sport was one of the areas where I had learned a lot about digging deep and working hard. 

“In the program, we have a word of the week like ‘perseverance’, ‘focus’ or ‘pride’. So we try and do some warm-up games based around that. Then we get straight into a game of footy or soccer, have a fruit break, a short talk and more sport.” 

Two terms in, Lieut Phil says despite great challenges, the new program has already had some positive outcomes. 

“We see kids who are normally quite destructive, becoming more constructive and starting to form 

some healthy relationships. 

“At one stage our ‘sauce boy’ actually won the grand prize for the term, for his commitment, skill, improved language and passion. The prize was a new bike that had been donated and previously he has always ridden a girls’ bike that was far too small. 

“One morning Rachael was rewarded with a big grin and wave, as he rode to school on his new BMX. It was priceless.” 

Lieut Phil says the couple know they can’t solve the complex problems in the suburb, or even expand the popular sports group due to lack of leaders, but says: “We do pray for the kids who come to the programs, that we can bring faith, some sense of stability, living skills and friendship into sometimes very difficult young lives.” 

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