Black and White

What a day...or better two days.
It all started when this blond fair skinned woman came into the clinic with her 6 yr old pale, blonde, blue eyed daughter and wanted her to get a flu shot. She had a funny accent and i assumed she was South African, as id seen a few families from there this week...
We don't normally give flu shots to kids, so i rang the vaccine centre to double check, and they said that we could give a 6 yr old a flu shot, but that Mum would have to pay for it unless her daughter was aboriginal or had a chronic disease....
I got half way through saying this to Mum, when she went off her nut, screaming at me and calling me a racist white bitch, and how "you white bitches from down South know nothing about being Aboriginal" yadda yadda yadda....
I tried to point out to her that i was part aboriginal myself, and that that no-one would ever suspect that since i am equally pale...but she just went on yelling....
She then went out to the waiting room and ranted some more out there, and out in an official complaint about "That racist white bitch from down south"

I was shaking when she finally left, and walked home instead of driving to give myself a chance to calm down...
Walking along the main road i passed the home of the office manager Jane, where she was sitting with her husband Norm.
"Oy, you look as though you need a drink girl! Come and sit down!" Norm then puts a rather large scotch and water in front of me, which helps immeasurably, while Jane regales me with tales of her rather interesting life...
Turns out this beautiful blonde is ALSO of aboriginal descent! Which she, like me, only found out in her 30's.
Anyway, more about Jane's adventurous life later, the two of them cheered me up heaps, and I eventually weaved my way back home, threading my way through the piles of black people on the footpath up to the house, with nods and smiles, and "hey sista, where'd ya get yer hair cut at?" feeling much better...

Today I met the most beautiful Aboriginal woman from Mutitjulu at the base of Uluru, the community i spent time at 9 years ago as a student nurse....She was one of those people who just glow...softly spoken with a beautiful smile, with that delicate silk like skin some older Aboriginal women seem to develop...
She came to the clinic looking for a refill for her blood pressure medication, and once we'd sorted that out, we got talking about Muti, and Uluru, and how much i miss the place. I told her that i had two aboriginal great grandmothers and that i did wonder if they maybe came from there, as it felt so much like home to me...
She smiled and said, "Yes, i can see it in your face! You have the look of the desert about you! I can
feel the connection with my heart!"...she then handed me her keys, and said, "you drive, you can take me to the pharmacy!"...so i drove her spotless 4 wheel drive round there, and she said goodbye to me with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "I'll see you back at Mutitjulu then!"...
I walked home with tears in my eyes, feeling as though id been blessed somehow...
I arrived home with stars in my eyes, all a fluster...and my more down to earth housemate obviously thought i was a bit of a nutcase to read so much into a simple encounter...

Later the same day i walked back from the supermarket only to run into the crazy white skinned aboriginal woman from the clinic. "You got something to say to me now white cunt?"
I did seriously consider just punching her out...but in the end I opted for another pointless attempt to talk sense to her till id finally had enough "Who the fuck r u calling White anyway? Do you know where my people come from?"
She stalked off still yelling abuse, and i grabbed a glass of cider and went to sit on the verandah to see if she was going to round up more of her mob and come back to throw rocks or something...but the locals just stared at her silently.
Turns out shes not actually from here. But everyone agrees that shes definitely got a screw loose.

Talk about an emotional roller coaster!


The photos i took walking to work that windy cold morning..
Ive started doing that every day and it's been really interesting....the people who are up at that time of the morning are sober- mostly anyway, apart from the odd person who passed out in the street and is now stumbling home....but most are off to work too, and smile and call out a friendly remark about the weather "S'cold innit sista? Been raining up north!"
The walk of fame with the kids handprints and the names of well known Australians makes me smile every time i walk past it. Many of the buildings have colorful art on them like the land council one in the photo....( i think its the land council...)