The Great Australian Divide

Last night, at the "Upper Room Project" the theme for the evening was the great cultural divide within Australia. We aren't talking about a new issue, we were just trying to become a little more aware of the plight of Aboriginal Australians. My first thought when I read some of the comparitive statistics was "wow, things are bad in Africa" but then I realized this is happening in our own backyard!
Apparently, the Uniting Church runs a program called "About FACE" which is like a cultural exchange program. The main difference is that instead of flying over to some far-flung country, they are taken into some remote parts of Australia and immersed in Aboriginal culture. The program seemed like an excellent idea to me. Some of the people there last night had been on the program, and couldn't speak more highly of it if they tried.