Boys From The Bush - About Choices

The founder of the Boys from the Bush talks to young Indigenous people about how the choices they make in life are going to decide the life they lead (limited only by circumstances beyond their control).  The reality is that many young people born to poor dysfunctional families are not taught this universal truth.  Instead, they are taught to be victims; an entrenched inter-generational self belief that they are simply pawns in a hostile world of dependency imposed by a dominant culture from which they can never really escape.

Why would we expect them to believe anything different when their parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins are failing to take responsibility for the poor condition of their lives, and for the lives of their children?  Here lays the first need taken up by the Boys from the Bush in the form of education, life skills development, counselling, support and supervision. 

The second need addressed by the Boys from the Bush is the lack of employment opportunities for many young people, particularly those living in remote areas.  Education in itself does not lift people out of poverty unless it is used by the recipient for economic advantage.  On the other hand, work (paid employment) can eradicate individual, family and communal poverty.

Work is also important for our social, psychological and emotional well-being, and it is enshrined in philosophical and religious beliefs and teachings cross culturally.  Unemployment is known to impair social competence and be the cause of criminal behaviour and other forms of antisocial activity, including suicide.

Remote area unemployment is a structural problem that can be overcome for those willing and able to leave home, to obtain employment in other parts of Australia.  The Boys from the Bush helps young people to do this.