Liam McNally
Aside from practising line-outs and scrums, The Melton Rugby Union club has been keeping kids busy these school holidays with cultural dancing, cultural cooking, and first-aid courses.
On Tuesday, June 26 the session involved a Tongan and Samoan dance workshop facilitated by Lose Samasoni and Sarah Sauao, with Ms Sauao getting a significant amount of help teaching the Samoan dance from her nephew, and course participant, Maile.
Ms Maiava said Melton Rugby Union Club is a multicultural organisation and it’s important for the kids to be in touch with their own culture as well as other club members.
The sessions come as a part of a wider two-year youth engagement program initiated by the Department of Justice and Community Safety.
Melton Rugby Union Club secretary Priscilla Maiava said the club has been running the program since January, with an emphasis on keeping kids busy in the off-seasons from sports and school.
“The program is to help kids make informed decisions. We jumped on board because we have a high rate of [local] youth in the justice system,” she said.
“We run these youth engagement programs to keep the kids engaged so that they’re not out causing trouble on the streets.”
Ms Maiava said the sessions get up to 60 attendees, and that she has seen an improvement in attitude of those involved.
“It’s getting that bonding time and learning about someone else’s culture, hobbies, and discussing among themselves. It’s good, they learn a lot from each other,” she said.
Ms Maiava said she’d like to see other clubs in Melton get on board with the program.
“It’s a good opportunity… the more people there are running programs like this, the better it would be for our community and future generations,” she said.
