Jess' Blog

Friday 17th October 2008 was my last day of Seminary - ever!
No more getting up at 5:30am,
no more studying at 6:30 - 7:20 am,
no more sad attempts at singing,
no more grunts from tired students with their heads flopped on the desks,
no more of Josh's colourful stories about his mates 'Boofhead' and 'Snow',
no more regular visits to the Norwood Takeaway Shop at 7:30am to buy breakfast,
no more taxi-servicing to Scotch and Newstead,
no more d&m's with Jack as we walk to school in the morning,
no more Seminary :(
We walked into the Seminary room which was FILLED with all the games, lesson pictures, scripture mastery's, (and more) from this year. The walls were a massive collage of our Seminary journey this year.
Our last lesson was Malachi 3-4, which was thoroughly interesting and wonderfully taught, as per usual.
We helped pack up the room for one last time.
I kept trying to smuggle kids in and out of the room inconspiuously to sign Lisa's thank you card. I'm happy to report that my smuggling efforts are still A-grade! Afterwards, we all went out to the car park to get some final snaps of the seminary crew of 2008:

There was Amy, Luke, Jack, Sam, Alyce, myself, Jess R, Hannah, Monique and Kieran. Absent were: Jess and Shannon Tripptree, Danyall Richard, Josh Polley.

This piccy is of special importance to me because these guys were my regular passengers each morning on the travel from Seminary to School. We had some great convo's and good times. We were all sad when my old car died (i totalled it), but were just as glad to see my new baby car - the bommy nissan pulsar!

Speaking of my bommy car. Its a 5 seater...

... And how many people do you see?
I would just like to note that although there was approximately 7 people in a 5-seater, EVERYONE was seatbelted, so it was legal.

We drove to Maccas and had a little breakfast before heading of to school:

[I took this piccy, that's why you can't see me in it!]

On Saturday 12th October, was the Devonport Stake Football Challenge [which launceston dominated!!] at the Deloraine Footy Oval. It was here that i picked my surrogate sister Sammy Prebble. We headed back towards launceston, making a detour to Andy's Gelato in Westbury - along with half the other mormons travelling from del to launny! It was a funny little reunion. We had almost arrived at the Prebbles home when we realised we hadn't bought Lisa her bunch of flowers for the dinner!! Failing to find a florist in Riverside, Sam and I went for a casual stroll down Grinter Street. We 'accidently' tripped over here and there 'accidently' taking some pretty flowers with us :P
I curled Sam's hair, rushed my own, got dressed (had trouble picking which dress to wear!) and got out into the loungeroom where all the action was after almost everyone had already arrived.

Then began my last Seminary Celebration Dinner, ever. We had some light refreshments/ entre served to us in the sunroom, overlooking a setting sun over riverside. It was quite lovely. What made it even more enjoyable was having Dale Prebble, Scott Prebble, Lizzie Prebble and Collette Gibson be our 'slaves' for the food-serving part of the night:

There was lots of yummy food...

...and argument over how to hold a wineglass properly. And LOTS and LOTS of conversation about dating, boy/girls qualities we're looking for, and a very embarrassing moment about Dale missing his first kiss (no mention as to who that first kiss was with!). Then came the presentation of awards. I got the "Big Sister" award, which nearly brought a tear to my eye. I love the launny youth with all my heart, i really do. A noteable mention was Hannah's award (looking so good at 6:30 am EVERYDAY!) where lisa commented, "...and Jack didn't tell me to write this..." which made everyone laugh and poor Han and Jack awkwardly chuckled along, haha! When sam and I went to retrieve the flowers, they'd closed up! We thought they were dead! But we presented them, along with their story, and Lisa's suprise Thank You Card anyway. She loved it! Made us all happy :D
After Desert, we all headed out to the courtyard to boogie on out the rest of the night!

The Monique & Jess Dance:

The boys reinacting "Sons of Provo":

Lot's of Romancin':

The "Jack.and.Jess-Spin-High-Five-Three.or.more-times" thingy:

We spun around and slapped hands in the air, then kept spinning to see if we could slap hands again... and guess what!? We did it three or more times! Woot!! It takes skill, especially in the dark, late at night!

And there were LOTS and LOTS of photos taken:

I was looking through some old emails, journal entries, etc and i stumbled across a school report an old friend of mine wrote. I think it was for her RE class. She had to write about someone who inspired her or something?? Anyways she wrote this [* The original picture has been removed for privacy's sake]:

This is me and my best friend Jess, we became friends last year in November and now we are closer than sisters. At the hardest time in my life she taught me how to stay positive and how to have heaps of fun. She is a huge inspiration to me because no matter how hard things get she never gives up. This girl is never without a smile on her face. When she faces a challenge in her life she overcomes it with great determination and doesn’t give up until she’s achieved what she set out to do. Jess has an unbelievable confidence in herself that contributes to a TRUE happiness that can’t be broken from little obstacles that get her down. She is never without a smile, and you can go to her feeling your worst and come away crying with laughter. She is the biggest inspiration in my life and I look up to her a lot. Jessica Ann Bradbury is my angel. I love her =)

Its sweet to remember all the hilariously fun times we had, the "best-friends-forever" moments, and just all the happy fluffy feel good memories we shared.
But then equally, i feel a bitterness that we no longer share that unique bond anymore.
I'm not sure quite how it happened. I think it was one of those slow degenerative ends. I guess our priorities changed or something. It hurts a bit.
I guess the message of this blog is: don't let your ambitions in life destroy the relationships in life. Because at the end of the day, you may have fulfilled your ambition but you'd be all alone in your success with no-one to share it with.

We've seen pictures like this on T.V (etc) and while we often feel momentary sympathy for these children - we do nothing, as the ad turns over to a Red Herring Sale!
As we continue to watch our television programs, that child we saw 30 seconds of on that ad continues to struggle for life, burdened and bound by poverty.

What is Poverty? Let me guess, you thought something along the lines of "no food, no water, no money"... Well, poverty is far more binding than that! Poverty still exists even when there is 'enough' food.
"...anyone without the basics of good health, an education, knowledge of human rights, or the power and opportunity to demand these things, is vulnerable to hunger, exploitation and premature death 1"
This is poverty; stripped of the power and opportunity to change your circumstance.

Many African children are growing up in communities where people die young, very few know how to read or write and preventable chronic illness occurs as everyday life. These have little chance of making a more positive future for themselves and their families.

"Every boy and girl around the world has a right to expect that we will do all we can to ensure that they will enjoy their right to an education" - Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the UN.

There are endless potential benefits, for loosening the grip of poverty, born of education.

Education is about more than just attaining a good job. It changes lives in many ways (for example, look at how much your life has changed because of schooling!). It is essential for self-esteem, financial security, social justice, health and, over time, for community and economic development.

Just 13 years old, Pascal Mwanchoka's figured the boys' schooldays were over for good.

"My mother wasn't feeding us, she wasn't taking us to school," said Pascal, who came here from the coastal city of Mombasa looking for work but ended up living in the gutters of Nairobi.
Less than a year later, Pascal and 10-year-old Lenjo are off the streets and back in class, attending a free program in Nairobi for children too poor even to afford a meal of maize and beans. They are among millions of children who struggle against vast obstacles for the luxury of going to school on the poorest continent in the world 2.

In Australia, and other well-developed nations, we "...have the means and the knowledge to protect the lives and to diminish enormously the suffering of children 3"
With teacher training, a little 'financial support', or the building of a school house, communities in Africa, and other under-developed countries, can give their children the education and employment opportunities their parents never had.

"When people can learn skills and are given opportunities to apply them, they are empowered to bring about change to their own lives 4"

Children are suffering, innocent people are dying and powerless to change their circumstance because they don't know how, don't have the opportunity or freedom to do so.
While there does exist few hospitals and increasingly more medical aid coming into Africa, they can only treat the already existing problem. To reduce and prevent the problem, education is needed.

"Children are our future"
After seeing a video in Health Studies, called 'A Walk to Beautiful', i made up my mind there and then - i want to be a part of bringing hope to the children of Africa, to the future of Africa.
My dream is to teach, to share what i know, to love and care, to bring hope for a better future to these young children.

Poverty is real. And we can do something about it!