Secondhand iPad from an unexpected source; Jun, Japanese guide working for Cassowary House

Some weeks ago I asked Birding Aus members if any had a secondhand iPad I could purchase for my daughter-in-law. Stephanie and her deceased husband, Reverend P. Nganjmirra, and other relatives worked with me for several years, showing visitors the wildlife of the Top End, among them Australian Museum Society members and several international birders; Stephanie’s sister, Una, took Jonathon Franzen and his brother, Tom, to Spirit Dog Dreaming near Gunbalunya, when they were here a couple of years ago. Stephanie is now paralysed with a neurodegenerative disease, Machado-Joseph, and can no longer talk. An iPad would allow her to communicate. The only response came from an unexpected source – Jun a Japanese guide working for Sue and Phil Gregory, at Cassowary House. Jun is also the author of a Japanese guide to the birds of the Cairns area. We met years ago when Jun was looking for someone to paint a didgeridoo for him. I talked it over with Stephanie and Djedje (her husband), and we decided to invite Jun to Stephanie¹s daughter¹s birthday party at East Point one night, to see if he was “fair dinkum”. Jun was so shy at first we couldn¹t get a word out of him (even Djedje who was originally very shy himself remarked on this). They decided he was sincere, and invited him back to our place the next day. Jun spent two days under our elevated house, with not only Djedje, but half a dozen other men and boys while they painted his didgeridoo. They told him about the designs and taught him how to make various bird calls. Then Jun disappeared and we never saw nor heard from him again, until a few weeks ago. But Jun never forgot Djedje¹s kindness and patience, and hearing of my appeal he responded by posting Stephanie an iPad. Jun wouldn’t accept any payment; just asked me to show him Top End birds when he next visited. Stephanie now has the iPad, and immediately started working on it with the help of my partner Michael, and other relatives. Obviously I can’t post a photo on the chatline (I hope to have an article on the Wildlife Tourism Australia website soon). And so I leave it to the reader to imagine her grin. What goes around comes around. Denise Lawungkurr Goodfellow PO Box 71, Darwin River, NT 0841 043 8650 835 =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) to: birding-aus-request@vicnet.net.au http://birding-aus.org ===============================