High on life
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Rowland Hughes tells how hot-air balloons
are helping
troubled teens get on with life
Troubled teens are getting high as a result of an initiative by a group of Mildura-based Christians. Being located in the wide-open spaces of the interior has advantages when it comes to flying hot-air balloons, which is one reason the 2004 Ballooning World Championship was held in Mildura.
And in the midst of it all was Rowland Hughes, one of the Mildura Youth Hot Air Balloon Club founder members.
“The Youth Hot Air Ballooning Club Inc is the first such club for youth in Australia,” he says. “It’s established and operating. Helping disadvantaged youth and keeping families together is the focus of our club. This community need is one identified by the Mildura Rural City Council.
“We achieved our goals by conducting tethered balloon flights in schools and Koori areas, working in conjunction with Sunraysia Youth Services.”
A tethered balloon flight involves ascending and descending with ropes attached so that the balloon doesn’t drift from its launch site. The aim is to provide youth with a unique and memorable life experience.
“Youth will see Sunraysia in a totally different way, a way that most people never get to see. Our country is full of beauty and what better way to show it to others,” says Rowland. “By providing youth with an opportunity to get “high” on life, we intend to show them that fun and interesting things do happen other than in pubs and nightclubs.”
Rowland says the club will give experience and opportunity to acquire useful life skills, including building self-esteem, community, communication and teamwork. Among the more immediately measurable are planning, navigation, problem solving, reading the weather and working within legal requirements and laws, the latter being something many of the kids have trouble with.
As crew members, the youth learn how to become a retriever crewmember, an observer and, with time, even balloon pilots. “Their participation can open doors to numerous other opportunities,” says Rowland, “including travel to places like Europe and Japan.”
The club began trying to get off the ground since the Australian National Hot Air Balloon Championships were held in Mildura in 2003, when a group of 30 youth were involved with crewing for Bert Cox of Brisbane. “They loved it so much; six of them went on to study and became student pilots. It’s they who have made the commitment to giving disadvantaged youth the opportunity to grow through the experience of flight,” explains Rowland.
Community groups refer youth to the club. Response from the youth who have
been part of the project has been very positive. “They’ve thoroughly
enjoyed developing skills in a practical setting,” says Rowland. “We’re
working on a crew-training program to present to the Australian Balloon Federation
for acceptance as a national training program.
The club has received a huge amount of local support from businesses and individuals
who see value in helping—and value in—at-risk youth.
For example, when we purchased the club’s balloon, the owner was so impressed that she reduced the price considerably. Others to come on board are Adcare–Sunraysia, who made what Rowland calls a “significant” donation toward the balloon purchase. ADRA– (Adventist Development and Relief Agency) Australia also made large donations, which were used to purchase a four-wheel-drive retrieval vehicle, along with other equipment. Elgas Mildura gives invaluable support by providing free gas, obviously one of the main expenses in keeping the balloon in the air.
“We’ve also gained lots of support from the Mildura Rural City Council and breakfast food giant Sanitarium Health Food Company, the Australian Balloon Federation,a nd commercial and private balloon pilots from all over have helped us in the planning. Insurance brokers have donated their time for free and Lloyds of London have provided insurance for the project,” Rowland says. Among their high-profile supporters are V8 Supercar brothers Todd and Rick Kelly, but there are scores of contributors—moral, financial and personnel.
The club’s balloon is called Geraldine in honour of a trainee pilot killed in a car accident. A pilot trainer, who was also a commercial balloon pilot, named the balloon after her, and Get’n’ High agreed to keep the name when they purchased the balloon.
“Our first outing was to the Canberra Balloon Fiesta for eight days, in 2004,” explains Rowland. “It was quite successful. But our second project was even more successful when we took a group of VCAL (Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning) students from Sunraysia TAFE to the Riverland Balloon Fiesta. This group continued training and crewed for our club balloon in the fiesta section of the World Championships in June and July 2004.
“A funny thing happened in Canberra on our second night with one of the youth as we were going to sleep. We were a bit exhausted, being our first trip and wanted everything to go as smoothly as possible. He said we’d forgotten to do something. We couldn’t think what it might be, so we asked what it was, and he said we forgot to pray! Now he’s an atheist, but he accepted that we prayed at the start and end of the day to thank God for keeping us safe and providing us with this fantastic opportunity.”
He says it was a real thrill for the club when their two student pilots, Aaron and Paul Arnold (their twins) flew Geraldine in the “fiesta” section of the World Championships, with Aaron coming home second in the “hare and hound” task, with only 11 hours flying experience. It is an event in which pilots follow the lead balloon and attempt to land as close as they can to the target. Paul, with only six hours experience in flying, came third in another heat. During his flight, the wind died, with the balloon hovering over a large mallee tree. The flying instructor suggested they “rest in the tree for a little while,” which they did until after five minutes in the tree a slight breeze came up and floated them closer to the target. “One Koori youth in the basket at the time thought it was such a tremendous experience he still talks about it,” says Rowland.
During the Fiesta competition Aaron was flying the balloon when a call came over the radio from the control centre that all fiesta balloons had to land immediately to clear a path for a championship event. But every landing site he headed for was either “left” or “right of the wind.” Then he spotted a bitumen road, but it had power lines just before it.
“Such a situation is where teamwork is paramount,” explains Rowland.
The ground crew were summoned, and got into position just as Aaron flew over the powerlines. A handling line was dropped to the five VCAL ground crew, who grabbed it, and with all the strength they could muster, they manoeuvred the balloon to a safe landing site. “God was watching over us, as it was the last available landing site, and we had landed in a difficult situation without incident,” says Aaron.
“One of the first things we do when youth are referred to us is to make them aware of our Code of Conduct and values,” says Rowland, “which are respect for God, respect for yourself, respect for the family unit, and respect for others and their property. This is Bible-based, from 1 Peter 3:15 and Philippians 4:13.
“The main challenge for our club has been to step out in faith. Each time we have gone ahead in faith, God has answered our prayers in so many ways. When we were looking for a four-wheel drive—at least one we could afford—a club supporter who is a mechanic suggested we look for a Mitsubishi 4x4 for approximately $5000. A week later, I was on my way to a wedding reception and stopped at a railway crossing when I saw exactly what we wanted for sale on the side of the road. I wrote the contact number down and rang straight after the reception. I took Peter our mechanic to see it and found it had a reconditioned motor and gearbox, a new paint job, and bullbars front and rear. There was just one problem—it was a van with only three seats. Then the owner said he had a wrecked 4x4 bus in the yard we could have for free and it had seven seats in it. The price was $4800—just what we were hoping for. Another problem was we had only enough money for the deposit, but the owner gave us two months until Christmas to raise the money.
“Then Peter introduced us to an engineer who gave us a discount on the registration inspection, then he found a 1996 model bus we could get at a very discounted price to have modern cloth seats with headrests instead of the old vinyl ones. We tried to raise the rest of the funds, and it was looking promising, but nothing had come through. The owner needed the money to pay for a motorbike he had put on lay-by for Christmas. Then a miracle happened. At the eleventh hour, we received a $5000 ADRA grant. We paid it into our bank account on December 23, then immediately paid the van owner. He drove to Melbourne that night and then rode his new bike home on Christmas Eve. It was tight for everyone, but with God in control, everything is possible.
Time and time again Rowland says they’ve seen God’s hand in “each corner we turn.” He says there’s always support for the young people and programs.
For example, he tells how Kim Marks from Sanitarium’s beverage unit has kept the youth warm, supplying bomber jackets embroidered with the rather appropriate logo, “UP & GO” (it’s Sanitarium’s leading liquid breakfast product), a donation enjoyed by participants assembling in the cold before daybreak and with no time for a conventional breakfast.
And the Sunraysia TAFE Pathways coordinator was so impressed with the program’s success with VCAL youth, she asked Get’n’ High to run a program for Koori Pathways youth.
“This proved to be a great success,” says Rowland. “We developed a 15-hour, five-week program, which focuses on a communication unit of competency that TAFE teaches. The program requires participants to demonstrate positive communication with their leaders, peers and general public. These skills are developed as the youth learn to set up burners and inflate a balloon, as they do map and compass reading, and use UHF radios. It’s amazing to have some of the toughest youth apologising for swearing. It is part of their commitment to have respect for themselves.”
As a result of this program, a local school has asked Get’n’ High to run a five-week program for Koori and Tongan youth in 2005.
But it is the reviews following first flights that are the most rewarding, says Rowland. “The most thrilling moment for them is when they finally get to fly. It’s the greatest thrill to see the positive change in the youth and to see their self-esteem grow.”
Says one: “I thought it was great, because I got the chance to experience things that I never would of if I wasn’t in the club! I had thought it would be boring, but it wasn’t.” Another says, “I learned about weather, wind directions at different heights, how to set up a balloon and how it works, but most of all, how to really enjoy myself.” One Koori young person said it’s even affected his day-to-day living: “We get on better and don’t swear at each other as much.” And finally, from another, “I had a great time.”
We have had enquiries to establish clubs in other parts of Australia and will consider doing so once we have established quality training programs and a financially self-sustaining format that can be duplicated. We are in need of support and/or advice on how best to provide funding to achieve these goals, such as corporate or government funding.
For More Information
Contact: Rowland Hughes
Post:
“Get’n’ high on Life” project.
Mildura Youth Hot Air Balloon Club.
PO Box 1954,
Mildura Vic 3502
Phone: 0419 277 044
Fax: (03) 5021 3229
Email: rhughes@hotkey.net.au
| This is an extract from January/February 2005
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