From the Chaplain

I spent the weekend in Busselton on a camp for kids with alopecia. Samantha, my seven-year-old daughter, started suffering from this condition 18 months ago. We were the first to arrive with a bus load of kids arriving two hours later. Samantha couldn’t help but stare at the bald people like her, as she had never seen anyone like herself before. I was amazed with two teenage girls who had never met before (a Year Seven and a Year Eight) who had wigs on, fake eyelashes and feathered eyebrows (they looked great, I couldn’t even tell). They told us that no one in their school knew about their condition. They had managed to keep it a secret for that long since being in high school. They were both too afraid to let anyone know in case they were teased or their friends wouldn’t like them and they didn’t want to be known as the ‘bald kid'.

It's sad how sometimes we are consumed by our looks rather than our personalities. Last year, we had a chapel service for the Middle School students about their identity. As teenagers start to look to their friends for their identity, teenage life can become very stressful. We spoke about not placing your identity in what the world says you are. You are not just the bad kid, the beautiful kid, the bald kid, the smart kid or the unwanted kid. We spoke about looking to the Bible to see who God says you are, and shaping your identity in Christ, as a child of God.

You are a masterpiece: For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10

You are unique: For You shaped me, inside and out. You knitted me together in my mother’s womb long before I took my first breath. Psalm 139:13

For Samantha, this camp was a great experience, as over the weekend she became proud of who she is, what she looks like and knowing who she is in Christ.

Mrs Naomi Cooper | Chaplain