‘Trying to give kids the best possible start’ – Pat Cummins travels to remote Indigenous community to raise awareness about early childhood development

Australia skipper Pat Cummins took the onus of heading to one of the Indigenous communities in the outskirts of the Northern Territory of the country in order to raise awareness for early childhood development.

Ahead of the eagerly-anticipated ICC WTC final and the Ashes 2023, Cummins travelled to Borroloola, a remote town in the Northern Territory and spoke about the various challenges faced by the local community.

"For the most part, they were pretty uninterested in me (laughs). We wanted to help out kids. You hear of lots of programs around the world – well, here in Australia, some communities face these problems as dire as anywhere else in the world. The Borroloola community – the soccer team they run out of the school; they have games that are an eight-hour drive away. It's so different to the childhood I grew up having,” Cummins told cricket.com.au.

“Education and employment is really tough in those areas. You're just exposed to such different things to what I was exposed to as a kid growing up in western Sydney. Providing these programs really is an anchor for a lot of them in their lives. It gives the teachers purpose outside of just family; they become real leaders and grow themselves,” he added.

Joining UNICEF Australia as an ambassador, Cummins travelled to the remote area as part of a campaign. In addition to this, UNICEF also hoped that the skipper’s travel to Borroloola would help raise awareness in closing the gap in life outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous children.

The skipper also spent time with people in a small flood-prone town, speaking to elders, playing with children and learning about the challenges of living in a remote location. Pat Cummins will soon head to England for the forthcoming World Test Championship final (WTC) 2021-23 against India. The One-off Test between the two fierce rivals is scheduled to be played at the Oval in London, starting on June 7 for the coveted mace.