Celebrating 30 years! - Ngaanyatjarra, Pitjantjatjara and ...

Tjungu TeamElsie Wanatjura checks out the new HITnet kiosk at the Mutitjulu Clinic, NT.Ngangkari Rupert Peter, in Whistler, Canada.Cross-border Carer RespiteProgram The Cross-border RespiteProgram worked with around 300 carersof aged and disabled clients, organisingrespite for clients either in town at therespite house shared with FrontierServices, or by sending contract carersto communities. NPYWC continues itspartnership with Frontier Services (anarm of the Uniting Church) in an AliceSprings to share a house leased byFrontier Services from NT Housing toprovide accommodation for clientswhose usual carers need respite, andfor contract carers. The house is sharedmonth about with Frontier Services andallows NPYWC to accommodate clientsin comfortable, homely surroundings.The two Carer Respite staff, CarolineCoombes and Vanessa Bathern, have asusual been very busy supplying swagsand blankets, especially during the pastvery cold winter. Tjungu policy is thatonly one swag and bedding set per clientis provided each year.Emotional & Social Wellbeing ESWBProject Officer Lee Ryall has workedclosely with the Youth team and womenin communities to get three HITnetkiosks installed. These show materialrelating to health issues and activitiesand ideas that keep people’s spiritstrong. ESWB staff members Lee Ryalland Maimie Butler, Youth staff memberChris Warren and Directors ValerieFoster and Janet Inyika attended the firstBlank Page Summit on Suicide in Broomein July 2009 and staff have spoken toclients and their family members aboutthe issue. ESWB has produced two CDsas part of its OATSIH-funded SpeakingUp about Mental Health project.One is a translation of Ngangkaritalks into English to help doctors andnurses understand how Anangu andYarnangu think about mental health;and the second CD is in Pitjantjatjaraand Ngaanyatjarra and covers mentalhealth issues. Both CDs are available atNPYWC.Ngangkari (traditional healers): NPYWCemploys two full-time ngangkari, RupertPeters and Toby Ginger, and severalothers - Andy Tjilari, Pantjiti McKenzie,Maringka Burton, Josephine Mick, SamWatson and Clem Dalby - have workedon a part-time or casual basis. Part-timeNgangkari Project Officer Angela Lynchsupports the ngangkari and assistswith their travel and reporting. Rupertand Toby, the two full-time ngangkari,have travelled to communities all overthe region, and also visited Ananguin gaols and hospitals and in hostelsin Alice Springs. They have also metregularly with staff from the NT RemoteMental Health team, and spoken abouttheir work to a range of other workersand organisations. This year threengangkari - Rupert and Toby and AndyTjilari - were keynote speakers at theSecretariat of National Aboriginal andIslander Child Care (SNAICC) conferencein Alice Springs, the LIME (Leadersin Indigenous Medical Education)Network in Melbourne, and also spokeat the World Parliament of Religions inMelbourne in December 2009. Early in2010 the three travelled to Canberrato attend the opening of the AustralianIndigenous Doctors Association’soffices in the Old Parliament House,and whilst there, ‘cleaned’ the building ofsome lurking ‘mamu’ - harmful spiritualelements.Throughout the year the Ngangkari teamhas continued to work on an updated andrevised edition of the book ‘NgangkariWork- Anangu Way,’ due to be publishedin 2011.International Day for People witha Disability This day was celebratedin December 2009. NPYWC receivedfunding to conduct some communityevents to celebrate those people livingwith a disability. In Alice Springs abarbeque was held and in Ernabella,16 NPY Women’s Council (Aboriginal Corporation) Annual Report 2009–2010