Aboriginal Healing,
Sharing Culture |
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DREAMBUILDERS“When I think of Napranum and the people of Napranum, I think dreambuilders, I think visionaries. And once you are a dream builder you can never go back to an ordinary existence. It’s just not possible." Annalise Jennings
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Check out the fascinating Whole of Community Change Radio Broadcast Series which has been organised by David William Gibbons of DGNETWoRKS, in collaboration with Annalise Jennings and Maryann Coconut, Community Elder and Traditional Owner.
You can find all six episodes from 2014 here. There are more episodes to come. Here is some discussion from Episode 1. Annalise [26'49"]: “When I think of Napranum and the people of Napranum, I think dreambuilders, I think visionaries. And once you are a dream builder you can never go back to an ordinary existence. It’s just not possible. And so I believe that’s what these young people are demonstrating as they are coming through this process and this programme, is their will, their desire to just get up and take the next step.” Annalise [29'17"]: "Whole of Community Change looks at empowering young adults to identify a career pathway that they are passionate about, that they are in tune with, and then matching the appropriate education to that career pathway. But it also starts with students young as year seven to start the conversation about “Who am I?”, What am I here for, and “What are my values?” And through the student career life coaching programme, it’s about students, parents and educators actually coming together in a conversation about the vision of that child and supporting that child. And so when we start that conversation as young as years seven, that’s powerful, that’s really powerful when we start the conversation about employability skills, learnability skills. And what we are seeing in Napranum is that as the young adults are stepping into opportunities even within the community and the housing project is a great example of this. This is the first housing joint venture I believe that exists in an Indigenous community. Napranum have taken up that challenge as principal contractors. So they now have their own housing joint venture and Indigenous people working on the design of their own homes and on the building of their own homes. And what we are seeing is the younger generation are saying to the young adults who are in that housing project, “So, how do we do that, how do we get into that?” They are taking notice. And the Elders are mentoring and supporting those people through that change and through those job opportunities. So it’s a whole community approach with the Elders there as the mentors, the young adults are stepping into opportunities and the younger generation are looking up and saying, “Wow, how do I become a part of all this?” So it’s just, it’s clicking, it’s all working. It’s like a tapestry.' |
Bo Waqata is the Former Deputy Mayor of the Community of Napranum. In a previous position as Community Engagement Officer for Napranum, she was responsible for implementation of the Whole of Community Change. Bo is an Elder of the community and holds a Diploma is Social Services.
David Gibbons [31’34”]: “I think in many ways what you are painting there is our intergenerational world, is where all generations are not only teaching but are learning from each other. And I truly believe that is an evolution in consciousness today that we quite possibly have never seen before.
Education, that old Latin world, education, it doesn’t mean to teach really, it means to draw out, doesn’t it. So it’s talking about the inner wisdom. So this is really interesting, isn’t it, that inner wisdom of all of the generations of a community like Napranum are drawing from each other whatever their age. There’s something very powerful about that acknowledgement of inner wisdom that’s coming from your traditions, your history, but also coming in the now today as you progress with these programmes.” Bo Waqata [32’32]: ”Someone once said, “Sky’s the limit, or stars is the limit,” but the son said to the father, “No dad, it’s beyond the sky, it’s beyond the stars.” So education reaches far. Education starts at home, to get the one to reach or fulfil their dream, it starts at home. What I have learnt being the Engagement officer for the community, even though I attend like universities and stuff like that, I still class myself as uneducated. So I learn from others and I go home, I teach the children, I teach the grandchildren. “This is what I have learnt”, and it is something new for them because it is not in their curriculum. It’s not something that you read from the book, it’s built in an individual. And I believe what each and everyone of us has is different from the individual and we are inspired by comments, as I am inspired by Maryann’s comment. That’s education. And I am learning from that. I will go home and I’ll dwell on that. |