Yarri Wada is a Ngarinyin
phrase meaning ‘many dreamings’.
Senior Law women of the
Ngarinyin, Wunambal and Worora clans have one thing in common - a deep
love of their country and the people within it.
They dream of :
-
finding ways
to guide their communities out of the cycle of poverty, domestic violence,
child abuse, alcohol and drug abuse, disease, youth suicide, poor education
and unemployment
-
communities regaining pride in their culture and respect for themselves and
each other
-
their children enjoying good health, good education and a safe living
environment.
Together, these women
decided that they could use puppets to best apply their strengths in art and
story telling, to help men and women make positive changes in their
communities...all they needed to get started, was a little help from their
friends
The women approached
their friends from the Zonta Club of Perth, with their idea - and the Yarri
Wada Puppet Project was born.
In stage 1 of the project, Zontians successfully
sought partnership with the EON Foundation, the Spare Parts Puppet Theatre,
the Union Internationale de la Marionnette (UNIMA) - the world puppetry
body, Million Puppets Project, St Catherine’s College (University of Western
Australia) and several private individuals. The first stage saw 50
women trained by professional puppeteers in puppet design, with 19 receiving
formal TAFE qualifications in the process.
A DVD video of the puppet construction was made and sent to potential donors
in a Yarri Wada Presentation Pack that also contained the first edition of
the Yarri Wada News and donation forms. The project was presented at
the District 23 Conference in Hobart, Tasmania in 2007 and adopted as a
District 23 project for the 2008-2010 biennium.
A few puppeteers brought two 'Gwion Gwion' puppets, 4.5m and 3m high, from
the Kimberley to Perth and exhibited them at the World Puppet Festival in
April 2008. This was a fantastic opportunities for our fledgling
puppeteers to mix it with the best in the world and the puppets stirred a
lot of interest - especially given their size and cultural uniqueness.
Back in the Kimberley, it soon became clear that the local leaders of the
project needed to have the skills and knowledge to train future puppeteers
to deliver the important messages relating to health, culture and life
skills.
Therefore Stage 2 of the project has seen the development of Monorngungga
- Stepping Forward with Pride a project to teach sexual health and
wellbeing to young people aged 10-16. Program leaders are Beryl Davis,
Aboriginal Liaison Officer from Derby Health Service, Estelle Umbagai from
Mowunjum Community and Angela Fisher a Child Health Nurse from the Kimberley
Public Health Unit. The leaders firstly undertook specialist training
in sexual health and positive life skills so they could learn to get young
people to talk about puberty, body image and sexual issues in a group
environment. The first training course for young women has recently
been completed with tremendous results, including more young men arranging
'check ups' with the local nurses. It is hoped to develop a similar
course for young men in the future.
The project has been the catalyst for local agencies to work together and,
thanks to a little help from their Zontian friends, the Kimberley
communities are now on track to continue this work themselves. Funding
from Zonta Clubs in District 23 has helped to 'kick start' this phase of the
project and with a little more help over the next year the team is confident
that the project will become self sustainable in the long term.
The magical thing about Yarri Wada is that it is inspiring local leaders to
take ownership of the project and develop the project in the way that works
best in their communities.