Zonta Club of Perth Inc, PO Box 237, Nedlands, Western Australia 6909.  ABN 55 339 469 759  

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District 23 Yarri Wada Puppet Project

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 and has developed in three stages as:

  • Yarri Wada Puppet Project

  • Monorngungga - Stepping Forward with Pride

  • Ilerla Project

Yarri Wada Puppet Project

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.

Monorngungga - Stepping Forward with Pride

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 saw 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 was completed with tremendous results, including more young men arranging 'check ups' with the local nurses.  Similar courses have been developed for young men.

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 got on track to continue this work themselves.  Funding from Zonta Clubs in District 23 helped to 'kick start' this phase of the project as it was adopted as an official D23 project for the 2008-2010 biennium. 

A huge thank you goes to all the Zonta Clubs in District 23 that supported the Yarri Wada Project.  The funds raised were matched by the Unity of First People of Australia and a Project Manager was employed to see the continuation of the education programs commenced as part of the Yarri Wada Puppet Project. 

The experience gained from Yarri Wada demonstrated that there was a need for programs to educate young people in life skills, provide cultural pride and build their esteem so they were empowered to make positive choices in life.  Therefore, partners in the project set about seeking more funding to see the program become established in the community.

Ilerla Project

Meanwhile Yarri Wada Project Coordinators Fiona Crowe and Sciona Browne, applied for funding to continue the programs and have been waiting to hear if they have been successful...  It is now official – Lotterywest has granted $230,307 to ensure the work continues for two more years.

The project will move forward under the name ‘ILERLA’ - meaning ‘young youth’. It targets young people in the remote Kimberley region of Western Australia who live in environments where there are high levels of alcohol abuse, drug abuse and violence.

Ilerla will be administered by the Unity of First People of Australia and the Zonta Club of Perth will continue to be involved through representation on the Community Reference Group to whom the Project Manager reports.  In addition, the club will also assist with seeking funding to sustain the program beyond the next two years.

Ilerla brings together community elders and a host of local organizations and government agencies such as True Blue Dreaming, Rainbow Program, WA Police, WA Health Department, Curtin University, University of South Australia, Kimberley Aboriginal Medical Services, Aboriginal Healthwork, Mooditj, Standby Me, Nunga Women’s Workshops, St John Ambulance and many more!

Mowunjum resident, Leah Umbagai, will coordinate a range of programs aimed at children, youth, young adults, young parents, mothers, fathers and grandparents.  The Ilerla Project is based at Mowunjum (10km south of Derby) but will also include communities on the Gibb River Road up to 500km away.

With talks by indigenous role models, professional assistance to deal with emotional and physical trauma and after school activities such as art workshops, drop in centre for homework, puppet theatre activities, in-country camps, traditional dance afternoons and a ‘kids club’ that incorporates a sleep-over from Friday night for those children who are unsafe at home on weekends, children will have opportunities to broaden their thinking and be empowered to make good decisions for the future.  Additional programs designed to help youth navigate puberty more safely include high school sex education programs, as so many of the 15-18 year olds are at high risk of unplanned pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections and breakdown in mental health.  The Kimberley Land Council will also take boys and girls on a bush training program to show them how to monitor the environment and animals and manage the country using traditional techniques such as controlled burning.

The whole community will be touched by Ilerla.  For more information on this fantastic good news story, please see the last Yarri Wada News that has been distributed to all clubs and that may be downloaded here.

The magical thing about Yarri Wada is that has inspired local leaders to take ownership of the project and develop the project in the way that works best in their communities.  

Yarri Wada News

September 2010

September 2009

March 2009

June 2008

 

 

Puppet Training in the Kimberley

 

Erecting one of the puppets at the World Puppet Festival

 

The Kimberley region is about 3,000 km from Perth

A HUGE thank you to our Donors!

EON Foundation $20,000

Zonta Club of Perth $2000

McGregor family $500

Zonta Club of Adelaide $500

Zonta Club of Adelaide Flinders $500

Zonta Club of Adelaide Hills $500

Zonta Club of Adelaide Torrens $500

Zonta Club of Alice Springs $500

Zonta Club of Bendigo $500

Zonta Club of Bunbury $500

Zonta Club of Devonport $500

Zonta Club of Dunsborough Area $500

Zonta Club of Fleurieu Penisula $500

Zonta Club of Frankston $500

Zonta Club of Kyneton $500

Zonta Club of Melbourne on Yarra $435

Zonta Club of Peel Region $500

Zonta Club of Perth Northern Suburbs $500

Zonta Club of Port Lincoln $500

Zonta Club of Riverland $500

Zonta Club of Swan Hills $500

Zonta Club of Wangaratta $500

Zonta Club of Para Area $250

Project Partners

  • Zonta Clubs of District 23

  • Mowanjum Community, through the community steering group

  • Mowanjum Aboriginal Spirit of the Wandjina Artists Cooperative

  • Family Planning Association of WA

  • United First Peoples Australia

  • The David Wurripunda Foundation

  • Department of Health, WA

  • Kimberley Public Health Unit

  • WA Child Health Service

  • Beyond Blue

 

 

© Zonta Club of Perth Inc, 2012.