However, leave it to Rotary to defy that underwhelming feedback from uni! I still will not be able to conduct a project or write a thesis for my master's since I'm in the accelerated 1 year master's program, but I already have been able to start volunteering in Inala, and just getting the hands-on experience, being a bit of a contributor to the community, and making the friendships and memories is really all I care about. Inala is about 20-30 minutes outside of Brisbane city and was originally created as a low-income community... I guess like "The Projects" of any major American city. It is known to be beautifully multicultural (the best Vietnamese food in the country and home to many Aboriginals, as it is located on Jungara land) yet tragically poverty, substance abuse, and crime-ridden. Thanks to Rotarian Carla Tromans from the Planetarium club, I was put in contact with the Smith Family (development partnership brokers), who put me in contact with their employee, Lyn Manners, so I could get out into the community.
Lyn Manners is one of the liveliest ladies you'll ever meet--great story teller with a hearty, raspy laugh, has the stereotypical sing-songy cadence and Outback lingo of the quintessential Australian, and is a fair-skinned, blue-eyed Narangga woman (Aboriginal clan from South Australia). She was kind enough to pick me up from my apartment and give me a tour of Inala last week, including introducing me to the President of the Elders Council of Inala. When I heard that in order to abide by cultural protocol I would be meeting the community Elders before I could attempt to volunteer or get involved, I was a bit nervous wondering what sort of rituals and questioning this would entail...maybe a smoke ceremony? What if I choke?! However, it was so laidback and friendly, and you wouldn't otherwise know it was associated with such a culturally-centered community--it merely involved chatting on some benches outside the Elders' meeting house with Auntie Pam (President of the Council of Elders) while her coworkers took a smoke break and morning tea. I knew I was in once Auntie invited me to come to a teen suicide focus group meeting the following week after I said I was studying international public health, and indeed I went.
This focus group meeting was yesterday, and there was so much for me to digest from it, from the verbal discussions all the way to the subconscious/unspoken stuff, too. I won't bore you all with too many details since I'm not sure everyone else is as obsessed about cultural idiosyncracies as this social sciences grad student is, but here are some of my interesting notes:
- In an Aboriginal community, Elders are the older people of the community who are well-respected, who are informally nominated to be the de facto problem-solvers of the community. Although it ends up like a full-time job as a community leader, mentor, and event planner, they are completely unpaid and do it as a traditional duty. Elder males are called "Uncle" and females are called "Auntie," which is why I was referring to Auntie Pam as Auntie Pam. They are the grandmothers and grandfathers of the community.
- Adults (age 30s-50s) who are the generation below the Elders are referred to as "Brother" or "Sister" and "Sister-girl". For example, when someone asked the meeting leader where they could get certain paperwork, he responded saying "Go see a Sister-girl for that one".
- Although each Aboriginal clan has their own language, there is somewhat of an Aboriginal pidgin dialect many adhere to. For example, anything involving death is referred to as "sorry-business". You can't actually discuss it specifically, and for several months after someone has passed you can't say their name or it holds back their spirit from going where it's supposed to go.
- This meeting was called together because in less than 2 months, 3 young people in the community (between age 15-24) had committed suicide, and something needed to change. Much of the focus group discussion involved the fact that although many Aboriginals feel there aren't enough government services and help for them out there, there really is more than is necessary. The problem lies in that such services are not culturally specific nor culturally relevant to Aboriginal people so they go unused. Health services, especially effective mental health services, require the employing of Aboriginals who can help Aboriginals. While from the perspective of an outsider this may seem like reverse racism, it's not meant to be exclusive of white people, but simply inclusive of Aboriginals. Only fellow Aboriginals can understand the plight of a fellow Aboriginal, to understand their intergenerational burden of lost land and lost identity. As one middle aged man explained after about 20 minutes of across the room bickering over which sector of the local or national government, or the educational system, or the health infrastructure, was to blame for the poor mental health of teen Aboriginals, this "have Aboriginals help Aboriginals" strategy will be a way to stop this intergenerational trend of Aboriginals blaming everyone else for their problems and to become accountable for themselves. It was really interesting to see the shifts in ideas and opinions throughout the room and throughout the 75 minute meeting. In the end, I think they really developed some good strategies to get started, which include about 9 peer mentors called "Future Leaders" and 8 adult "Community Leaders" who will help anyone who volunteers to be put on a "watch" list.
Ok I'm sure after that last long-winded paragraph, most of you readers have checked out by now and just want some photos. I don't have any from Inala, except for this one of the Torres-Strait Islander flag and the Australian Aboriginal flag.
Lyn has some more uplifting, cultural events planned for me to attend in the future so I will post pictures of those then. I am really disappointed I will be out of the country for NAIDOC week, which is the first week of July and Aboriginal communities across the country all put on festivals to celebrate their culture. For anyone who wants to learn more about NAIDOC, visit: http://www.naidoc.org.au/
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