1. Pukatja (aka Ernabella)South Australia

2. ~ Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara, South Australia~ Established: 1981 Area: 102650 km (39,633.4 sq mi)Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) is alarge Aboriginal local government area located in theremote north west of South Australia.~ Consists of the Pitantjatjara, Yankunvtiatiara andNgaanyatiarrs Peoples (or Anangu), and has a population ofaround 2500 people. 3. To enter the APY Lands a permit isrequired. This holds everyone whoenters the lands accountable for theiractions and reasons to be on thelands.No alcohol is permitted on the APYlands, nor is petro allowed to bebrought in. Not only is no petroallowed on the lands, the fuel hasswitched over to Opal fuel. 4. A 2008 review foundpetrol sniffing inCentral Australian andAPY landscommunities droppedby over 90 per cent inthe 12 monthsfollowing Opalsintroduction.http://www.nhmrc.gov.au/media/releases/2011/new-guideline-improves-management-volatile-substance-use 5. Pukatja (aka Ernabella)This is where Im situated there are approximately 500people living within this community, not including those whocome to work here. 6. I am here to learn about the people, the culture and toimmerse myself within the community. I am notestablished with any set agency and have my ownagenda. I am still working on my goals, some of whichinclude: showing respect for cultural ways (which Im learning) keeping an open mind (which can be challenging) 7. practicing Anti-oppressive practice choose mywords carefully, do not use power words norcondoning words which further oppresses ormarginalizes, this ties in with a Strengths BasedApproach learn from the people, both those who reside here aswell as those who work on in the APY Lands. Stay sane! Ive come to realize how vital self care iswhile being on the lands; it is isolated and extremelydifferent than being able to go home at the end of theday. 8. The Churches RoleErnabella was established as a Presbyterian mission in 1938. Dr.Charles Duguid who was the advocate for the establishment ofErnabella laid down the following principles:There was to be no compulsion nor imposition of our way of life on theAborigines, nor deliberate interference with tribal custom ... only peopletrained in some particular skill should be on the mission staff, and ...they must learn the tribal languageAnangu people started gradually to come in from traditional life in thedesert to live at the Mission after its establishment. The missionrespected Anangu culture and traditions and offered medical help andeducation, with no conditions attached.Responsibility for the administration of Ernabella Mission was formallyhanded over to the Ernabella Community Council later PukatjaCommunity Council on 1 January 1974http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pukatja,_South_Australia 9. There are many parallels within our Indigenouscommunities and the Anangu peoples in Australia;both have experienced assimilation, the stolengeneration, culturalgenocide, marginalization, stereotyping, oppression, poverty, addiction...and the list goes on.There are a lot of white people working on the landsand the Anangu peoples residing here have seen manywhite people come and go. Generally most peoplecome to work in the APY Lands for a year or two, thenthey leave. The Anangu peoples refer to those whocome and go as white clouds, here one moment andgone the next.Is it any wonder that it is difficult to developrelationships with the amount of strangers coming andgoing? 10. I am feeling what it is like to be the outsider, the one beingwatched, and it is not easy by no means to develop a relationshipwith the people. However, after being in Pukatja for two weeks andmaking my presence known, Im making progress. A few of theladies now greet me, some of the younger children say Pelyia(sp?) (hello) and I am now working alongside of the lady who runsthe daycare. (More on the daycare later.)I have visited three schools on the APY Lands, four if I countAnTEP, and there is a vast difference between the schools.One of the communities is cold and hard; what I mean by this isthat they have feuding blood lines situated within the samecommunity, this is cause for violence. 11. There is a belief amongst these people, if one does another harmpayback is important. If, for example, a man was driving a vehicleand carried a passenger and both died in a car accident, thebrother of the man who died would be the one to receive paybackfor the wrong-doing, even if it wasnt the mans fault to begin with.I hope not to see any type of payback while Im here! Apparentlyone time the police barricaded themselves in theirstation, payback can get pretty nasty and can involve many withina community or it can be two communities feuding.In days gone by payback involved a spear in the thigh, that wasfor a wrong-doing. The communities had their own law andconsequences for breaking their laws, and still do to a degree. 12. Mens Business(Im not sure exactly how often this transpires) When a boy is readyto become a man he is taken by an Elder , generally quite a few boysare taken at a time; they take the young men into thewilderness, teach them the necessary skills for survival and they canbe gone for lengthy periods of time. Currently there have been boysaway with the Elders since January, apparently the ritual generallydoesnt last this long, so the boys who will become men and the menwho teach the boys could be home any time now.One of the rituals is to knock out one of the young mans front teeth, Iam not sure what the significance of this is, but this is one of theircultural ways.Also nobody is to wear red while mens business is being carried out. 13. Ernabella ArtsErnabella Arts, established in1945, is a place where seniorwomen and men as well as youngwomen and men practice anddevelop Anangu art, in order tosustain, support and promotecultural heritage, and to improvethe lifestyle of communitysmembers.http://www.ernabellaarts.com.au 14. ServicesPolice Station - The policeare often out in thecommunities, they travelaround so seldom isanyone in the office.Clinic two nurses onstaff and onedoctor, the doctor isgenerally out in thevarious communitiesworking. 15. Day CareThe Daycare is an interactive program, parent(s) and/or caregiver(s) can bringtheir pre-school children in and do crafts, play, interact with other families, or anarray of different things. There is a bathing station available, hot lunches areprepared by the parent(s) or sometimes by the worker.The goal is to have both the children and the adult learning; there arescrapbooks made for each child, the staff takes the photos, the parents orcaregivers make the album and adds English titles to the work. It is an amazingprogram!Recognizes theparent(s) or thecaregiver(s) as thefirst teacher 16. ErnabellaAnangu SchoolErnabella School is participating in the following Smarter SchoolsPartnerships Strategies in 2011. This includes:All children are engaged In and benefitting from schoolingYoung people are meeting basic literacy and numeracy standards, andoverall levels of literacy and numeracy achievement are improvingSchooling promotes social inclusion and reduces educationaldisadvantage of children, especially Indigenous childrenAustralian students excel by International standards: andYoung people make a successful transition from school to work andfurther study.http://www.ernabella.sa.edu.au/ 17. tafeSAThus far I have seen thisbuilding used for a domesticviolence course, the course wasfour weeks long and was beingpresented to men. 18. Anangu Teacher Education ProgramThe Diploma in Education (AnanguEducation) and the Bachelor of Teaching(Anangu Education) are programs developedby UniSA to support the aspirations ofcommunities in the APY Lands to provideteacher education to Anangu whilst theyreside in their home communities.AnTEP 19. The one and only store in Pukatja, where there arelimited supplies and everything is astronomicallypriced but at least its a store where one canpurchase essentials. The sad thing is that the peoplewho live here use this store as their place to shop fortheir groceries, the nearest community withsupermarkets is 5 hours away. The truck delivers foodonce a week, on Fridays. 20. DesertDwellers..A few Ivecaptured 21. Until we all meet againCheers from the land down under. 22. Referenceshttp://www.ernabellaarts.com.au/http://www.ernabellaarts.com.au/mainpages/about.htmlhttp://www.ernabella.sa.edu.au/http://www.ernabella.sa.edu.au/docs/ernabellaAnanguSchool_ssnpp.pdfhttp://www.nhmrc.gov.au/media/releases/2011/new-guideline-improves-management-volatile-substance-usehttp://www.ns.uca.org.au/2010/06/celebrating-the-history-of-ernabella-mission/http://programs.unisa.edu.au/public/pcms/program.aspx?pageid=333&sid=437http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pukatja,_South_AustraliaPhotos: Darlene Marchuk