WORIMI elder Aunty Lyn Davis (pictured above) is filled with sadness.
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“We’re all experiencing the ice epidemic. It’s right across the board,” Aunty Lyn said.
“I think it’s going to wipe out a generation or two if they can’t stop it from happening.”
She remembers the days before ice, before drugs, before the prevalence of alcohol.
“I was reared up on this mission here. We didn’t have much but it was a good life. There was drink but it happened in the bush. Everybody had jobs then, there were good hard working men. I loved mission life, it was a different way of living and everyone used to look out for each other.”
Today she lives near the mission but has seen drugs and in particular now ice, change it. Aunty Lyn would like to see Worimi’s elders get together to talk about the problems. She said that the only elder now living on the mission is Aunty May, now in her 80s but everyone still tries to stay involved to help the younger generations.
“We need more elders though, they are not coming up through the ranks but they need to step up to the plate. As elders we’re leading but there are not enough men to show the young boys the ways. But we’re trying our best.”
Aunty Lyn said she was fortunate to grow up knowing about her culture and that “every day I feel sadness in my heart because they don’t know too much about their culture today.”
“Them kids need to have cultural things,” she said, adding she would like to see a cultural centre for women’s business and men’s business.
Aunty Lyn also said that housing, health, employment and education all went hand in hand. Pathways to TAFE were helping but to address the problems “things needed to change” in the community at large.
“Well, I don’t know what’s going on here, but I don’t see any Koori kids working in the shops here. Aboriginal people are still battling to find employment. It comes down to trust.”