Malpa

INTRODUCING NEW AMBASSADOR:

LUKE CARROLL

High profile Aboriginal actor Luke Carroll has accepted the role of Ambassador for the Malpa Project.

”I love the idea of the whole community taking responsibility for their future,” he said.

Luke will preside at fund raising events and spread the word about Child Doctors.

DEUTSCHE BANK:

A CUT ABOVE THE REST

As Deutsche Bank’s Charity of the Year we continue to enjoy significant support.

One staff member went so far as to have his head shaved and raised over $ 4,000. The Final Cut was done in a video link up to Hong Kong, Singapore, Melbourne and London.

A staff collection of medical supplies was donated to the Purple House in Alice Springs for their important culturally based work with renal patients and their families.

AUSTRALIAN RED CROSS

Malpa will formally start working in partnership with the Red Cross.

Annie Vanderwyk, Red Cross’s Manager of Indigenous projects in NSW, said “The Chid Doctor project we launch in Kempsey is just what the Dunghutti people are seeking.”

The project will be called Dhalayi Doctors.

The project will be filmed by the BBC for their Euro News channel.

The Malpa Project

The life expectancy gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians is 19 years. Chronic health problems plague Indigenous communities. The MALPA Project collaborates with Indigenous community members to provide health promotion programs and services to address the significant unmet needs of many Indigenous communities, particularly rural and remote ones. Our Child Doctors project established primary school children as health ambassadors who learn about both Western and traditional approaches to health and wellbeing and engage with the community as a whole to apply this knowledge in their every day lives.

MALPA is a word widely used across the traditional groups of Central Australia [Pintupi, Arrente, Warlpiri, Pitjantjatjara, Yankuntatjara, Luritja, Anmatyerr, etc]. It means friend or companion. The MALPA project also creates opportunities to develop authentic relationships and understanding between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

Underlying every aspect of MALPA is the desire to develop opportunities for patients, their carers and other Aboriginal people to be deeply involved in the design and provision of services and to take responsibility not only for their own health needs but those of their communities.

TWO WAYS

The Malpa Project is honoured to walk together with Rex Granites Japanangka as we develop the Tjitji Doctors project.

When Rex talks about how important it is to do things “two ways” he knows what he’s talking about.

“The key to solving the problems that make life hard for my people is understanding white and black ways and working jankujurra [together]” he says.

Rex is a Senior Walpiri Man from the Western Desert and a custodian for Mina Mina Dreaming. But he’s also an ordained pastor. He speaks Walpiri and English and has extensive experience interpreting and translating. His work as a mentor is in high demand as he seeks to resolve social conflicts which beset many communities.

He’s an award winning artist and recently received an ANU scholarship to engage in post graduate studies. This builds on his Bachelor of Education from Deakin University.

Rex ‘s remarkable breadth of experience includes being a representative for ATSIC, several years as Chairman for the Central Lands Council, as a Teaching Chairperson for the World Council of Indigenous People and much more. He brings considerable wisdom and invaluable insights as the Tjitji Doctors program is developed and delivered.

His work has led him to lecturing at Macquarie University in art, culture and community governance.

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