The Healing Foundation workshop is over. (You can read about day 1 here.) We probably didn’t get as much done on evaluation as was originally planned, but many stories about, and visions for, healing were shared. There were many inspiring stories and people and I think we left with a sense of vision and hope.
It is always very moving to hear about the pain of the stolen generations, the loss of language and the loss of culture. (The stories probably took almost five hours in the end.) The stories clearly showed the importance of healing and they way various groups are approaching it.
The workshop helped clarify the intended outcomes of the Healing Foundation and when the outcomes are finalised I will post them. They centre around physical, social, emotional and spiritual wellbeing; and the importance of culture to healing.
Tuesday evening we finished with an informal performance by Roger Knox (who is one of the grant recipients) and the three days finished with a smoking ceremony. Kat Hope agreed to let me interview her about community engagement in the context of her work in Alice Springs, which I will post soon.
I’d like to finish this post with a quote from Aunty Milly Sandy, an inspirational Rembarunga Elder living and working in Wugularr (Beswick). It captured for me the strong sense of connection, the lack of bitterness and the strong relationship with land.
You are all my sisters and brothers. We walk in the land together but it is the tribal groups who hold the land.
Sustaining Community 