Name: Kayanne Lewis
Grade: Year 12
Age: 18 Years
School: Ernabella Anangu School
Hometown and State: Ernabella (Pukatja), South Australia
LIFTING US UP – How can women and girls empower each other and their communities in times of uncertainty and change?
Katuralanya Kanyini äóñ Lifting us up
By Kayanne Lewis
My grandmother is the most important woman in my life. She is strong and supportive. Her words constantly encourage me to stay at school and keep learning. This year I will be the first student in a decade to complete SACE on country and in my community. My community is very different to country towns and city centres of Australia. I live in the very remote central desert; my language is Pitjantjatjara and my culture has evolved from more than 70,000 years in this place – it keeps us strong. The challenges we face as women and girls in our community are like that which other girls and women face globally however, being Anangu adds another layer of disempowerment and voicelessness to our story.
This year has been too hard. It has been hard for everyone all over the world. In February 2020, Anangu felt scared about Coronavirus and its impact on people and community. In March everything shut down. In the APY Lands, shops stopped selling fuel, the art centre closed, there was uncertainty about whether school would close, the old people in aged care were sent to Adelaide, the youth program was closed and the youth worker left, we were restricted from travelling between communities, and funerals stopped. This meant we could not hunt for food; adults were without income to support their families; people could not get home to community and were stuck all over the place; our grandmothers and grandfathers were in a foreign place with no family; and the children had no afterschool activities and no bush trips for on country learning. As part of the federal bio-security act most of these decisions were out of our control – in an isolated community we were even further isolated.
Even though corona virus has been scary and hard in the uncertainty and change for community, women have stayed strong. Women have always been strong. My grandmothers, aunties and mothers have shown me this. Women work hard in lots of ways. They care for family, help each other when there is fighting and violence and help keep culture strong by taking us young girls out bush and telling us stories. When I have fight with my friends my Aunties help me, they help us talk and calm down. Compared to the men in community, almost all women have a job. My sister-cousin Eva, (Anangu way) has two jobs, she works at the clinic helping keep people to be safe and at the school, helping children learn. Lots of the jobs that women have not only supports their family but support the whole community. An important job is working for NPY Women Council, they have a strong Anangu voice for women. They help with domestic violence, when women need food or clothes, and help make change for women’s health and wellbeing.
I learn from the women around me, they have taught me to be strong. With this strength I can empower girls to be strong and empower each other. By finishing school, I am a role model for valuing education. We can also empower women and girls by teaching and empowering the boys in our community because the strength and safety of women and girls is their responsibility too.
Ngayulu Anangu Pitjantjatjara kungka munu ngayulu kunpu munu ngayulu ninti ngayuku tjukuparku. Panya empower-milantjaku ngayuku kiminiti nganana mukuri nganyi, kutjupa tjutangka kulintjatku nganampa tjukurpa munu tjataringkula nintiringkutjaku nganampa wai. I am a strong proud Anangu Pitjantjatjara girl, I know my story. To empower my community, we need others to listen to our story and start to understand our way.
This Power Trip is kindly being sponsored by AgriFutures Australia