Last week GEGAC’s Extended Community Care Services team took delivery of a set of custom-made seats which will be used by Elders for yarning sessions with children in out-of-home care.
The seats were built and decorated by Pearce Cameron Indigenous Projects and JM Joinery, with the artwork designed and burned into the seats by Pearce Cameron’s Alfie Hudson and Nicole Schaeche.
Last year Extended Community Care Services began a program of having local Elders sit and yarn with children in out-of-home care, part of our ongoing effort to make sure Aboriginal children are connected to, and inspired by, their Aboriginal community, culture and country.
“It’s been really beautiful to see the way our kids have responded to having Elders sit and talk to them,” said Extended Community Care Services Senior Manager Paula Jurgens.
“You know, they’ll be playing up and being loud and all the things that kids do, and then the moment one of the Elders walks in and sits down everyone goes quiet and comes to attention. It’s amazing.”
“There is such a reverence and respect in that relationship between young and old.”
Paula said that local Elders Auntie Edna Richie, Auntie Jackie Richie, Auntie Helen Morgan and Auntie May Pearce had yarned with the young ones about their lives growing up on GunaiKurnai Country, what it was like back in the day, the struggles they faced and the joys they had as young people.
“I think it helped give these young children a little perspective, to understand more about what our Aboriginal community has endured in the past, and why maintaining our connections to culture and history are so important,” Paula said.
“I also hopes it helps these young people see that they are part of a much bigger story, one that is strong and proud and rich.”
The chairs were designed specifically to be easier for older people to sit in and stand up from, and with enough room for a carer, support person or child to be able to sit next to them.
And the arm rests were built wide and flat – the perfect place to rest that important cuppa!
Burned into the timber of the chairs is a gum tree design, the leaves, used in smokings and other important ceremonies, are a tribute to our Elders, past and present.
The roots of the gum tree, and the strong limbs that branch out from the trunk, speak of the generations of our family and community, which are sustained by the nutrients of country.
To learn more about our Extended Community Care Services, visit gegac.org.au/extended-community-care/