Emma Stewart and Aunty Ellen Mundy's dream of bringing cultural programs into schools is taking off, as they empower Aboriginal kids through art, language and storytelling.
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Their latest program, the Baalang Bogan, meaning Girls on Mother Earth, was run at Bega High School with Year 7 girls in collaboration with the school's Aboriginal education officer Erica Luff.
Djiringanj and Ngarigo Elder Ellen Mundy said the aim of the program was to get Indigenous youth more involved in schools and give them a sense of pride and ownership of their culture.
"The young girls seem to like it and were telling all their friends about the program, we even had kids from other years asking to join" she said.
"We taught them language as well as a little bit of the local history of the area and every time we went out to meet them, I'd tell them a little story as well."
With the six week program drawing to a close, Aunty Ellen said she was proud of the results, seeing the enthusiasm from students both in the class and throughout the school.
"They've learnt lots of language and they've also learnt a lot about acknowledgement of mother earth," she said.
"One of the girls told me she wasn't going to go to school that day but that was really glad she did in the end and that felt good for us, to see the girls happy and positive about learning culture."
Aunty Ellen said she hoped programs like these would help empower youth and remind them of their history.
"It's important for the young generations to learn about the history of the original people of this country, to not forget the past and understand how our people were spiritually connected to the land," she said.
"The other thing is programs like these help break down racism from an early age, because nobody is born with racism,"
"Here we're not only helping kids connect and understand culture but we're building the self esteem of our own mob up, encouraging them to go further with their education."
Co-creator of the program Emma Stewart said she and Aunty Ellen hoped to continue building different cultural education packages that would be delivered across a variety of organisations and schools.
"The more people we can share culture with the better and the main aim is for our community to feel strong in who they are," she said.
"We all need to support each other and I think our young people will be leaders in the language space and the more people are culturally strong the better that'll be, because ultimately we're stronger together."
Ms Stewart said their first program, had been a four series preschool program called the cultural connection which was delivered to several kindergartens in the Bega Valley.
Now with their Baalang Bogan program delivered at Bega High School, they were getting even more inquiries.
"We've already got schools contacting us wanting to do the same programs because word has been getting around about what we've been doing," she said.
Ms Stewart said any schools or organisations interested were welcome to reach out to her via email at jirribittihealing@gmail.com
"We've got these beautiful programs ready to go and more in the works, imagine what a wonderful opportunity it would be if schools reached out and looked to link it into their curriculum," she said.
"Partnerships like these in schools, open up the chance for true reconciliation and cultural authenticity where we can all come together, work together to share skills and knowledge,"
"That's when true healing and change will come in Australia."
Ms Stewart said the success of their programs would not have been possible without the support of the Bega Aboriginal Land Council as well as the schools that got behind their programs so far.
"Leanne Atkinson the CEO of the Bega Aboriginal Land Council has really created a safe place for people to come and share their ideas at the community hub and she was the one who pointed us in the direction of working with high school kids as well," she said.
"It's been a great collaboration between the community hub and the schools and that's why it's been so successful."