IWARA: A NEW PATH FOR YOUNG PEOPLE IN REMOTE COMMUNITIES

Jail can cause great harm to children. In Australia 10 yo children can be arrested, charged and jailed. We know incarcerating children does not reduce crime, is extremely costly and increases the chances of children re-offending x3. Is there a better way? Read more about why children are in jail and what alternatives exist. NPYWC Directors ask the Australian Government to #RaiseTheAge of incarcerated children from age 10 to 14 in line with UN recommendations.

Who are the children in jail?
65% of children in jail (aged 10-13) are Aboriginal. Research shows children in jail are already struggling with a range of life situations and health issues, that have not been adequately addressed.
We know that incarcerated children are more likely to have:

• intellectual disabilities
• low levels of education
• poor mental and physical health
• engage in substance abuse
• been exposed to violence and other mistreatment
• been placed in foster care

_{NPYWC Director, Wanatjura Lewis at 10 years old (check dress)}

In Australia it costs $1579 / day per child or $539 million dollars annually to keep in youth detention (2018/19, Productivity Commission). Is there a more effective way of reducing crime and increasing children’s welfare that are cost effective?

When we invest early on in children, families and communities reap the rewards.
Investing in the welfare of children and families is good for everyone. Holistic and community based programs that work with the complex issues causing children to fall through the cracks, can prevent a children heading down the terrifying path of detention and jail.

A good start is growing preventative programs that provide support for:

• families to care for children with intellectual disabilities
• boys/young men to better understand and manage their violent behaviour, and support for families and men to deal with domestic violence
• programs like NPYWC’s Walytjapiti team that work with families to prevent children being removed from their family and culture
• appropriate resourced and culturally relevant mental health and well-being programs.

“It’s not a matter of ignoring that behaviour and doing nothing, it’s a matter of rethinking how we approach those problems in a way that’s more constructive,” University of Technology Sydney criminology professor Chris Cunneen.

NPYWC Chairperson, Yanyi Bandicha at 10 years old

“When they take young people to jail, they think oh well I will just do bad things again, I have been to jail before and I know I can go again. They will keep doing the wrong things and go back to jail then more bad things will grow in them over and over again.” Yanyi Bandicha NPYWC Chairperson.

Read more about NPYWC’s plea to raise the criminal age of children here

You can show your support by:

• signing a petition: https://www.raisetheage.org.au/#petition
• Writing to your local member
• supporting preventative programs and donate to NPYWC Youth Service or Child & Family Wellbeing Service

Yanyi was born in the bush near Ernabella (SA) to Paniwa Baker and Jacky Tjupuru in 1950. From the very beginning Yanyi Bandicha stood out as a leader and dedicated mentor to young women. Her journey to become one of the first Anangu teachers and NPYWC’s Chairperson is lit by Yanyi’s generosity and commitment to support those around her.

Yanyi was educated bilingually in both Pitjantjatjara and English in Ernabella Mission School. It was here she discovered a love of learning and the power of education for all young Anangu boys and girls.

In her late teens Yanyi began to forge her own path. In the early 1970s she began her first job as a teacher’s assistant. Her commitment and passion for education led her to being one of the first Anangu Pitjantjatjara woman teachers at the age of 22.

_{Yanyi Banidcha 1973 Image Courtesy of Ara Irititja, Heather Alcorn Collection}

Yanyi taught kindergarten and junior primary, in Amata, then at Yirara College in Alice Springs before moving back to her home community of Ernabella where she taught for many years.

While Yanyi was a junior primary teacher, she really shone as a teacher for the Senior Secondary girls. Yanyi turned the lives of many young women around. When young women were tempted to leave school, Yanyi won them back and assisted them above and beyond what a normal teacher’s duty would be. Yanyi supported many young women by creating a live-in situation for these girls.

Yanyi really cared for the girls, taught them how to look after themselves and to set a great example. She was a mentor, instilled confidence and professionalism, good learning practices, leadership, and imparted a vision for a good, respectful and safe learning community. Yanyi and the girls formed the Ernabella Girls’ Choir who performed at the Adelaide Festival Theatre and toured New Zealand. Forty years later, Yanyi continues to sing with the Ernabella Choir (later the Pitjantjatjara Choir) and is always ready to sing at a moment’s notice.

Nearly every girl she mentored have today become successful community leaders, some of the most outstanding younger women on the APY Lands today. These girls are now cultural leaders, educators, artists and Directors of various bodies.

_{Yanyi Bandicha 1971 about to teach a Pitjantjatjara language course. Image: Ara Irititja, Jill Finch Collection.}

After teaching, Yanyi continued her work in education, becoming Director of the Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Education Committee (PYEC), a part of the South Australian Department of Education. She handled queries and questions and was an authoritative spokesperson for all the Anangu Education Workers (AEWs) across the whole APY Lands.

Church & Marriage

After Yanyi married her husband Raymond Bandicha from Maningrida, they moved to Aputula Community at Finke, NT, where he was a pastor. Yanyi voluntarily took care of many young children at this time, ensuring they were educated and fed. Sometimes she would ring up friends and ask for help, ‘I’m down to my last Weetbix.’ She gave everything she had.

Yanyi also became very involved in the Uniting Church. Her authority and calming influence in Ernabella as a community leader and church elder commanded attention and interest. She is now an Executive with the Northern Regional Christian Congress (NRCC) of the Uniting Church.

_{Image: Yanyi Bandicha 2019 Photo: Rhett Hammerton}

NPY Women’s Council

Yanyi has been part of the NPYWC for over 17 years, she has moved through all the stages of governance from Member, Executive Member, Director, Vice Chairperson and Chairperson. Her leadership in bringing issues of Anangu to the national stage, brings hope to many.

Yani has a knack of keeping people focused in the right direction. She still mentors younger women, and today some of her own students sit with her side by side, governing the Women’s Council. This demonstrates a lifetime’s commitment to assisting young Anangu women to excel at what they do.

Yanyi’s strong advocacy for renal dialysis in community has done much to enable this in the NPY region. Importantly, a dialysis room opened in 2019 in her home community of Ernabella because of Yanyi’s relentless advocacy to ensure her people can stay on county.

To support women’s law and culture in the NPY Lands, she advocated and promoted the Larapinta Extreme Trail Fundraising event. In 4 years this volunteer event raised close to $500,000 for NPY Women’s Council women’s law and culture meeting.

In addition to this work, Yanyi is an interpreter and translator, translating Work Health & Safety Workbook for Regional Anangu Services Aboriginal Council, assisting the employment and training of young Aboriginal people. She has also been a long standing translator with the Pitjantjatjara Bible Translation Project Inc.

Now at 70 yo Yanyi still continues to give tirelessly of her time in her home community, Pukatja.She provides a safe house day and night to young women.

Yanyi, so humble, polite and capable. Yanyi has truly made a difference in so many people’s lives.

Find out more about our Directors here