From June 27-29, the Koorie Youth Council (KYC) hosted a camp for the Marram Nganyin Aboriginal Youth Mentoring Program alongside four Aboriginal Youth mentoring organisations from across Victoria at YMCA Anglesea on Wadawurrung and Gadubanud Country to run a camp for 39 young First Nations peoples. Young people from Kiilalaana Warrior Kii, Winda-Mara, and Strong Brother Strong Sister travelled to take part in three days of activities facilitated by the Koorie Youth Council.
This is the first camp we have held since 2018, so it was important to have as many deadly young mob attend as possible and to have a fun time with three days filled with activities such as Yarning circles, artmaking, Traditional games, outdoor activities and more.
Marram Nganyin is a youth mentoring program for Aboriginal young people aged 12-25 years old. The program is run by Aboriginal organisations that deliver the programs, with support from KYC. We assist and support local Aboriginal services to:
- consult with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people about project design and delivery.
- provide training for new mentors.
- assist with developing resources to support local projects in delivering mentoring programs.
- ensure local mentoring projects are delivered in line with the Australian National Mentoring.
The work of Marram Nganyin and the local mentoring projects seeks to build on this natural mentoring process and combine it with formal structures to further improve outcomes for young participants.
Over those few days the young mob had opportunities to try new things as well as take part in sessions centred around wellbeing. Highlights include the workshop we held where the young people had yarns and presented to the group on important Elders in their lives and communities. The Traditional games session hosted by Clothing the Gaps was also well received where the young mob were able to learn about South-Eastern games, have fun and be outside connecting with the land and the local environment.
The young people may have arrived as strangers, but they pushed themselves outside of their comfort zones and left having made strong connections that will last a lifetime. Seeing new friendships form, being able to sit and connect with the young mob and witness the next generations of leaders find strength in themselves through building a foundation of other young people is what this organisation seeks to support.
Learn more about Marram Nganyin here.
