Yorga's Maali Academy
Tuesday, 29th November 2011
By Chelsea Randall
V Swans metro team have specifically designed a program for young Indigenous females between the ages of 12-17 years old, it focuses on a fun and interactive environment that teaches and educates girls in more practical and hands on topics such as Healthy nutrition, personal Hygiene, awareness of drugs and alcohol, sex education, cooking classes, sport and physical activity, beauty therapy, crime prevention and much more.
This year was the inaugural year of the Yorga’s Maali Academy, a sister program to the boys Maali Academy that ran at the start of 2011. The Yorga’s Maali name came from the Aboriginal Noongar language of this land, Yorga meaning female and Maali meaning Black Swan.
The program in partnership with Crime Prevention and PCYC, the all girls group came together every Monday afternoon at the Midland PCYC over duration of 8 weeks. A total of 24 young Indigenous females were a part of the group and roughly 15 girls attended each session.
The program was run and developed by V Swans Community Development Officer’s, Rikki Ryder and Chelsea Randall. The mentors used fun games and hands on activities and group discussions which made sure that the girls took a fair bit of information away as well as having fun. Our Guest speakers spent time communicating and running sessions so it wasn’t always one voice they heard.
At the end of the program each girl received a certificate of completion, the girl with the most attendance and who wore their shirt along to each session won a major prize, an incentive for everyone to achieve.
The girls thoroughly enjoyed the sessions and took a lot of information as well as new friends from the program. Next year we hope for it to be bigger and better than ever.
