>From Christine Howes: file: Palm Island DV March 406 words Many members of the Palm Island community including council members, contributed to their annual Domestic Violence Week March in the community mall recently. Kootana Womenıs Organisation Treasurer Sylvia Reuben said women, men and children were all involved. ³Last year was the very first time we actually had men join us in the march and thatıs become a trend now,²she said. ³Weıve had the two schools involved, all of the government agencies, the hospital, the police and anyone else, it was actually very very good.² She said it was an important wake up call for the whole community. ³Itıs a wake up call for the community, I mean there has been quite a decline in violence, even though the courts donıt show that, but just around the community itself the verbal abuse and drunken behaviour has literally started to phase out,² she said. ³And it has been because weıve got the menıs group on side and the men are on-side and recognising that yes hang on, we do have a problemı and the women are saying we have a problemı and weıre working together to try and make a difference.² Ms Reuben said there were 10 speakers on the day including the secondary school captain who read a poem she had written. ³That went down very well with the community in general and one of the things I must say is that the community itself actually participated a lot more than in recent years,² she said. ³So there is an awareness and people are talking about it and realising exactly what domestic violence is.² She said Kootana was now focussing on funding an emergency accommodation area, an idea put forward by local children. ³Weıve found that the children believe that that is the best way to go,² she said. ³Weıre actually talking to the children in schools about domestic violence and violence in general.² She said despite negative publicity in the mainstream press about the island the people themselves were slowly getting themselves together. ³We need time, we have done a lot of good things, like with the youth suicide. ³We havenıt had a suicide now for over 12 months, touch wood, so these awareness programs are actually working. ³People themselves are asking what can I do as an individualı, instead of Iıll leave it up to youı. ³So itıs a better working area and weıre sharing the load and not just a few carrying it.² AND...... file: PI Menıs Group 259 words The Palm Island Menıs Group was proud to support Domestic Violence Week events says Coordinator Alfred Lacey ³The Palm Island menıs group, which is sponsored by the Palm Island council, has participated in the week and is saying that violence shouldnıt be tolerated by the community in general,² he said. ³Basically we are trying to look at a community approach in regards to putting some positive things into the community and getting men to get involved in positive stuff.² He said Palm Island was one of the worst communities affected by government policy. ³Almost 90 per cent of the community is made up of the stolen generation and a lot of hard work needs to be done particularly menıs issues,² he said. ³Our group is about trying to restore and get men involved and speak out and say we are a tolerant community in regards to setting foundations and taking the role of leaders in our community.² He said an important focus of the group had been working in with the Vision Planning Process. ³The vision planning process is where we see the community coming together and the menıs group plays an active role in that,² he said. ³From the menıs group point of view we support council, we support any organisation on Palm Island that moves towards the vision planning process because at the end of the day we have to leave a community in the future with the sense that our children and their children will know that they can move on and build from the past.² ENDS -- ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ John Howard's GST: a tax for a new millenium... ...to a fifties man everything from the sixties looks brand new. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ------------------------------------------------------- RecOzNet2 has a page @ http://www.green.net.au/recoznet2 and is archived at http://www.mail-archive.com/ To unsubscribe from this list, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED], and in the body of the message, include the words: unsubscribe announce or click here mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20announce This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." RecOzNet2 is archived for members @ http://www.mail-archive.com/
