Female Leadership and Cultural Camp on Awabakal Country
Participants from the Liverpool Opportunity Hub, Deadly Youth Mentoring Program and Nanga Mai Marri programs were selected to attend a Girls leadership and cultural camp at Lake Macquarie on beautiful Awabakal Country.
This camp focused on the theme ‘Belonging on Country, Rooted in Tradition and Rising in Leadership’ with activity to help our young girls feel their own sense of belonging on country and discover what belonging looked like and felt like for them. We were able to create a collaborative and support environment for our future leaders to share and grow.
Rhianna Webster, Liverpool Opportunity Hub Participant“It was a great social and learning experience with lots of fun cultural and confidence building activities. I really loved learning about the land and the people from Uncle Norm and Aunty Sheridon. I want to thank Souths Cares and my Mentor for giving me this opportunity to be a part of this camp.”
The camp began on Tuesday morning when all participants were picked up and the journey up the coast began. The first stop was at Go Karting at Broadmeadow in Newcastle, the girls had fun and were all able to connect and laugh at the fun they had. They then went to Merewether Ocean Baths and the girls went swimming in the ocean pools and spent time getting to know the other girls from different programs as well as enjoy some hot chips for lunch.
The girls then travelled to Ingenia Holiday park in Lake Macquarie and were able to spend some time relaxing and swimming in the pool at the holiday park. Uncle Norman Archibald and Sheridon Noble welcomed everyone onto country with a Traditional smoking ceremony and Uncle Norm shared some stories about the local area. Following the smoking ceremony everyone attended dinner at the Doylo then returned to Ingenia for some ice cream and card games.
The Second Day of camp began with a bacon and egg breakfast before heading off to Mount Sugarloaf for a guided bushwalk with Uncle Norman Archibald and Sheridon Noble where the girls were able to learn about the local environment and encounter some local wildlife.
After the bush walk the girls went back to the holiday park and had lunch then had a bit of free time.Sheridon Noble ran the girls through some cultural workshops, showing the girls some cultural artifacts and talking about bush medicines. Each of the girls were able to design their own set of clap sticks and received a small gift from Sheridon.
The girls spent the night weaving and dancing and yarning, it was incredible to see the connections growing within all the girls, creating lifelong friendships.
The last day was spent having breakfast and having yarns about what the girls enjoyed. All of the girls expressed how much they had enjoyed their time at camp and are sad it ended so quickly.
Jess Curry, Liverpool Opportunity Hub Mentor“This Camp has been an incredible experience, I loved seeing the girls from all programs spending time getting to know each other as well as helping and supporting each other. This was my first camp with souths cares and I believe all of our girls left with a stronger sense of belonging and self-confidence”.
The camp was made possible through the generous support of Ingenia Holiday Parks.
