We are following the Department of Education’s Marcia Czerniak as she takes part in the Jawun Indigenous Corporate Partnership Program.
Marcia has been placed to work with Nyamba Buru Yawuru in Broome and she will share her stories and experiences with us each week.
Week two: Mabu Liyan (good spirit)
Liyan is about relationships, family, community and what gives meaning to people’s lives. Yawuru people’s connection to country and joy celebrating in our culture and society is fundamental to having good liyan. When we feel disrespected or abused our liyan is bad, which can be insidious and corrosive for both the individual and the community. When our liyan is good our wellbeing and everything else is in a good space.” Patrick Dodson, Yawuru RNTBC 2011
"With induction week over, it was time to start my placement at Nyamba Buru Yawuru (NBY). For the next five weeks I will be sitting with the Community Development Unit, which delivers programs including early childhood development, language, housing, cultural maintenance, social support and youth training and employment. I am in an area with the HIPPY program team, the Yawuru language team and the Yawuru Culture team, all of whom have made me feel so welcome during my first week.
One of the first things I learnt and read about, which is central to NBY’s vision, was mabu liyan (good spirit).
For Yawuru people, mabu liyan is at the heart of a good and full life. It’s about connections – connections to community, to country, to culture, to identity. A healthy mind, spirit and body.
The mabu liyan philosophy is the basis of the Yawuru approach and is core to the ambitions and framework for community, cultural and language programs, land management and economic development.
As I hear staff at Yawuru talk about mabu liyan, I have had some time to take a step back to reflect how I approach my own wellbeing and culture in Perth. Wellbeing can mean many things to many different people. And what it means to me will likely be different to you and the person next to you.
I have lived in Perth all my life. My dad is Polish and came to Australia as a teenager. My mum was born here, with Italian parents. Growing up, Italian and Polish culture was always important and around us. Whether it was Wigilia feasts on Christmas Eve at my Baba and Dziadzia’s house surrounded by my Dad’s family, making pisanka eggs at Easter, squishing grapes with my feet to make wine or spending the day making homemade pasta sauce and fresh made pasta with my Nonna and Nonno, I grew up associating culture with my family’s European traditions.
Spirituality came from religion as I was raised Catholic – my Dziadzia and Baba had framed photos of Pope John Paul II all around their house and my Nonno and Nonna had a hanging wall rug of the Last Supper, and while my parents are not overly religious, it now hangs in my Mum’s house. Although as with all good superstitious Italians, I did get taught about the malocchio at a young age and still to this day hang something red in the rearview mirror of my car.
These things (among many others, including the most supportive parents you could have) gave me a full and happy childhood and laid the foundations for a connected adult life with my family and my culture. I was taught and hold dear traditions that I hope my sisters and cousins can carry on for our family.
But the thing is, I have kind of had it easy. I haven’t had to fight for land that rightfully belongs to me, and while my grandparents endured hardships from the war in Poland and Italy, they weren’t ripped from their parents, abused and told lies. They, like many others came to Australia for a better life and would not have been aware of the truths behind the trauma and bloodshed that paved the way for them to do so. But we do, and we need to ensure that it becomes part of the truths we share with our future generations.
When you look at Yawuru’s website, across the bottom you will read: ‘Making mabu liyan real for all, always’and in the short time I have been here it is clear the staff are all working with that vision in mind, building resilience and capacity and empowerment in the community. I feel, and know, I am extremely lucky to have this opportunity."
