THANK YOU TO ALL SUPPORTERS SO FAR!! 
PLEASE NOTE: All money made over the $10 000 target will go towards extending this program past the proposed 6 months and into the future! SO KEEP THE DONATIONS COMING! Could we make it to $20 000!?
It's so inspiring for everyone involved, particularly the Gija speakers, to know how many people out there support this project! That's why every supporter, and every donation – no matter how small or large – is so important! 


This crucially important weekly language teaching and maintenance program enables Gija Elders in Warmun, a large Aboriginal community in the Kimberley region in the north-eastern part of Western Australia, to pass their knowledge of Gija language and culture to their family and community members. Many important people in the community who hold Gija cultural knowledge are elderly and there is an urgency for this knowledge to be passed on. There is currently very limited support for language programs such as this in the region and we hope that the program that is funded by this campaign will help to establish a more permanent funding source for similar programs into the future. The program will be held at the Warmun Art Centre and out on bush trips.


Warmun community is well known for its vibrant art movement and for a number of famous and important Aboriginal artists, including Rusty Peters, Phyllis Thomas, Mabel Juli, Patrick Mung Mung, Betty Carrington, Lena Nyadbi and many more, whose paintings hang in galleries all over the world. Many of these people are involved as teachers in this program. The community is less well known for the devastating health and social problems that affect many of its families. These include high rates of depression, substance abuse, violence, youth suicide, chronic disease, limited employment opportunities and poverty.


 
Elders in Warmun community see traditional culture and language as a powerful way to help deal with these problems. They also consider it vital to focus on the younger generation. As a result, the Elders are active in the development and management of projects that aim to teach young people important traditional cultural activities. 



This Pozible Campaign is being organised by Ground Up Community Support Network which is a registered charity that has been providing independent financial assistance for Indigenous led projects in Warmun. Ground Up started as a group of individuals who are friends of Gija people and Warmun Community through a range of different connections. Inspired by the enormous commitment of Gija people to strengthening their community and improving and enriching the lives of their young people, our team include people from a broad range of backgrounds with a strong interest in Indigenous community development. The group also hopes to honour and carry on the generous contribution Ned Sevil made to his Gija friends and to grassroots healing and culture projects before his death in 2010. 
Our strength as a small independent organisation is that we can contribute money, time, energy and resources flexibly to projects in response to needs identified by the community. We are committed to working from the ground up – so we work to ensure our projects are initiated by the community and with high levels of engagement, and are meaningful to the community. We also believe the best outcomes happen when the work is done at the community’s pace and the community has ownership over the project. 
http://groundupcommunity.org/

Thanks to Creative Partnerships Australia’s MATCH program, every dollar you give to this campaign will be matched dollar for dollar provided we reach our campaign target of $10 000. This will mean we raise a total of $20 000 which will fund this program for 6 months!

GIJA LANGUAGE & LITERACY TEACHING PROGRAM
Gija is classified as a critically endangered language as its only fluent speakers are the community’s grandparents and great-grandparents. This program brings together senior Gija language experts with children, teenagers and adults in a regular, intensive program of speaking and writing. Weekly lessons form the nucleus of a community wide effort in Warmun to document, maintain and revitalise Gija language. This is achieved by supporting and valuing the expertise of older people, and building the confidence and linguistic skills of younger generations.
The activities include:
* Weekly intensive Gija language speaking and writing activities led by elders for children, teenagers and adults.
* Trips to country that enable senior speakers to pass on Gija song, story and oral language practices.
* The collaborative development of culturally appropriate language teaching and maintenance methods and techniques.
* The creation of language teaching resources using video and new media.

PROPOSED BUDGET FOR NEXT SIX MONTHS OF PROJECT
• Gija Language Teachers fees @ $600.00* / week x 26 weeks = $15,600.00
• Language Facilitator Fees @ $60.00 p/h, 4h/week x 6 weeks = $1,440.00
• Fuel for Language Facilitator travel @ $150.00 per trip x 6 trips = $900.00
• Food @ $40.00 per week x 26 weeks = $1,040.00
• Fuel and food for Bush Trips = $1,020.00
TOTAL = $20,000.00

* It was decided by the elders that rather than pay a flat rate and have to turn teachers away to keep within budget or choose who the teachers should be, we would use a system where a lump sum is split between as many people as come to teach (usually six to ten teachers per week).

We believe in the vital importance of this project continuing into the future. Ongoing funding for this language and culture program is unfortunately one of the challenges Gija people face. This opportunity will help to develop a stronger working model for the Language project, as well as to provide vital documentation and feedback from participants and teachers which can then be used into the future to apply for ongoing more substantial funding. 






Thank you for your support!


Photos by: Cate Massola, Anna Crane, Ned Sevil and Greta Costello.
Video by: Anna Crane at Warmun Art Centre