Video
Podcasts
Blogs
NEW SOUTH WALES
Men's Business
Monday, 9 November, 2009
In the Dharuk language, babana means "brother".
Watch online: Men's Business
With brotherly roles in mind, the Babana Men's Group has been trying to give men in Sydney's Redfern-Waterloo area a place to support each other.
Its latest focus is on those about to reach manhood. It's bringing young men together for a Yarn'n Circle where they're encouraged to identify local and personal issues and ways they can contribute to solutions.
"We're becoming adults now and, yeah, it's time to move on from our childhood and start to be a man to the place where we are walking", Yarn'n Circle member Jacob Saunders told Living Black's Kris Flanders.
Living Black went along to the Yarn'n Circle to hear what these young men see as the future for their community, and how they've surprised their big brothers at Babana.
TRANSCRIPT
KARLA GRANT: Coming up on ‘Living Black’ - the group giving Sydney's Indigenous men and teens a chance to share their worries.
You are tuned into ‘Living Black’. Since 2006 the Babana Men's Group has been supporting Sydney's inner city Indigenous men. As video journalist Kris Flanders discovered, the group has now stretched its wings to take in young men and teens.
VOICEOVER: It’s family day in Sydney's inner city suburb of Redfern, a drug- and alcohol-free event hosted by the community's men's group Babana. The need for local men to have their own network of supporters gave birth to Babana Aboriginal Men's Group. It was established in order to help them through problems from family and financial to legal and substance abuse.
DONALD CLARK, BABANA ABORIGINAL MEN’S GROUP: For many years there‘s been nowhere for men to meet except a pub or a club or whatever, and we wanted something more.
VOICEOVER: In the local Dharuk language, ‘babana’ means ‘brother’, and although many of these brothers aren't related, Babana is like a family for these men. Now they’ve created a separate group for the younger generation - the Yarn'n Circle.
DONALD CLARK: The first couple of groups we were a bit awkward. There is the shame factor that comes into it but then, steadily, as we went through each week they became more - actually eloquent is the word that came into my mind - about issues and their feelings about issues.
BYRON SERRANO, BABANA ABORIGINAL MEN’S GROUP: The future of all communities is the young ones, and this is why Babana Men's Group has put together the youth Yarn'n Circle.
VOICEOVER: The Yarn’n Circle is made up of young men who are either still at school, studying or just starting work.
JACOB JUWARN, YOUTH YARN’N CIRCLE: Felt like I was helping out people and helping out other people, like, gathering information and sharing it to everyone else. It pretty much made me feel older. Made me want to turn into something good and made me want to be out there.
DONALD CLARK: It actually taught me a hell of a lot because, I’ve got to admit, some of these young fellas, they actually really did show that they are good thinkers - when they’re given the opportunity.
VOICEOVER: Coming together and talking about their issues has given them confidence. These young men believe it’s changing the community's perceptions of them.
JACOB JUWARN: I wasn't used to getting out there and trying to be something, and this community and plus Babana Group really helped me pull through and make me really - I learnt heaps from it by expressing myself.
Source: Living Black SBS
Watch online: Men's Business
With brotherly roles in mind, the Babana Men's Group has been trying to give men in Sydney's Redfern-Waterloo area a place to support each other.
Its latest focus is on those about to reach manhood. It's bringing young men together for a Yarn'n Circle where they're encouraged to identify local and personal issues and ways they can contribute to solutions.
"We're becoming adults now and, yeah, it's time to move on from our childhood and start to be a man to the place where we are walking", Yarn'n Circle member Jacob Saunders told Living Black's Kris Flanders.
Living Black went along to the Yarn'n Circle to hear what these young men see as the future for their community, and how they've surprised their big brothers at Babana.
TRANSCRIPT
KARLA GRANT: Coming up on ‘Living Black’ - the group giving Sydney's Indigenous men and teens a chance to share their worries.
You are tuned into ‘Living Black’. Since 2006 the Babana Men's Group has been supporting Sydney's inner city Indigenous men. As video journalist Kris Flanders discovered, the group has now stretched its wings to take in young men and teens.
VOICEOVER: It’s family day in Sydney's inner city suburb of Redfern, a drug- and alcohol-free event hosted by the community's men's group Babana. The need for local men to have their own network of supporters gave birth to Babana Aboriginal Men's Group. It was established in order to help them through problems from family and financial to legal and substance abuse.
DONALD CLARK, BABANA ABORIGINAL MEN’S GROUP: For many years there‘s been nowhere for men to meet except a pub or a club or whatever, and we wanted something more.
VOICEOVER: In the local Dharuk language, ‘babana’ means ‘brother’, and although many of these brothers aren't related, Babana is like a family for these men. Now they’ve created a separate group for the younger generation - the Yarn'n Circle.
DONALD CLARK: The first couple of groups we were a bit awkward. There is the shame factor that comes into it but then, steadily, as we went through each week they became more - actually eloquent is the word that came into my mind - about issues and their feelings about issues.
BYRON SERRANO, BABANA ABORIGINAL MEN’S GROUP: The future of all communities is the young ones, and this is why Babana Men's Group has put together the youth Yarn'n Circle.
VOICEOVER: The Yarn’n Circle is made up of young men who are either still at school, studying or just starting work.
JACOB JUWARN, YOUTH YARN’N CIRCLE: Felt like I was helping out people and helping out other people, like, gathering information and sharing it to everyone else. It pretty much made me feel older. Made me want to turn into something good and made me want to be out there.
DONALD CLARK: It actually taught me a hell of a lot because, I’ve got to admit, some of these young fellas, they actually really did show that they are good thinkers - when they’re given the opportunity.
VOICEOVER: Coming together and talking about their issues has given them confidence. These young men believe it’s changing the community's perceptions of them.
JACOB JUWARN: I wasn't used to getting out there and trying to be something, and this community and plus Babana Group really helped me pull through and make me really - I learnt heaps from it by expressing myself.
Source: Living Black SBS
