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AUSTRALIA
Wednesday May 9, 6pm
Tuesday, 8 May, 2007
Use it or lose it
Video journalist Emma Cook reports on the concerted effort to save 31 unique Aboriginal languages from extinction.
The languages come from the Pilbara region in Western Australia and today, 10 of them are considered highly endangered. One language 'Thalanyji' is spoken fluently by just five people.
The Wangka Maya Aboriginal Language Centre is on a race against time: speaking to elders, collecting the data, collating it into dictionaries, books and DVDs, teaching languages to adults and school children. Their message quite simply is: use it or lose it.
Return to country
Here's a horrifying statistic: in Australia's remote indigenous communities, the rate of kidney disease is at least 30-50 times higher than for non-indigenous Australians.
Renal failure is a disease born of poverty, brought on by poor nutrition, ill health, bad housing and the rapid escalation of diabetes.
For many Aboriginal people in central Australia dialysis is the only option, but having to relocate to Alice Springs to receive this life-saving treatment is devastating, as it tears them away from their family, community and country.
Indeed, social worker Angela Lynch tells Living Black video journalist Tani Crotty that the prospect of moving away from their community is so terrifying that some sufferers refuse treatment, choosing to die at home instead.
But there is a way to receive dialysis and still stay in touch with your community. Tani Crotty reports on the 'Return to Country' program, established by the Western Desert Dialysis Group. This group offers people on dialysis short, regular visits back to their homes.
As Sarah Brown, manager of the Western Desert Dialysis Group says: "It means that people could ring me up and say I really need to get home for a funeral or I want to go to Papunya sports weekend and we'd organise that."
But there is a great need for more 'Return to Country' programs. Singer Jimmy Little, a survivor of kidney disease, has thrown his support behind the idea and now, Sarah Brown hopes to prove to the NT government that there are considerable benefits in spending money on getting people home.
Video journalist Emma Cook reports on the concerted effort to save 31 unique Aboriginal languages from extinction.
The languages come from the Pilbara region in Western Australia and today, 10 of them are considered highly endangered. One language 'Thalanyji' is spoken fluently by just five people.
The Wangka Maya Aboriginal Language Centre is on a race against time: speaking to elders, collecting the data, collating it into dictionaries, books and DVDs, teaching languages to adults and school children. Their message quite simply is: use it or lose it.
Return to country
Here's a horrifying statistic: in Australia's remote indigenous communities, the rate of kidney disease is at least 30-50 times higher than for non-indigenous Australians.
Renal failure is a disease born of poverty, brought on by poor nutrition, ill health, bad housing and the rapid escalation of diabetes.
For many Aboriginal people in central Australia dialysis is the only option, but having to relocate to Alice Springs to receive this life-saving treatment is devastating, as it tears them away from their family, community and country.
Indeed, social worker Angela Lynch tells Living Black video journalist Tani Crotty that the prospect of moving away from their community is so terrifying that some sufferers refuse treatment, choosing to die at home instead.
But there is a way to receive dialysis and still stay in touch with your community. Tani Crotty reports on the 'Return to Country' program, established by the Western Desert Dialysis Group. This group offers people on dialysis short, regular visits back to their homes.
As Sarah Brown, manager of the Western Desert Dialysis Group says: "It means that people could ring me up and say I really need to get home for a funeral or I want to go to Papunya sports weekend and we'd organise that."
But there is a great need for more 'Return to Country' programs. Singer Jimmy Little, a survivor of kidney disease, has thrown his support behind the idea and now, Sarah Brown hopes to prove to the NT government that there are considerable benefits in spending money on getting people home.
