Families and Community
As a major town in East Arnhem land, Galiwin’ku has a large population of transient residents that split their time between the town and very remote outstations/homelands. As such, the reach of these programs, and Galiwin’ku Women’s Space, is extensive. We hope to also learn from and inspire fellow remote Indigenous communities that share similar experiences with family violence.
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The clients of our services are primarily women and children from Galiwin’ku. Their family members, both men and women, will be indirect recipients of the services through the outreach and case management components.
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Community Education
GWS will facilitate a range of community education sessions aimed at informing all community members about the underlying drivers of domestic and family violence to inspire community led initiatives for change. Already, members have brought activities surrounding identifying violence to the local school for senior students to learn from.
Community Events
Since 2017 GWS has been running annual International Women’s Day ‘Ladies Night Out’ event where all women in Galiwin’ku are invited to a fun night of dressing up, dancing, and celebrating each other and our achievements.
GWS also participates in multi-agency events such as workshops, markets, school camps, and expos to promote our work and engage with the community.
Laundromat
A community Laundromat will be part of the new building. The service design is still in development, but the goal is to provide access to industrial washing and drying machines for the entire community to benefit from.
Young Women’s Camp Fire Night Program
The campfire program started as informal meetings amongst teenage girls to talk about their relationships, their worries, really anything on their mind. Two young women that worked at GWS ran the sessions, providing food and a campfire for their peers to join. As the program grew, the women working identified specific groups, such as the different women’s footy teams, to have campfire nights with. They also developed educational activities to do while having conversations about topics like consent and violence. This program will hopefully run again once we move into the new building.
Outside of the Galiwin'ku Community
GWS engage regularly with the DFV service network in the NT and Australia through attending forums, conferences, and workshops all over the country. Our members are often invited as guest speakers which makes us very proud! This is an opportunity for our members to gain new experiences and build their confidence.
Gurrutu-centred support
Details on how we incorporate Gurrutu in our services is currently being developed and will be published soon!