Inspire and empower Indigenous youth in Australia

Happy New Year. Thanks to your support in 2012, the Stand and Lead project has had another successful year. Your donations helped helped Desert2Surf to achieve its goal of assisting indigenous youth to develop communication and leadership skills to use in their communities. It helped Desert2Surf to achieve its goal of providing young indigenous people with the opportunity to travel outside their community and participate in activities conducive to their physical and mental health and well-being. Desert2Surf also achieved its goal of generally promoting the physical and mental health and general welfare of young indigenous people living in isolated and disadvantaged communities

The Stand and Lead 2012 – Trip South also built the younger girls’ self confidence, self esteem and self belief.The challenge and fun of surfing, in a safe and supported environment, that all three girls experienced had a huge impact in the short, and hopefully, longer term. All three girls are very keen to surf again and are more than willing to fulfil any Desert2Surf requirements in order to participate in future trips. One requirement is regular school attendance and commitment to their education generally.

As we mentioned in a previous report, one of our girls, Rebecca, has been involved in five Desert2Surf trips. Her first trip was in 2008 when she learned to surf at Torquay. Being able to place Rebecca in a leadership role for the duration of Stand and Lead 2012 – Trip South was a fantastic achievement for Desert2Surf. She saw herself as a leader and behaved accordingly. She managed the younger participants in a caring and adult way, she became spokesperson for the group during the school visit and she was a fabulous role model for the younger girls during the surfing. Throughout the trip Rebecca demonstrated increasing capabilities, in many ways, and hopefully she will be able to apply this in her community life.

Links:

• GVI Charitable Trust