Health projects at Pipalyatjara

Dr Bob lrving and Kirk Nelson (pictured right), are working for Nganampa health. Bob is a vet and he comes to Pip maybe 3 times a year. They look after the health of the dogs on the AP Lands. This helps to stop Anangu getting sick from too many dogs and the germs they have.

They come to the community and in people houses and in the camp to give medicine to the dogs. Some dogs have scabies. They kill the ones that have bad scabies or are really old or sick. They give them a needle to make them go to sleep and then they die. They also sterilize the dogs. That means not having babies. They give them a tablet in bread to stop them having babies. Lots of puppies make rubbish and dirty around the house. It is good not to have so many dogs. The people might get germs, scabies and get very sick. Anangu don't like the scabies dogs because they might get scabies or liri pika from the germs. Kirke gives the dogs food with medicine on it to make the dogs better. They do it for worms too. This helps to stop people getting worms from the dogs.

Angela Lynch works for sick people or cripples. The project is called disabiliy services. All the women from different communities talk about Anangu pikatjara munu nyumpu tjutaku wankanyi meeting. They also talk at meetings about petrol sniffers in the community and how to help them stop sniffing. Pipalyatjara does not have any sniffers. A long time ago there were sniffers but not now. A long time ago all the communities had petrol but now they all have Avgas. This helps to stop petrol sniffing in the community.

My uncle is sick from sniffing. Disability Services help him by coming to visit him and talking with him. They gave him fruit trees to plant and look after. He looks after them every day. They gave him a TV and video so he can watch it at home and they gave him swag so he could have his own bed. He might get sick from other people sitting on his bed. That's why they gave him swag. Sometimes they give other people wheelchairs and a little motorbike machine so they can go for a visit to somebody's place or families. And they have special chairs in the shower and the handle in the toilet.

Lisa and Valerie Foster work for the nutrition project. They are teaching all the people about eating good food and about childcare. Every day babies get sick and skinny from not eating the right food and mothers not feeding the children properly. They feed them sweet things and Coke. The food is different now from the old days and people should learn the proper way to feed their kids so they get healthy.

A long time ago we used to stay in a house with no verandah and only one room. There was no kitchen and we had a fire outside in the open. There were no fences around the yard and lots of dogs would come inside and all the rubbish would blow around the yard. We had no rubbish bins. There were lots of meetings to talk about houses and they told the community office about the houses they wanted. They talked to AP and UPK and men from Pipalyatjara built the store and houses. They had 2 or 3 rooms, kitchen, laundry and shower next to the house, a washing machine to wash clothes and a big verandah so people could sleep outside in the shelter and make cooking fires. The new houses have concrete at the front door to stop all the dirt coming in. Now people have fences they are growing trees in their yard to sit under the shade and they look after their trees every day and water them.

All these projects are about trying to make the health problems better for all the people.

* Rosie Nelson is an AEW based in our JP class and is studying through the AnTEP program.
The Anangu Teacher Education Program is run by the University of South Australia.