→ Jalaris Aboriginal Corporation, WA

"Relationships are at the heart of everything we do," says Brett Morris, who heads up the Jalaris Aboriginal Corporation in Derby, in the far north of Western Australia.

"Family and community is the same thing here," he says. "We live in the community, we work in the community. Our kinship with the community is the most important thing we have. We wouldn't be able to achieve anything without the trust and respect of the people."

Since 1994 Jalaris has been helping to improve health and nutrition levels in Derby, with a particular focus on boosting child nutrition.

Brett and his wife Biddy began by operating (voluntarily) a low-cost food and clothing store. This was followed by a commercial kitchen to provide cheap meals for the community. The high level of demand on the kitchen showed a widespread community need for affordable, healthy meals.

In 2002 Jalaris received funding from the National Stronger Families Fund to establish a Drop-In Centre to provide healthy meals to children and young mothers.

"The Drop-In Centre was really successful at changing kids' attitudes to healthy food," said Brett.

"When we gave kids a stew they would eat the meat but then chuck the vegetables on the floor. Within twelve months they were eating everything we gave them.

"And of course we saw immediate changes in the physical health of the children. They were more attentive and the infections and runny noses started to clear up."

However, there was a growing concern among Jalaris staff that the parents weren't attending with their children.

"Parents were dropping the kids off for child minding and then going elsewhere," says Maya Haviland, who has worked with Jalaris for many years. "We saw that we needed to work more closely with families to provide education around nutrition and healthy eating."

This included setting up a Women's Room in the Centre and running cooking classes and working with TAFE to provide a short course in nutrition. In 2004 - in association with Derby Aboriginal Health Service - Jalaris established a mobile nutrition and health van to visit and support families in the community.

"Early intervention looks different in a place like Derby," explains Maya. "In this community, early intervention is making sure families and children have food to eat. Seeing that the food gets to kids is our first priority.

"What we do is a necessary 'grass roots' response to the situation, but sometimes that can be hard to explain to a government agency that only wants to fund a 'top down' approach."

By building strong relationships and meeting the needs of families and children, Brett, Biddy and the Jalaris staff have seen real changes take place.

"Kids now come into our home looking for a piece of fruit or a glass of cold water," says Brett. "And kids who used to truant now come to us at 7.30 in the morning – we give them some breakfast and then they ask if we'll take them to school."

Despite its successes, the long-term future of Jalaris remains unclear. Short-term and uncertain funding makes it difficult to develop and retain skills in the community to do this work.

"Sustainability is very important – without that we've got no hope," says Brett. "My wife Biddy and I are not getting any younger so we need people to take over from us. We need reliable funding so we can train local Indigenous people and pay them proper wages, otherwise they'll leave."

"A number of local young women would like to being trained up and work with Jalaris," adds Maya. "It's absolutely critical to invest in motivated young people and build community capacity to tackle its health problems."

Find out more

Jalaris Aboriginal Corporation
PO Box 610
Derby WA 6728
Phone: 08 9193 2200, 08 9191 2640
Email: jalaris [at] westnet.com.au
Website: www.phaa.net.au/Advocacy_Issues/partnership.html
Donations to Jalaris Aboriginal Corporation are tax-deductible.