Today is Indigenous Literacy Day (7 September), an opportunity to promote Stories, Cultures, and Language, and to improve literacy outcomes for First Nations kids.
Literacy provides a fundamental step of building context, comprehension and understanding, whether it is written, visual or auditory. For kids who miss that foundational step in their literacy journey, it has a lifelong impact.
“We can’t emphasise enough the importance of literacy for First Nations people,” says Alix Parsons, Project Lead in Aboriginal Health and Engagement at Monash Health.
“Literacy means having a voice, and that’s a fundamental mechanism for self-determination,” explains Alix. “Building literacy skills early on is a huge boost forward for Aboriginal people in professional spheres. As Aboriginal people, we’ve always had our own ways of knowing, being and doing – but literacy gives us that voice in the social and political constructs we find ourselves in today.”
At Monash Health, the Aboriginal Health team knows how important it is for First Nations children to read stories by First Nations authors. To mark National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day, the team donated a whole stack of books to the Monash Children’s Hospital School.
(Tracy Van Beek, Aboriginal Health Liaison Officer for the Monash Children’s Hospital,
and Colin Dobson, Principal of the MCH School.)
To promote literacy from birth, the Aboriginal Health team are including a copy of Welcome to Country by Aunty Joy Murphy Wandin in the Bubup Bags, which are filled with newborn essentials and given to the parents of all Aboriginal babies who are born at Monash Health.
To find out more about Indigenous Literacy Day, visit the Indigenous Literacy Foundation website.
Approved by Andrea Rindt