After closing its doors last month due to significant roof damage, Wyanga Aboriginal Aged Care will officially begin much-needed repairs on Saturday, having successfully raised $60,000 in donations.
Wyanga Aboriginal Aged Care is a not-for-profit organisation founded in 1996 by Wiradjuri Elder Sylvia Scott and Dunghutti Elder Mary Silva. Wyanga was created to address a critical gap in care for Aboriginal Elders and provide culturally appropriate and community-driven in-home care, services and social support.
Based in the heart of Redfern, Wyanga has since established itself as a vital community hub for First Nations Elders.
Last month, Wyanga announced that weeks of heavy rain had significantly damaged the roof of the centre, forcing them to close the building due to safety concerns for the staff and Elders.
"With all the rain, it lifted the roof, so the water came in, and we had a lot of water damage with the roof. It came in, and it went in through the electrical wires, and then it got into our computers," said Aunty Norma Ingram, Wiradjuri woman and Chairperson of Wyanga.
"We just had to close the building, the whole building down, because it was just too dangerous for people to go into the building and, you know, electrical wires and water just don't mix. It's very dangerous," she said.
The building closure had come as devastating news to Wyanga's Elders.
"The Elders of our program are still upset about it…[They are] saying, this is our home. We want to come back home…So the sooner we can get it repaired, the better," Aunty Norma told National Indigenous Times.
"Because they can't use our building at the moment, so we're trying our best to make sure that at least we're still able to bring our Elders together.
"We do have a lot of our elders who are from the Stolen Generations, so that's really important for us to make sure that they're coming together, that they're able to have those conversations and share those issues."
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With the generous help of the community, Wyanga is well on the path to recovery. Their target donation goal of $60,000 was announced as successful on Friday, a solid step forward in reopening the Centre.
Aunty Norma also offered heartfelt gratitude to the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence, which played an important role in continuing Wyanga's operations during this time.
"The people there let us use their facilities to run activities for our Elders…so that at least they're coming together for a few days a week," she said.
"At least our staff, to be able to come together and have the support that we need to make sure that our Elders are being looked after, and for any activities, was really important.
"It's really, really important that our Elders keep active, even if it's a couple of days a week, because that's mentally, physically and spiritually important that our Elders are supported. We can't let our Elders get down.
"We just want to thank everybody who's really supported us…it's not just the money aspect of it that's important, but morale as well, so having the community behind us is really important."
To further support Wyanga Aboriginal Aged Care, more information is available online.
