Bamaga Enterprises Ltd (BEL) has provided six scholarships totalling $90,000 to students from Northern Peninsula Area State College (NPASC) to complete university studies in 2021, the highest number it has ever provided.

BEL Chairperson, Robert Poipoi, said the Indigenous, community-owned organisation had never received more than three applications per year previously.

“The BEL board members were so pleased with the decision to increase the number of scholarships available per year from three to six under its Socio Support Policy and will look to support even more in the future,” Mr Poipoi said.

“Most of these students have needed to move across the state to begin their studies and the funding from BEL will provide vital assistance towards tuition and living expenses.”

Phebe Moore, Head of Learning at NPASC, who worked closely with the students on their applications, says the scholarships from BEL have been crucial for the many upfront costs needed to set up students to live away from home.

“Other financial support options can take a long while so without BEL’s support, I’m not sure they would have been able to get there,” she said.

“It’s also given the students a sense of confidence to be getting out there and setting themselves up, without relying on their families to support them financially.

“Each of the students have chosen compelling pathways and are passionate about bringing their new knowledge and skills back to the Bamaga community.”

Scholarship recipient Jamani Elu said, “The BEL scholarship has helped me a lot to pay for my books, my stationery and my rent. This has been a blessing.”

Shanirah-Nay Kiwat (Bachelor Government and International Relations at Griffith University) would like to work in politics. She is keen to follow in her grandmother’s footsteps and wants to represent Indigenous people and their rights.

From left: Phebe Moore, Shanirah-Nay Kiwat, Jamani Elu and Alice Solomon at Cairns airport

From left: ZIdanie Mudu, Naomi Motlop and Sharina-Nay Kiwat

“I’ve always wanted to pursue a career where I can both travel and help my people. Becoming a politician would not only allow me to do both of these things, but also enable me to educate Australia and other countries about my culture.”

Jamani Elu (Diploma of Education Studies at Griffith College/Bachelor of Education at Griffith University) aspires to help ease the transition of Indigenous young people into school and society, especially with language.

The six below enrolments each received $15,000 scholarships ($5,000 per year):

Shanirah-Nay Kiwat – Bachelor of Government and International Relations (Griffith University)

Jamani Elu – Diploma of Education Studies (Griffith College)/Bachelor Education (Griffith University)

Naomi Motlop – Diploma of Business Studies (Central Queensland University)

Zidanie Mudu – Diploma Higher Education (James Cook University)

Alice Solomon – Bachelor of Nursing (ACU)

Kendolyn Williams – Bachelor of International Tourism/Bachelor of Business (Griffith University)

Alice Solomon at ACU orientation day

A BEL sponsorship of $5,000 for the Torres and Cape Hospital and Health Service will play a major role in promoting key messages around preventing chronic health diseases.

The funds will go towards producing educational and promotional resources that will help support community organisations and events.

Marquees will be the first items purchased, which will be available for use at all sporting clubs and community-organised events in the Northern Peninsula Area (NPA).

“The marquees will be used to deliver the key messages around combating chronic health disease,” explained Phoebe Motlop, from NPA Primary Health Services.

The Kombat Chronic Disease (KCD) program is a Queensland Health program that has run for over five years. It aims to educate the NPA community on the importance of long-term health through six key messages.

“These are Matha Move (get active), Kai-Kai Health (eat healthy), Moder8 (moderate drinking sugary drinks), Regular Check Up (health checks), Nor Smok (quit smoking), and Drink Plenty Wata (drink a lot of water),” Ms Motlop said.

“These are all preventative messages to combat chronic health disease, and with the marquee we can now target other organisations, such as sporting codes.

“We adopted the idea from the Torres Islands due to their success over there, and we’re hoping it can have the same effect throughout the NPA.”

BEL supported five optometrists from Queensland University of Technology (QUT) to visit the NPA and provide free eyes tests for children in February, with $10,000 in accommodation, transport and meals at Cape York Peninsula Lodge provided.

“The aim was to provide a service to the kids to do comprehensive vision testing and to understand the extent of any uncorrected vision problems that may be in the community,” explained optometrist, Dr Scott Read, Associate Professor at QUT’s School of Optometry and Vision Science.

The optometrists conducted over 250 tests on children aged 5 to 15, using 200 kg of eye-testing equipment, with a summary of the overall results set to be released to the community.

“We are still analysing the data in terms of results, but we will provide a report back to the community soon with the overall prevalence results from the study,” said Dr Read.

“All the individual reports are done, and the results were given to the parents and carers of the children. Referrals were also provided for children with significant eye conditions needing follow-up.

“Any of the kids found to be needing glasses will be provided with two free pairs: one pair for home and one separate pair for school. All of the participating children were also given a free pair of sunglasses.”

From the 250 students that received the test, Dr Read said there was a good response from the

Bamaga region.

“The community was welcoming and very positive,” Dr Read said, whose team stayed in Bamaga for two weeks.

“There was a pretty high demand for the service once we began testing eyes, and it felt like people were quite appreciative.”

Dr Read was also pleased with how the testing was conducted and is hoping that it will be a stepping stone to providing more consistent testing in communities such as Bamaga and the Northern Peninsula Area.

“We are hopeful that we could potentially return to the community at some point. The aim is to have an ongoing and sustainable, long-term community-based program.”

BEL donated $2,000 to the Assembly of God (AOG) Church towards catering for the Easter Rally Event in April.

Around 150 people attended the event across four days, including current church members as well as many new community members and families.

“It was a blessed weekend for families and for us as a church to see many people come through,” said AOG secretary, Phoebe Motlop

Across the weekend the community gathered to reflect and pray, share meals, attend services, and get to know each other. One of the sessions invited community members to attend an Easter ‘Question and Answer’ session.

“Attendees were welcomed to ask questions anonymously and four pastors as guest speakers responded to the queries and shared through the weekend the message of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ,” Ms Motlop said.

One church member was ordained as a pastor, four others were given a worker’s credential, and three families had their children dedicated to the church.

Mrs Motlop said there was lots of support from community members who came and volunteered with the cooking.

“Thank you to BEL for their contribution and support for this event and also previous events,” she said.

BEL has approved a donation of a bus and $30,000 in funding to Northern Peninsula Area Ngurpai Ikama Ikya Council (NPANIIC) in support of its parent tutoring program.

NPANIIC is a leading community body that provides strategic and policy advice to local, State and Federal governments on community education. It will run the Home Interaction Parent Program for Youngsters (HIPPY) in the Northern Peninsula area for 2021-2023, a unique initiative that trains parents on how to tutor young children aged four and five years.

Mr Aniba with the bus that BEL is donating to the HIPPY program

The program’s philosophy is that parents and family members are best placed to deliver early childhood learning programs, and the HIPPY initiative helps give parents the tools they need to set their young children up for success at school. The initiative has the capacity to engage 25 students and their parents each year, with demand expected to grow.

To support the growth of HIPPY, BEL has donated a 12-seat HiAce bus to NPANIIC, which will be used to transport parents and their children to venues and excursions as part of the program. In addition to the bus, BEL will also provide NPANIIC with $30,000 over two years to cover operating and maintenance costs associated with running the program.

NPANIIC has been delivering the HIPPY program for the last three years using private vehicles to visit parents and students in the five communities of the Northern Peninsula Area, however the costs of maintaining vehicles has been an ongoing challenge for the organisation.

“I take my hat off to Bamaga Enterprises for this sponsorship and what they do for the community,” said Mr Jeffrey Aniba, Chair of the Education, Training and Employment Council.

“I was speechless for about a minute when I found out they were supporting us. I couldn’t thank them enough.”