OTK Leadership Camp
OTK ran a successful Tarzali leadership camp this year for the 13th year in a row.
We had some of our regular OTK members as leaders as well as young Kowanyama leaders who have grown up through our programs and some wonderful visitors from Victoria who also helped out and even a cameo appearance from one of our old favourite Kowanyama teachers who enthralled the kids with tales of her time in Kow. The theme was STANDING STRONG and being 'a leader'. It was so wonderful to see again young Kowanyama people being role models, sharing their experiences and being someone the younger ones could look up to. It was wonderful to have Shekia Raymond lead again having only received 'her stripes' in 2017 when she was recognised as a fully fledged leader after several years progressing as a trainee and junior leader. We also had some special treats for the kids with the use of a boat for pulling them behind that has been donated and also Dr John Jacobs took the kids out on a real sailing boat for their first time!
Please consider donating to support future camps like this that are 100% volunteer and donation run. DONATE
MENTORING BOARDING KIDS
We continued throughout 2019 to provide support to Kowanyama kids who are out at boarding school.
Sticking it out at boarding school can be really tough for these remote kids and having a ‘family-like’ environment where they know people who know them and where they come from - to go to on weekends – can make a real difference.
We aim to provide as much mentoring support as possible, often working closely wth boarding schools. this can include career guidance, help with schoolwork, someone to talk to, and leadership development. so often we find that if it wasnt for that caring support many more of these kids would 'fall through the gaps'.
COLBI PROGRAM
It was exciting to have another graduation of one of the students we’ve been closely involved with over the years. Our hope is that we will see a larger proportion finish successfully like this in future. All of our previous COLBI recipients are currently working or in training.
SUPPORT
Hinterland Aviation continued to generously support us assisting with flights especially for our Leadership camp.
Rosanna Christian Church continues to send us regular donations that support our work.
Thanks to all our other supporters – every little thing you do or give helps!
Community Demonstration Garden Project
We were approached in 2017 by RISE (formerly Jobfind) who wanted their work program participants to get involved in the demonstration vegetable garden. This was a great chance for a partnership and we provided training from our volunteers on all aspects of the garden. This partnership has continued through over 2018 and 2019 with a range of workshops being undertaken during this time. In collaboration with RISE our volunteers also managed to plant more of these healthy edible trees and bushes in their gardens and people are using them or are using the ones we have in public spaces. Hopefully a contribution to better health!
Kowanyama Youth mentoring trip
July school holidays was a great opportunity to take some of the kids we mentor at boarding school out on country for some holiday fun and leadership mentoring. Had some great talks about relevant issues, helped the boys get some bush tucker, taught the kids how to cook their bush tucker with some healthy greens from the community garden and gave the kids and their families opportunities to try fishing in a boat which many had never done.
Ngethn'O Cultural Festival
OTK participated in the July 2019 Ngethn'O Cultural Festival which was for locals with content being streamed on social media for a wider audience. It was a celebration of culture with some of Viv Sinnamon's amazing Kowanyama collection on display, traditional arts and crafts and cooking going on. We were able to help out with most of the activities including organising a traditional Kup Murri (underground cooking) and the historic return of some artefacts from the Atherton family. We were able to encourage more kids to get involved and also worked with the community garden workers to provide some healthy food using the Moringa we have planted around the community. Local lady came up with a recipe for Moringa damper which was a hit! You can learn more about the festival and associated project at Kowanyama Project ( no formal affiliation with OTK).
Ngethn'O OTK food stall
One of our activities at Ngethn' O was to run a healthy food stall. This was for two reasons - one to provide a healthy option for attendees and secondly to demonstrate to entrepreneurial locals that you CAN sell healthy food in community and healthy foods made with locally grown veges such as the amazing Moringa! OTK raised $700 towards our activities and the food was a hit selling out every day and giving us lots of opportunities to talk about nutrition with the backup of the wonderful Apunipima nutritionist who shared the stall next to us!
Four primary kids went well at Tarzali primary boarding in 2019 with some of them moving up four year levels in one year to reach their age appropriate study level! They made their families, communities and OTK proud with their magnificent behavious and efforts at school gaining many awards. They are amazing kids!!
Congratulations
to one of our founding members and long term volunteers Liz and her husband Joel who have welcomed their second child as have our volunteers Ash and Roishin.
CONTRIBUTE
Please consider looking at ways you can contribute and assist in our programs that are 100% volunteer run and with no government funding. You can donate through our website www.otk.org.au or contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to find out how to donate directly via bank deposit. Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for details on how to make a tax deductible donation.
We also wanted to let you know about an awesome new way you can donate to Out there kowanyama at no cost to you, using the Out there kowanyama Easy Fundraiser.
We’ve partnered with SHOPNATE to give you a new online shopping extension called Easy Fundraiser, which you can install.
Once you’ve got one for your browser, anytime you do your online shopping Out there kowanyama will receive a donation from the retailers that support the scheme (a bar will appear on the screen to confirm the donation). When you make a purchase, they make a donation – at no cost to you.
Please consider looking at ways you can contribute and assist in our programs that are 100% volunteer run and with no government funding. You can donate through our website www.otk.org.au or contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to find out how to donate directly via bank deposit.
We also wanted to let you know about an awesome new way you can donate to Out there kowanyama at no cost to you, using the Out there kowanyama Easy Fundraiser.
We’ve partnered with SHOPNATE to give you a new online shopping extension called Easy Fundraiser, which you can install.
Once you’ve got one for your browser, anytime youdo your online shopping Out there kowanyama will receive a donation from the retailers that support the scheme (a bar will appear on the screen to confirm the donation). When you make a purchase, they make a donation – at no cost to you.
