In September 2012 the Aboriginal Women’s Sexual Assault Network “Hey Sis, we’ve got your back” launched at Parliament House.
Nearly three years later they are facing the possibility that they may have to close the program. Not because the program wasn’t successful and highly valued by Aboriginal women – it was – but because they don’t have the funding to keep it going.
Hey Sis is unique, in that it is run entirely by Aboriginal women and has no government funding. It is supported by the Full Stop Foundation, who also support the 1800 RESPECT hotline, the national domestic and sexual abuse national support service staffed entirely by trained trauma counsellors.
Hey Sis is a network of “aunties”, Aboriginal women living in Aboriginal communities who give support, comfort and direction for Aboriginal women who are the victims of sexual or domestic abuse.
Tara Moss, patron of the Full Stop Foundation, is passionate about the work they do:
“Dixie Link Gordon (at far left in the photo above, taken at one of our Full Stop fundraisers) and Ashlee Donahue are co-creators of this ground-breaking program. Both are survivors themselves.
“Hey Sis is the only sexual assault network specifically for Aboriginal women. It empowers indigenous women as agents of change in their own communities and, at present, receives no government support. We rely on private donations.
“The Full Stop Foundation has had to suspend the program until we have sufficient money secured to allow us to employ workers and run a year’s worth of activities. We need $250,000 to run the program for 12 months and $500,000 to secure the service for two years.
“It is a priority that this program continue, not least because indigenous women are 34 times more likely to be hospitalised as a result of domestic violence than their non-indigenous counterparts. It is vitally important that these horrifying stats – and the realities they represent – change for the better. It is one thing to give lip service to the issue of domestic violence. What we need is funding for programs and services so real change can occur.”
Karen Willis, CEO of the Full Stop Foundation, explained a bit more about the difficulties they’ve faced with funding Hey Sis:
“We’re trying to focus on getting a full year’s funding, because otherwise we’re pulling the women in and out of work and it makes it very difficult for them, and very difficult to keep the network going.
“Aboriginal women have had people come into their communities and promise them the world for too long and they’re over it. As they should be. What we want to do is give them the power and support to do the work themselves. Full Stop gives ongoing support, training and counselling to the Aboriginal women who are actually doing the Hey Sis work. They call it constructive yarning, which a process of talking about difficult issues until everyone achieves a common understanding.
“It sounds very simple, but it’s not. What it really means is empowering aboriginal women as agents of change in their own communities.
“It means that when Aboriginal women are raped or assaulted, they have someone to talk to, a safe bed for the night and assistance in talking to police or counsellors.
“When the aunties come back and tell us what they do, it’s often the small immediate things they need. They say. ‘if someone could just give me $10 credit on my phone so I can call the cops’ or ‘I just need $50 worth of food to put something in my cupboard so I can give them a feed when they come in to talk to me’.
“After the last meeting, one of the aunties said to me ‘hey, that cop you brought into the last meeting, he was alright, I’ve taken 3 women down to him’, that would never have happened without the Hey Sis program.
“We need to stop thinking that white people can come in and do it better. They can’t. It needs to be Aboriginal women working in Aboriginal communities. Our role is just to give them the support they tell us they need.”
You can donate to the Full Stop Foundation and specify that you want the donation to go to the Hey Sis program in the notes. The Full Stop people are trustworthy and will honour your request.
Full Stop also welcome discussion with anyone who is interested in the work they do and want to know more about it. Obviously don’t contact them on the counselling lines, but the office contact details are all on their website and Karen is happy to chat about the Hey Sis program and how people can help.