Yamatiji Region and the Budina Aboriginals
1. I live in the region of Yamitiji which is known for the region of aboriginals. In Yamatiji region the traditional custodians are Budina. The Budina aboriginals have been living in Yamatiji for a long time occupying around 36,129 sq kilometers. The Budina culture has influenced the Australian culture a lot over the years. The people of Budina lives from the shires of Ashburton to upper Gascoyne (Carpenter, 2014).
2. According to the indigenous people of Australia, indigenous health is the social, cultural, physical and moral developments of the aboriginal people. The aboriginals of Australia use to prefer themselves to be called according to their languages, not by the words like tribes or clans. Moreover, the Torres Strait islanders used to carry a strong connection with the mainlanders of Australia. They carry their specific cultures, cultural values, and cultural uniqueness. It is noticeable that around 2.9% people of New South Wales, 4% of Queensland and 2% people of South Australia are aboriginal people. It strictly indicates the strong existence of the Torres Strait Islanders. Their identity firstly recognized in the year 1955 raising the flag of Torres Strait Islanders. However, the situations of health for the indigenous people are not up to the mark and premature death is the most common incidents among the indigenous people of Australia. Moreover, the indigenous people are quickly affected by the respiratory diseases, diabetes, kidney diseases, cardiovascular diseases and kidney problems (Cross, Bartgis & Fox, 2010). Therefore, they do not get proper treatment of these diseases which results in early death. Alcohol consumption and smoking play a major difference in creating gaps between indigenous and non-indigenous people.
Racism and discrimination have a strong effect on the healthy wells being of the aboriginal people of Australia. According to a recent report, out of the 649171 aboriginals of Australia do not get sufficient treatment for their health issues. There are 31214 aboriginal residents in Perth which is 41.1% of the total population of the city. Out of which only 215 gets proper treatment from healthcare organizations. No public or private sector medical aid reaches to them due to racial and ethnicity discrimination. 52% of the urban caregivers and 69% of the regional caregivers of Western Australia shows a prejudiced attitude towards the aboriginal people. It results in around 68% of the aboriginal people of Australia die prematurely due to lack of proper treatment. It is seen that racism and discrimination indirectly affect the cardiovascular system of the aboriginals and hypertension, high blood pressure, and heart diseases. Moreover, it affects the mental health of the indigenous people that leads them to severe depression, psychiatric and low birth weight (Dockery, 2009).
About 75% of the aboriginal Australians are affected by racial discrimination every day. Only 25% of the total aboriginal community only gets the opportunity to be admitted into the hospitals. The health professionals need to adjust the ever-evolving culture of the indigenous people and should provide them sufficient aid respecting their cultural diversity. The systematic difference in the racial discrimination can be identified as the reason behind this. As per a recent report, 19.1% of the aboriginals dies at the age of15-24 due to lack of sufficient medical aid. The aboriginals wait for the treatment and surgery and wait for the governments’ attention and NGO attention (Graham & Stamler, 2013). A growing number of cancer patients among the aboriginals can be identified as a significant instance of the lack of proper treatment to the Islanders due to racial discrimination. The racial prejudicing stops the aboriginals to not to got the hospitals as they fear getting discriminated treatment from them.
Understanding Indigenous Health in Australia
More than 50% of the aboriginal people state that they do not trust the hospitals. Further, they state that they may be misbehaved or poorly treated in those hospitals. The racial discrimination can be stated as a barrier for healthy well being of the aboriginals. Hence, it is necessary for both the government and nongovernment organizations to take the initial step to remove the racial barrier and provide the aboriginals mainstream treatment (Hovey, Delormier & McComber, 2014).
1. Culture is stated to be a systematic way of life for a specific group of people. It includes some common ethics of human beings like moral values, rituals, acceptance, and sanctions. Our cultural value includes old rock paintings, old legend stories, and wood carving. Storytelling is one of our foremost cultural symbolism. The developmental process of indigenous well being could also be conducted using our cultural rituals. Laura aboriginal dance festival is one of our most well-known festivals where we enjoy our own rituals through songs, dance and telling stories. My cultural identity defines my overall identity status. We are one of the oldest inhabitant cultures of Australia. We have different groups, languages and cultural practices. Diversity wheel generally defines the key factors that generally motivate the cultural orientation to create a specific cultural identity. .According to the diversity wheel, it includes gender, physical ability, race, nationality, gender orientation, marital status, economic status, parental status and professional status and many more.
Most of the aboriginals are treated as a secondary citizen in Western Australia and they don’t get sufficient physical aid. Being from aboriginal people, I have always maintained a cultural diversification. Most of us are a dark-skinned community; we have our own languages called Warlpiri, murrine-, and Tiwi. The Australian government granted the language rights of Warlpiri and marriage last year which is stated to be the cultural victory for the aboriginal people. We enjoy our cultural events in our own style. Being a male person I do not discriminate females as like my co-aboriginals. Our culture is around 250 years old which is located in Western Australia and Tasmania region (McKinstry, 2017). Each group and cultural practice is different from each other having a unique and distinctive feature.
2. Cultural identity is generally based on the self-sense, self-realization that where we are fittest, from where we are belonging and our way to see the outer world. It includes age, generation, stage of development, gender orientation, religious faiths and beliefs, and disability. The aboriginals of Australia are one of the oldest aboriginal cultures of the world. Moreover, it is diversified into the group like Torres Strait Islanders and Budina. Both the culture has their unique cultural rituals. However, the cultural identity is a widespread concept and it cannot be defined on a single concept. The history of culture is bonded with strong emotional attachments, joint struggle and carrying the same cultural values and beliefs. It has helped me to cop up with the challenging environments. In addition, the struggled lifestyle of the aboriginals has helped to me duel with the duel of everyday life. My cultural identity has taught me not to discriminate against people according to their ethnicity, region, gender, and culture. Thus, with the help of the Australian governments and NGOs web have developed some hospitals in our region. We never treat our patients according to the cultural base and tender root. We put a priority on the disease and seriousness of the disease not the gender orientation of the person. I think the health care system should be open not all and less discriminated. I think all the caregivers should provide equal care to each patient so that they can be cured soon. Discrimination or ethnicity orientation must be entertained by the caregivers. I believe that healthy food and treatment must be provided to all the patients (Graham & Stamler, 2013). Moreover, I think surgeries must be done in readiness if it is found to necessary. Therefore, no racial discrimination should be accepted during surgery and no less treatment be provided to both the mainland Australians and aboriginals. Cultural awareness has increased our traditional dynamic force of culture. It has brought the ability to access all the cultural groups of aboriginals. For example- the Budina people can participate in the cultural rituals of the Torres Strait Islanders. On the other hand, the aboriginals of Torres Strait Islanders can participate in the cultural rituals of Budina groups. It is significant that respecting cultural diversity is one of the key characteristics of the aboriginals. I think Effective treatment provides better health structure and a physically developed society. Thus, the healthcare system of Australia must be accessible for all the Australians irrespective of cultures, ethnicity, lifestyle, and languages. Hence, I can suggest that the health care system should be open to all irrespective of religions, ethnicities, castes, and genders.
References
Carpenter, D. (2014). Environmental exposure in indigenous communities: an international perspective. Reviews On Environmental Health, 29(1-2).
Cross, T., Bartgis, J., & Fox, K. (2010). Rethinking the systems of care definition: An indigenous perspective. Evaluation And Program Planning, 33(1), 28-31.
Dockery, A. (2009). Culture and Wellbeing: The Case of Indigenous Australians. SSRN Electronic Journal.
Graham, H., & Stamler, L. (2013). Contemporary Perceptions of Health from an Indigenous (Plains Cree) Perspective. International Journal Of Indigenous Health, 6(1), 6.
Hovey, R., Delormier, T., & McComber, A. (2014). Social-relational understandings of health and well-being from an Indigenous Perspective. International Journal Of Indigenous Health, 10(1), 35-54.
McKinstry, S. (2017). Indigenous oral health inequity: An Indigenous provider perspective. Can J Public Health, 108(3), 221.