This project was funded by Commonwealth Health and Ageing in 2008-2009.   It has focused on running training for community cooking leaders, running community events, and promoting nutrition and healthy lifestyles in the four Western Desert communities of Kintore, Mt Liebig, Papunya and Ikuntji. 

Throughout 2008-2009, the Mangarri Palya project focused upon a critical local health issue for Central Australia: the need for improved knowledge and practices of nutrition and healthy cooking in order to improve the health status of Aboriginal people living in remote communities.

A survey conducted in 2004 by the NT Department of Health and Community Services in remote NT Aboriginal communities showed that approximately 80% of houses do not have the working infrastructure to prepare and store healthy food. This finding is confirmed by Waltja's Ngurra Ninti (Health in Housing) project: a majority of community residents have identified problems with stoves, electrical hardware, inadequate or broken fixtures and fittings, and inadequate food storage (no refrigerators, limited shelving, no vermin-safe cupboards).  Consequently many families living in remote communities have a choice of purchasing the raw ingredients to cook a meal on an outside fire, or purchasing something pre-prepared from the local store. The biggest selling food items in remote stores are soft drink (coke), bread, pies, potato crisps, and takeaway where available. Fruit and vegetables make up a small proportion of food purchases and on average one tenth of recommended consumption levels. 

In traditional Aboriginal society men were responsible for hunting and cooking large game, while women and children were responsible for the hunting, gathering and preparation of small game, fruits and vegetables, nuts, seeds and legumes which they shared with the men, who in turn shared the meat they hunted.  Today, the hunting and gathering of bush foods has diminished with community living, and the introduction of pastoral and feral animals and feral weeds has further reduced the availability of bush foods.  As a consequence, most traditional food preparation and cooking skills are no longer relevant, and people are heavily dependant on the store for a source of convenience and takeaway foods. 

The Department of Health and Aging promotes the increased consumption of foods such as wholegrain cereals, fruit, vegetables (including legumes) and oily fish without adequately addressing how and by whom these foods can be prepared, and whether skills and confidence are evenly distributed among the population.  By assuming skill, these messages can add to a sense of social exclusion for those without cooking skills and/or adequate kitchen infrastructure.  It cannot be expected that people can take control of their health if they do not know how to cook, shop and discriminate.  Knowledge of how to select, prepare and cook food generates health-relevant skills.  This can be described as “know how” as opposed to “know what” knowledge.

See pictures of all the food and training in the Mangarri Palya Powerpoint for the Waltja Committee, June 2009

Community Events and Training

The Mangarri Palya project has supported local capacity building in the following ways:

In each community, local cooking leaders worked with the Mangarri Palya project worker, Judith Marcy, to create recipes, some old favourites for the community and some new. These recipes have been collected and used to create a cook book which the community can use. 

Cooking has taken place outdoors on gas stoves, to demonstrate equipment available to people who do not have working stoves, and also inside available community kitchens. All events involved training, provided by the Waltja project worker Judith Marcy and Retram Training, in basic food preparation and hygiene, and in occupational health and safety.  Community workers often request basic or refresher training in these competencies, which Waltja can provide to communities.

Community training centres, Aged care, Child Care, the Art Centre, Healthy House and Women’s Centres all supported, and have been involved in cooking and training events. 

Each community visit included a bush trip for workers and event participants to support the use of bush foods and medicines and the passing on of traditional hunting and cooking methods from older to younger generations.

We also included a program for keeping dogs healthy, as health of dogs impacts on health of people when families are living in close proximity with many animals.

Women’s Health Camp

Mangarri Palya played a big role in the Western Desert Women’s Health Camp held at Town Bore near Papunya in 2009 (link to photos).  Regional camps such as this are important for bringing people together to learn about healthy living, and also share knowledge and build relationships with workers. 

Resources

The Mangarri Palya Cook Book:  a collection of recipes from all cooking events run in the Western Desert.  Simple to use and packed with photos and illustrations. 

Copies can be downloaded by clicking here or can be mail-ordered from Waltja Publications.

Partnership with Ngurra Ninti project

Waltja’s Ngurra Ninti (Healthy Housing community development and training project) provided support for Mangarri Palya through:  

What next?
Both Mangarri Palya and Ngurra Ninti projects were funded until June 2009.  We hope that Waltja can continue to support healthy life skills and nutrition activities and training in Western Desert after this time, and in other Central Australian communities as well. 

For further information
Please direct any enquires to:
Liz Downes at Waltja
Phone:  08 8953 4488
Email: liz.downes@waltja.org.au.