Laynhapuy are extremely grateful to Sea Swift for their Freight Assistance/Sponsorship. This allows us to keep the Laynhapuy Homeland’s stores stocked with essential items to support people living on country.
“Now that Laynha Health’s clinical services are well established and highly functional, an important development in the organisation’s work has been to facilitate homelands community stores so that residents have access to affordable and nutritious food. In 2017 a store was opened in Gangan, a second was opened a year later in Garrthalala, and a third was opened this year in February in Wandawuy.
Food security is a major issue for homelands communities. Private commercial ventures have been non-viable due to factors such as the high costs of distribution, the unreliability of the roads, and the lack of electricity for refrigeration. As a result, residents have to travel to Nhulunbuy to shop at the nearest supermarket. This can cost $1,300 for a return trip, during which a family may purchase $300 worth of food. These disproportionate costs further impoverish people whose budgets are already tight, and encourage them to rely on low-cost foods that can be purchased in bulk and do not easily spoil. As such, the store-bought component of residents’ diets tends to be skewed toward foods with low nutritional value, such as white flour and sugar.
Poor nutrition has serious consequences for health, and is a major cause of some of the common health conditions among Yolŋu, including diabetes. As such, facilitating community-run stores has long been an aspiration for Laynha Health and is strongly supported by homelands residents.
Yolŋu residents run the stores, while Laynha Health staff provide training and facilitate provision of new stock. Decisions on stock are made collaboratively between the communities and the Laynha Health team, which includes a nutritionist. Cigarettes, soft drink, confectionery and fatty meat are not stocked; instead there is an emphasis on fresh foods. The stores are subsidised by LHAC, but are likely to pay for themselves in the longer term by reducing demand on clinical services.
The stores represent a cross-over between health and community development. Not only do they improve food security, provide access to a wider array of nutritious foods, save people money and allow people to spend more time on Country, but they also provide opportunities for employment, training, enterprise development and management.” [extract from: https://ncis.anu.edu.au/_lib/doc/Aboriginal_Health_and_Wellbeing_Services_FINAL.pdf]
