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Mildura Community Walk
Steve Portelli, Aboriginal Health Worker at Sunraysia Community Health and James Peterson from Mildura Aboriginal Health Service describe a community walk that the organised together.
- Video Transcript
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My name is James Peterson. I am an Aboriginal Health Promotion and Chronic Care Worker within Mildura Aboriginal Health Service.
Aboriginal people in the Mildura area have lived close to the Murray River most of their lives. But a lot of these people have never gone down to see the wide range of local wildlife. The river provides many opportunities for Aboriginal people and it also is a very spiritual place for us.
We have these beautiful walking areas but many of the people in our community are not physically active. We wanted to get them off the couch and into the bush.
Hi! I’m Steven Portelli, also an Aboriginal Health Promotion and Chronic Care Worker.
On Thursday 18th of November, we held a community walk. It was a perfect spring day with the temperature at 24 degrees. Twenty-one people from our community came along. We walked along the Mildura riverfront at the Murray River. The walk was approximately 1.5 kilometres long. We had a healthy lunch and hired a bus for those who needed a lift.
There were picnic areas on the river for us to stop and reflect on the environment, have a drink and a yarn and catch our breath.
We took photos along the river and looked at animal tracks. Some of the women tried to warn us that it was a snake but we knew it wasn’t. We also shared a big laugh - we kept joking along the way.
Chronic disease makes up a large percentage of health issues in Aboriginal communities. Lack of physical activities is a big part in this. This is why we did our walk for health.
There was a great opportunity for our elders to come together. They don’t get the chance to meet very often.
We knew it was good for our health but one of the elders on the walk summed it up best. She said that being down by the river brought back good memories as a child.
She said it was good for the soul.
