Impressing the in-laws

In early August I was lucky to be part of the EnergyAustralia team that joined students and staff from the Port Adelaide Football Club’s Aboriginal AFL Academy to visit the remote Aboriginal coastal homeland Nyinyikay in East Arnhem Land and attend Garma festival.

In this piece I was going to share our experience including all the activities we had done (your stock standard update), but instead thought I would hijack this article with a personal load as an Indigenous person that I really didn’t see coming.

You see returning home and reflecting on the trip I have realised the extra baggage I was carrying that I didn’t know I was at the time. That extra baggage was the worry of ‘will they like my culture’ or in short ‘will they like me’. I liken it to trying to impress the in-laws I was meeting for the first time.  

Cultural immersion opportunities such as this Homeland visit and Garma festival participation is a common approach for organisations to take for their staff to gain a better understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, cultures and communities. I helped facilitate the implementation of EnergyAustralia’s Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) and was responsible with this particular cultural learning experience.

As a RAP Lead you strive for your cultural learning exercise to have successful outcomes where your colleagues ‘get it’ and apply their learnings in the workplace. This in turn will help the RAP be implemented as part of your organisation’s DNA. If it doesn’t impact them, then it means more work is required and obtaining your RAP vision a bit more further afield.

The outcome of this cultural immersion exercise is a lot more personal for me.  If my colleagues don’t have a positive experience then it won’t only make RAP implementation difficult, but how will they then perceive me and my family? Will they negatively judge me? Will they question my ability? Not realising at the time, this was the load I was carrying. This ‘extra baggage’ was my in-laws.

As the days played out on Country with the Aboriginal AFL Academy and participating in Garma activities, it was so touching seeing my colleagues transform as they embraced the experience. I got emotional when they got emotional, I was moved by the statements they repeated from the talks by Aboriginal leaders and had a ‘proud mum’ experience watching them dance at Bunggul. Again, this was more than a RAP Lead watching their plan execute, it was me as a Torres Strait Islander feeling safe in knowing they like my culture….in short ‘they like me’.

What was the winning formula? On reflection, it was teaming up with my Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander brothers and sisters within the organisations we collaborated with, Aboriginal AFL Academy and Australian Unity. We know the outcomes we are after and how to best showcase our beautiful people and cultures. I will forever be thankful to Marlon Motlop, Paul Vandenbergh and Benson Saulo for what we have been able to achieve.

Lastly, it’s me having more faith in myself and my culture. Of course, people will feel enriched by learning more about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture – it’s a national treasure that we are so fortunate to have.

I hope by sharing my ‘extra baggage’ on reflection of this work trip that other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who do similar work are not alone if they feel the same burden. And to our non-Indigenous allies to be aware that we are carrying this extra load and be a great in-law that recognises our hard work to educate you on our culture.