Nh^liy Yalu' ga dj^mamirriyirr

Strategy

Guku is an example of this. The guku story teaches Yol\u about relationships, how people live together and build things together, just like the bees live together in the hive.

It can also teach Yol\u about diabetes, by learning the Yol\u law that tells us about the ways to hunt and eat sweet things. There are certain seasons when people eat guku, we don't eat it all the time.

We hunt for guku during the hot season called rarranhdharr (September - October). This is also the time for r^gudha (large shellfish). Yol\u law can help Yol\u deal with problems that come from Balanda, like diabetes comes from eating Balanda food.

When we teach children to dance the guku dance, we are teaching them about the relationship between guku, the people, and their ancestors. When the children are dancing, they are thinking about how they are related to guku. Is it their mother, sister, or grandparent? All children have to learn the ancestral song of the guku and fit themselves into the ancestral space. Then they will know straight away what their relationship is.

By strengthening the links between djamarrku'i (children) and their gurru=u (extended family), their manikay (songs), their w^\a (land) and their dh^wu (stories), we are helping the Galiwin’ku community to be strong in solving our own problems. We need to teach the children so that they can pass this knowledge down from generation to generation. We need to make sure this general knowledge is passed on.

Text by Joanne Gar\gulkpuy with Emma Kowal.

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