hope for health

These beautiful Yolgnu ladies are seeking our support. 

Nourishing traditional bush foods have been replaced with shop food - white bread, margarine, tea, sugar and soft drinks - the result in Galwinku community and many other remote communities around Australia is that 1 in 2 adults have kidney disease and 1 in 3 adults have diabetes.

An encounter with good nutrition has inspired the Yolgnu ladies to make changes. They now have a solution and they need financial and/or social media networking support to make it happen.  

The ladies dream is to travel to Living Valley Springs Health Retreat for a 10 day program so they can learn how to get their health on track by improving their diet and then they want to share that knowledge with their community. 

This initiative is brilliant. It is empowering these women to take back their health care. Community led healing is what it's all about.

Regular readers here know that earlier this year my family and I spent time in Hope Vale a remote community four hours north of Cairns. This experience opened my eyes and my heart to both the harsh realities and the tremendous strength and resilience of the Guugu Yimithir people who opened their homes to us.

The food story is the same in Hope Vale as it is in so many communities. I left there feeling at a loss for how change could even begin. We have been home two months and I think about it most days. I met women in Hope Vale who want to do something about improving the nutritional value of the food people are eating. I started thinking about ways this could happen.

And then today I read about the Yolgnu ladies initiative on Chef Pete Evans facebook page. Perhaps this could be something other communities would like to do.

The ladies have 19 days to raise their funds before their crowd-funding appeal ends. 

If you can support them in any way financially $5, $10, $15 or hundreds or thousands it all adds up.

And if you can't offer money, then please share through your networks which only takes a few clicks and is equally valuable.

You can read more about this story on nutritional health guru Nora Gedgaudas' blog.

To learn more about the campaign and to donate go here.

These are mothers and grandmothers taking action to do something positive for themselves and their community. 

Go ladies go!

the path to healing

Today's post is inspired by beautiful and courageous mama, Sonya Koeck. Sonya is on her path to healing an aggressive form of breast cancer that she was diagnosed with five years ago and she is leaving no path untraveled in doing so.

I am writing this today to share Sonya's story but also to shine a light on the difficult decisions that people diagnosed with cancer and many other serious illnesses are confronted with.

Which healing path to take? Sonya so rightly makes the point that in Australia the approach to treatment is very much western medicine versus natural medicine, it is either/or, whereas in countries such as Germany the two are integrated. There are in Australia exceptions: doctors, specialists, natural medicine practitioners who are open to integrating both approaches but they are few and far between and seeking these people out can be an exhaustive process physically, mentally, emotionally and financially. It shouldn't be this way.

Sonya's healing path has taken her from New South Wales away from her beloved husband and young children, to Germany where she is receiving wholistic treatment unavailable in Australia. Sonya is deeply committed to her healing, doing everything within her power meditating daily, eating a purely organic diet, remaining positive and staying connected to her faith, she is responding well to treatment in Germany but is having to say no to certain treatments available there because they are costly and her funds are low. I don't believe not having enough money should be a barrier to accessing effective health care for any person. To my mind this is purely a matter of distribution of currency, meaning money moves around the world all day every day some people have a lot some people have a little and everyone spends it differently. I believe in philanthropy and I don't believe you need to have a million dollars in the bank to be a philanthropist. I believe in the power of giving, the amount is one thing but the act of giving is another.

Sonya has learnt a tremendous amount about western medicine and natural medicine on her healing journey and when she is well she would like to share that knowledge with people who find themselves in her position to help guide them where no guide book exists.

In her pro-active way, Sonya has set up a crowd-funding page so she can continue receiving treatment in Germany and return home well to her family.

You can read in detail Sonya's story on her funding page and if you are able to make a financial contribution you can do so directly on the page. Every dollar adds up. I donated $20 last night because that is what I had, when I consider I spend $30 a week on buying coffee I figure I can afford to donate more during the next month.

I have never met Sonya. I have met her beautiful family, Sonya and her family are beloved friends of people close in my life, and as a woman, a wife and mother I am deeply moved by their situation.

I share this story today because I can, because social media can be positively life changing. This post is not just to ask you to donate money, perhaps you can't right now. I also share it because cancer is an all too common diagnosis and I invite you take a moment to let go of what is not important and join me in being immensely grateful for good health when you have it.

Big blessings to the beautiful Sonya from the Wholefood Mama community, and blessings to each of you too dear readers especially those whose lives in one way or another have been affected by cancer. Thank you for reading this today. xx

To donate or share Sonya's page go here - Onya Sonya - Sonya's Future Fund