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Health Journey of an Indigenous Person in Australia

   

Added on  2021-04-16

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Running head: HEALTH JOURNEY OF AN INDIGENOUS PERSON IN AUSTRALIAHEALTH JOURNEY OF AN INDIGENOUS PERSON IN AUSTRALIAName of the student:Name of the university:Author note:

1HEALTH JOURNEY OF AN INDIGENOUS PERSON IN AUSTRALIAIntroductionRecently I came across a survey that said that the rate of hospitalization of indigenouspeople in Australia is quite higher than the non-indigenous counterparts. Once again there aremore number of indigenous people who can suffer from cancer than the non-indigeneous(Kilian & Williamson, 2018). All these made me ponder me about the poor state of healthconcerning the indigenous people. I would not say that I had many indigenous friends.However, there was this one girl with whom I felt that I have a connection. She was SivannaAmandyo, my wonderful indigenous friend who taught me about the values of friendship,unity and respect for diversity. She was studying in St. Marina’s high school in grade XII,and was highly fond of physics and biology. However, I had no idea that what was awaitingat Grandma Martha’s house is graver than I ever imagined!Sivanna’s suicide: An introspection of mental healthThis time when I visited grandma Martha’s house in Queensland for Christmas I wascustomarily staring out of the window hoping to catch a glimpse of Sivanna, the lively andfeisty indigenous girl. She and her family has been a neighbour of Grandma Martha’s for thepast three years and over the period, we bonded well due to our shared interests in animalphotography. I still remember how much fascinated she would become seeing a platypusemerge out of water and budging towards the worms to satiate its lunch! As I wasreminiscing about our bonding, Grandma Martha came from behind and told me “Sivanna isno more!” I was startled by this revelation and before I could volley further questions, shetold me that Sivanna has committed suicide in the beginning of March 2018. She wasundergoing severe depression and her mother, Mrs Amandyo, did not know about herdeclining mental health.Born in 25th December 1988 in Perth, Sivanna Amandyo was an average student inschool as she found it difficult to cope with the demanding schedule especially in a languageand ambience that was foreign to her. She could not understand the accent being spoken bythe teachers at school. In classroom, she hardly found friends with whom she could feel athome. There was always emptiness, a void that was haunting her, leaving her gloomy andpushing her to extreme isolation. During lunch break, she would sit quietly in one corner andsob helplessly. Most of her classmates did not bother to enquire her about her well-being.Some of the girls in her class would offer her to play with them but Sivanna always rejected. Sivanna was close to grandma Martha and on one such occasion, on persistentcoaxing she blurted her heart out. She felt lonely, out of place and could not adjust to theschool environment. To deal with depression she took refuge to alcohol. Even drugs werefound underneath the bed. In the light of the suicide tragedy, it also came into the picture thatSivanna’s mother also had symptoms of depression. Her mother, Mrs. Smith was a singleparent and she had to rear Sivanna all by her own. Sivanna’s father was a victim of substanceabuse and under the intoxicated state, he would often perpetrate violence on her mother.Witnessing such gross violence unfolding in front of her eyes made Sivanna all the morepessimistic. Alienation at school, pangs of dealing with an abusive father, witnessing a troubled marriage, separation from the homeland, lack of a genuine friend to bare her heart and the everyday negotiations of an aboriginal woman had shrouded her life with the pall of depression. Mrs Smith in her own struggle to earn the bread of the family, found it difficult tofind time to spend time with her daughter. She later came to know that her father’s alcoholic

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