The Western Desert Nganampa Walytja Palyantjaku Tjutaku Aboriginal Corporation (WDNWPT) is an inspring aboriginal organisation that has been formed to provide support to its members facing health challenges in the most remote communities in Australia.
They have already deliverd a community house in Alice Springs (The Purple House) to support people who travel to Alice Springs for intensive treatment for kidney and heart disease. This travel for essential treatment takes people away from family, community
and lands, but is still superior to hospital stays.
Recently, Rotary assisted WDNWPT convert a building in Kintore, 400 KM west of Alice Spings to a 4 bed dialysis unit that now supports 30 people in Kintore who can live at home in their community. Kintore is the home of the world renowned Papunya Artists
cooperative. This project is an instance of a "return to country" initiative that the WDNWPT is delivering to the People of the Wertern Desert.
The delivery of this facility is the first step of many to provide this support to an important community that is largely invisible to the rest of Australia. The provision of these facilities in communities will allow these cultures to be maintained and
eventually return to health.
The WDNWPT have also delivered "The Purple Truck", a fully functioning mobile dialysis unit that travels to remote communities in the above map, allowing patients to spend some of their time at home.
Our Rotary Club, the "Rotary E Club of Brindabella" is determined to build an online community who will make small financial contributiions to the WDNWPT to assist in the delivery of health facilities in the even more remote communities of Australia.
History: The WDNTPT is a community of indigenous Australians who have recognised the need to take matters into their own hands and make things happen. Their initial funding came from an Art Auction that raised the seed capital to get underway. Since then,
funding has fcome from a variety of sources and is all directed at these facilities. That they live in one of the most remote regions of the world means that delivering these outcomes is very challenging. The WDNWPT provides the management, inspiration and
drive, Rotary provides labour and expertise, and funds will always be required.
This initiative will simply provide a dialysis chair for Kiwirrkurra at at capital cost of $4000. Future campaigns will aim at dialysis units at $20,000 a piece, but we want to build the funding support community first. You can see their site at
www.westerndialysis.com .
Kiwirrkurra is in a very remote district of Western Australia, so you can appreciate the need for a specialised local service and the challenges that this community faces. You should locate it on one of the mapping applications.
And what we are funding as a starter is a dialysis chair similar to the example below:
Below are some images of a sample of the bush medicine products that the community prepares and that will be the basis of the higher value rewards: