<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Apologies for cross-posting<br class=""><div><br class=""><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><b class="">From: </b></span><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">Drew Baker <<a href="mailto:drew.baker@outlook.com" class="">drew.baker@outlook.com</a>></span><br class=""><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><b class="">Subject: </b></span><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><b class="">Kurdiji 1.0 - Applying the Humanities to Indigenous Mental Health</b></span><br class=""><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><b class="">Date: </b></span><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">27 April 2017 at 12:07:50 PM SGT</span></div><div><font face="-webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif" class=""><br class=""></font><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;" class="">Dear </span><span class="" style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Colleagues,</span><br class=""><font color="#5856d6" face="Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="3" class=""><br class=""></font><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">I'm writing to ask for your help. I'm working with the Warlpiri community of Lajamanu in the Tanami desert to create an indigenous suicide prevention app combining traditional Indigenous cultural knowledge with modern technology. In Australia we are losing three aboriginal people a week to suicide, from a population that is just over half a million. </span><br class=""><font color="#5856d6" face="Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="3" class=""><br class=""></font><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">You may have heard of the Milpirri festival, established in Lajamanu in response to the 2005 suicide of a local man. The festival, which occurs every two years, endeavours to spread the kurdiji ideas around resilience and mental health, as well as other cultural knowledge. Since 2005 there hasn't been a single suicide in Lajamanu.</span><br class=""><font color="#5856d6" face="Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="3" class=""><br class=""></font><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;" class="">Now those same elders want to bring Kurdiji into the digital age, with a community created app based on stories, ceremonies and law. They want to fight for all aboriginal lives, not just those in remote or traditional communities. They have partnered with an expert team including technologists, photographers and a leading clinical psychologist from The Black Dog Institute (an institute that specialises in studying and treating depression). </span><br class=""><font color="#5856d6" face="Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="3" class=""><br class=""></font><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;" class="">The app will be called "Kurdiji" (‘shield', or 'to protect'). It takes its name from a body of Warlpiri knowledge normally transmitted as part of the Kurdiji initiation ceremonies for young people. The kurdiji ideas have been successfully used by the Warlpiri to increase resilience and prevent suicide – and they have an equivalent in traditions from different language groups.</span><br class=""><font color="#5856d6" face="Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="3" class=""><br class=""></font><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">As a community led project, and not something spearheaded by a renowned academic, it’s tricky to find operational costs so we’ve launched a crowdfunding campaign on GoFundMe. We’re trying to find ways now to spread the word about our campaign, which has attracted a lot of support from indigenous people – who, unfortunately, just aren’t in a position to donate very much.</span><br class=""><font color="#5856d6" face="Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="3" class=""><br class=""></font><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">We’ve got a great video with Uncle Jack Charles and support from iconic Australian musician Nick Cave and we’re writing to you now in the hope that you can share our video or let your colleagues and students know about the campaign and possibly donate yourselves. You can see the film on our GoFundMe page:</span> <a href="http://www.kurdijiproject.com/" class="" style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">www.kurdijiproject.com</a> <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">and on our webpage:</span> <a href="http://www.kurdiji.org/" class="" style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">www.kurdiji.org</a><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""> </span><br class=""><font color="#5856d6" face="Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="3" class=""><br class=""></font><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">Aboriginal suicide rates are at the level of an epidemic, and a genuinely community led technological approach hasn’t been tried before – so we’re in unknown territory to some degree. Your help, in spreading the word about our campaign, or making a contribution, will make an enormous difference.</span><br class=""><font color="#5856d6" face="Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="3" class=""><br class=""></font><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;" class="">Best wishes,</span><br class=""><font color="#5856d6" face="Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="3" class=""><br class=""></font><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;" class="">Drew Baker</span><br class=""><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;" class="">Kurdiji Project</span><br class=""><div id="divtagdefaultwrapper" dir="ltr" class="" style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><p class="" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"><span class=""><span id="ms-rterangepaste-start" class=""></span></span></p><div class=""><a href="http://www.kurdijiproject.org/" class="">www.kurdijiproject.org</a></div><div class=""><br class=""></div></div></div></body></html>