Employee interns Rex Liddy, Muna Budj-Jal Hastie, Thomas Yougie, Ephraim Claudie, Dujuan Yougie and Gene Hubbard are doing their bit to ensure displaced Wujal Wujal residents return to a pristine community from the end of the month. Photo: Supplied.
When displaced Wujal Wujal residents begin their staged return home this month, the community transformation they notice will be thanks in part to six My Pathway interns.
The men – Rex Liddy, Muna Budj-Jal Hastie, Thomas Yougie, Ephraim Claudie, Dujuan Yougie and Gene Hubbard – have been hosted by Gungarde Community Aboriginal Corporation (GCAC) as paid interns to help clean up the community after it was decimated by post-Tropical Cyclone Jasper flooding in December 2023.
Hosted by GCAC, and working in close collaboration with Wujal Wujal Aboriginal Shire Council, the Wujal Wujal Community Disaster Resilience Project has been facilitated by My Pathway and EMG Workforce through the Federal Government’s Community Development Program.
The resilience project is being led by GCAC project manager Keegan Dinnie, and includes three My Pathway community engagers, in addition to the six employee interns.
Community engager Ephraim Claudie said it was easy to see the positive impact the project, and the work of the interns, was having on Wujal Wujal’s recovery.
“The resilience project is very beneficial to the community in this time of need, and supporting local CDP participants through the employee intern program is a bonus,” he said.
As part of the project, the interns have helped clean out council buildings, supported the maintenance of salvageable assets, and sanitised and cleaned community infrastructure.
As the project progresses over the next six months, the interns will continue to work on the recovery of the Wujal Wujal community as all residents return home.
Rex Liddy works to clean up some of the mud left in the wake of the flooding in Wujal Wujal. Photo: Supplied.
