Week 10

Reflection;

This course has been incredibly interesting for me as a study abroad student because it allowed me to learn about the indigenous culture through popular media. Often when we learn about history and different cultures, it is very systematic and it is difficult to retain the information you are learning. However, discussing the role of aboriginals in society through popular media via sport, documentaries, museums, colleges, etc. makes it significantly more interesting because they are things which we more commonly relate to. If we were to discuss the history of aboriginals I would be clueless and would not have any personal information to draw upon. But when we talk about aboriginals in sport, I am much more likely to be drawn to the topic because I have history or prior knowledge with sport and that can aid the learning process. Reflecting back on the course, it was interesting to learn about how prevalent issues in the indigenous community are today. Before I arrived in Australia I hardly knew what an aboriginal or indigenous person was, let alone all the troubles that seemingly plague aboriginal or indigenous society. Something that really caught my attention was the statistics regarding poor health for aboriginals. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a group of diseases affecting the heart and circulatory system [11]. The most common types of CVD are heart disease, stroke, and high blood pressure. Risk factors (a behaviour or characteristic that makes it more likely for a person to get a disease) for CVD include: smoking tobacco, not eating well, not exercising, having diabetes, and having chronic kidney disease. In the 2004-2005 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey (NATSIHS), almost one-in-eight Indigenous people reported having a long-term heart or related condition. Heart and related conditions were around 1.3 times more common for Indigenous people than for non-Indigenous people; high blood pressure (the most commonly reported condition) was reported 1.5 times more often by Indigenous people than by non-Indigenous people. CVD was the most common cause of death for Indigenous people in 2004-2008. More than one-quarter of Indigenous deaths were from CVD. Deaths from CVD happened almost twice as often for Indigenous people as for non-Indigenous people. Indigenous people were much more likely to die from CVD than other Australians at any age, but particularly in younger age-groups. Heart attacks caused almost two-thirds of the CVD-related deaths of Indigenous males and around one-half of those of Indigenous females. Strokes caused around one-in-eight deaths from CVD of Indigenous males and around one-in-five of those of Indigenous females. Diabetes is a major health problem for Indigenous people, but it is hard to know just how many Indigenous people have the disease. Diabetes was reported by 6% of Indigenous people in the 2004-2005 NATSIHS. However, it is estimated that only around one-half of Indigenous people with diabetes actually know they have it, so the actual percentage of Indigenous people who have the condition may be between 10% and 30%. In the 2004-2005 NATSIHS diabetes was more common for Indigenous people living in remote areas (9%) than for Indigenous people living in non-remote areas (5%). Diabetes affects Indigenous people at a younger age than non-Indigenous people – it affects high numbers of Indigenous people over the age of 35 years, which is about ten years earlier than for non-Indigenous people. Overall, diabetes is around 3.5 times more common among Indigenous people than among other Australians.Deaths from diabetes were seven times more common for Indigenous people than for non-Indigenous people in 2004-2008. Diabetes is a very treatable disease, however it is incredibly costly. Diabetics must be incredibly careful of the food they eat as well as the quality of the food they eat. This makes it very difficult for aboriginals because they are unable to help themselves because they do not have the financial ability to purchase better food and help themselves deal with their illness. Eating processed foods and complex carbohydrates break down into sugar and than enter the blood stream. Diabetics pancreas does not function therefore they are putting constant pressure on their kidneys and liver as well as experiencing drastic high or low blood sugars. For people who cannot contain this disease it is incredibly dangerous and highly fatal. Relating the issue to the United States, I think the current issue is similar to the racial issues with Whites and African Americans. The cultural differences between whites and African Americans were at a high in the 50's-70's, but many of the issues with diet, and schools are very similar to that of aboriginal community. I honestly do not know if there is any solution to these issues, at times I think all people are responsible for making the situation better and than other times I think it all falls back on Darwin's theory. The problems are sometimes so deeply rooted that it is difficult to change and sometimes even impossible. One thing that I applaud the Australian government for is their continuous attempts of educating students about the mistreatment of the aboriginals. Although they are still faulting in multiple different areas and exploiting the aboriginals, the government keeps the filthy history in the school system. Just this year alone at Sydney Uni in three of my classes we discussed aboriginal history and the exploitation and severe mistreatment which occurred. In one of my classes we learned about the Stolen Generation, Half Caste System, and the Rabbit proof fence. We saw multiple vivid examples of children being ripped away from their homes in order to bleed out the Half Caste race. This was because it was deemed a third race which Australians did not want. As brutal and horrific as it sounds, it is important that the government recognizes their mistakes and continues to educate people about this. This is different to the United States because the US hardly educates people about what we did the the Native American Indians. Though it does not change the past, there was no official statement delivered to the Native Americans apologizing for what the white settlers did to them upon arrival. Australia granted a sincere public apology and integrate the apology into their lives once a year and call it 'sorry day'. Native American Indian society is plagued by very similar issues as the aboriginals. CVD, poor education, poor smoking habits, escalated rates of alcoholism, and much more are serious problems in the Native American community, however not much as been done to help these issues. If through brief research it is difficult to find sources which cite the mistreatment of the Native Americans, where as in Australia it is a very known topic which people commonly discuss. I am starting to believe this entire time I was criticizing the Australian government I should have realized it was a result of making people aware of their past rather than continuously hiding their past.