IHH NEWS | TERM 1 | 2024

Although the House was closed to guests over the school holidays, we certainly didn't lose momentum. Click here to read about everything we’ve been up to recently, and how you can support our work going forward - including by helping us cook, donating money or food, or considering moving in as a resident volunteer.

EOFY Appeal: Tracey's Story

We at the Indigenous Hospitality House (IHH) were uncertain about the future of our project during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thankfully, after a period of discernment and preparation, we have now re-opened the doors and can return to our work of providing stable accommodation to First Nations folks visiting hospitals. Having navigated these trying years, we feel even better equipped to support guests dealing with uncertain futures of their own. 

We’d love to share a story with you, that gives a sense of what this support can mean for our guests. We’re sharing it as a reminder of who we are and a celebration of our return; but we’re also hoping you’ll be a part of it.

If you are able, we’d love your contribution to keep this project alive. We’ve weathered so much, and now it’s a matter of keeping the lights on.

Click the image below to read Tracey’s story and donate.

Celebrating 20 Years of Hospitality: Aunty Cody's story

EOFY Appeal

The past year has been incredibly difficult for so many of us. We are all familiar with stories of loss, isolation and anxiety. But amongst these, there have also been stories of hope.

We at the Indigenous Hospitality House (IHH) want to share with you a powerful story of how we have continued to provide ongoing care, support and comfort to one of our guests, Aunty Cody.

Today, we are giving you the opportunity to help us create these welcoming and healing conditions for First Nations people in similar situations.

A number of years ago Aunty Cody, a Yamatji woman, came to Melbourne for her grandchild’s hospital appointment. During their stay, Aunty and her grandkids were placed in unsafe and unpleasant accomodation.

““It was horrible. It was really violent, so we slept on the street.””
— Aunty Cody

This is an experience that many First Nations folk who have come to Melbourne can resonate with. Affordable, family friendly and culturally safe accomodation is rare in the big smoke.

But when Aunty Cody next came to Melbourne, she connected with the IHH. This time, she had an entirely different experience.

“Safety. It was very safe. I felt really comfortable. It’s big, especially when you’re vulnerable, when you’re weak and sick or worried on your kids, it’s a big thing. I never felt like a client, I always felt like I was part of the house. And I never got that, even in a share house. And to know that you can go off to get your hospital stuff done and come back and heal, it’s a good thing.”
— Aunty Cody

For First Nations guests like Aunty Cody, the security and comfort the IHH offers is invaluable. Whether attending hospital appointments themselves, or visiting loved ones in hospital, these are vulnerable moments in people’s lives. We provide a friendly smile, a hot cup of tea and a peaceful place to rest. In return, we meet kind hearted people, who teach us so much and show generosity to us in bounds.

The wisdom and knowledge shared with us by guests is a key part of the IHH. We provide a connection between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities, which are so often isolated from one another. Part of our purpose has always been creating much needed learning spaces, where the broader IHH community can come together to learn the difficult truths and the possible solutions to the racial injustice of this nation.

Aunty Cody has been a vital part of this learning for our community. She is unendingly generous with her knowledge and time, and accompanies us as we learn how to better walk beside our First Nations brothers and sisters. This is perhaps best shown through the magnificent murals she has created for the IHH this year. Made possible by a generous bequest left to the house, they are filled with stories of the land and its people’s resilience and strength.

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The murals created by Aunty Cody and members of her mob will be displayed for the community to visit and enjoy, as part of our 20th anniversary celebrations. On June 25th, we will mark 20 years of hospitality to and learning with First Nations people. In this time, over 3000 hospital guests have stayed with us!

We could not have done this without the partnership of supporters like you.

Will you give today to help us continue the vital work of the IHH in an increasingly challenging time?

All donations are incredibly helpful, but if you set up a regular donation, we are able to better plan for the future and use your gifts as effectively as possible.

The Indigenous Hospitality House only exists today thanks to the generosity of you, our supporters. For that we thank you.

Sailing into a New Era at the IHH

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Roughly two thousand years ago, the Greek philosopher Plutarch posed a thought experiment. Imagine, he said, you are sailing on a ship and, one by one, your crew replaces every plank that makes up the ship with a new one from the cargo. When you reach the shore, and every single piece of wood is new, are you sailing the same ship?

Perhaps not—after all, isn’t an object the sum of its parts? In which case, swapping out every piece of the ship for new planks equates to swapping out the ship as a whole. Then again, the change was so gradual, and the shape so consistent—maybe it is the same ship after all? 

‘Hang on,’ you may be thinking, ‘I thought this was an update from the Indigneous Hospitality House, not Plutarch’s Wikipedia page!’. You’re right, it is—and we have a major update. As of June, a few of our ship’s planks are being replaced. And not just ordinary planks, but masts, rudders. 

We’re farewelling some bedrock members of our resident community. Samara Pitt, Mehrin Almassi and Chris Booth have concluded their time at the IHH, having been resis for 16 years, 12 years and 10 years, respectively. These folks, who have filled our sails with their passion and warmth and steered our course with their leadership and wisdom, will be sorely missed. 

After many years of service, our three longest-standing residents are moving on to new and wonderful things. Sam has shifted up to Gembrook Retreat, a community in the Dandenongs offering a place of spiritual retreat and renewal. Chris and Mehrin are looking forward to what the future will bring, with Chris on a journey to being ordained in the Uniting Church and Mehrin continuing the work she loves in the disability sector.

So while Plutarch’s ship dilemma has puzzled philosophers for millenia (thanks Malcolm Gladwell for drawing my attention to it in this podcast episode), I believe the IHH has settled it. Even as we watch these beloved planks float off on new currents, we’re confident that the IHH ship is still the same one. This project is greater than the sum of its parts, and its core of IHH-ness remains unchanged even as these core parts of our ship are in the process of being replaced. 

The continuing residents—Josh, Teash, Warrick and Rubini—have been shown over the last couple of years by Sam, Chris and Mehrin how to remain true to the IHH’s ethos of hospitality and openness. We’ve been taught how to be rudders that steer the IHH ship from the dangers of naivety or thinking we know it all. And we’ve been empowered to be sails that carry us forward new possibilities.

So, as the IHH moves into this new era, we thank these elders for their guidance, and carry their wisdom as we continue our journey of healing and justice on these lands known as Australia.

- Josh Glover, Resident Volunteer

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IHH closed due to COVID-19

On Sunday March 16 we met with our business committee, as we do each month. The main thing we needed to talk about was our response to COVID-19. 

As a group, we came to the conclusion that it was best for us to close the house to hospital guests for the time being, rather than risk spreading the virus to our guests and their communities. For many of our hospital guests, the fact that we offer accommodation in an informal, home environment is attractive, but in the current situation, what we offer isn’t appropriate. At the moment, folks need to be able to stay somewhere that is self-contained, not in a sharehouse. 

Most of us resident volunteers are continuing to stay at the house. We are all following the guidelines around handwashing (especially when re-entering the house or preparing food) and we’ve cut off most physical contact with folks outside the house. We are hoping that we might be able to help out locally during this time. If you know of ways that we could help out without spreading the virus, please get in touch. 

We also cancelled our annual trivia night for the time being, but we’re hoping we might be able to reschedule it as a celebration once we’re able to open again. 

We’ve been thinking that this time might be an opportunity to do some more online engagement, but so far we’ve just been settling into the new situation. If there’s anything you’d like to do with us online, let us know. Keep an eye on our Facebook page, where we will let you know what’s happening. 

IHH Trivia Night 2018

The annual IHH Trivia Night is coming up on Friday 29th of June. Make sure you give us a call ( 9387 7557 ) or send us an email ( house@ihh.org.au ) to book your table, as we will run out of tables!

Friday 29th June
6:30pm for a 7pm start
West Coburg Bowling Club - 24 Lindsey Street, Coburg West
(Enter via Bellevue Street)

Tables of 8
Tickets $20
Unwaged $10
Kids under 8 years $5

Great silent auction items!
Don’t forget your gold coins and snacks!
Drinks at bar prices (no BYO)
Please bring cash as there are no credit card facilities.
Funds raised will support the IHH.

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Guest meat fund

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The resis have been thinking about how we can be more connected to the rural areas and people who supply our food. This partly came about from conversations with our guest Michael last year, who was a farmer in Shepparton. He talked about how hard it is to make a living from farming, and that as a farmer he couldn’t afford to eat fresh local stuff, and had no time to grow his own, so he had to go for what was cheapest from the supermarket. That seems really unfair!

In response to this, we are looking into buying meat in bulk from a local farmer. We think this might help us to be more aware of where the meat we cook and share comes from, and support farmers who can feel under-appreciated by folks in the city. It’s more expensive than the big supermarkets, but if we can pass that money directly on to the farmers, especially if they know they have regular customers who care about how the animals and the land are being treated, then we hope we are contributing to a more integrated relationship between land, food and people.

With this in mind, in our wish list we are asking for cash donations to go towards a guest meat fund and will use this to order directly from a farmer who is set up to receive orders in this way (such as Cherry Tree Organics which supplies beef, chicken, pork and lamb, and Yarra Valley Game meats which supplies kangaroo). If you know of any other suppliers, feel free to let us know! And if you want to contribute to this fund, please indicate this when you donate.

- Samara

Introducing Bel and Teash

At the beginning of first term we had Bel Wilson and Teash Taylor join us as resident volunteers. (If you're interested in joining us as a resident volunteer, please let us know. We're still looking for one or two people to join us.) Since they've joined us at the same time, we thought Teash and Bel could introduce each other to you:

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Teash has a dope haircut. Sometimes she's okay to hang out with. I like her girlfriend. She knows 180 Greek words. Don’t ask her about glitter. She may be growing a mullet.
- Bel

 
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Bel had green hair. She dislikes moths. Unfortunately, she doesn’t like puns. She made a table. She's the baker of the house. Thanks for the peanut butter!

- Teash

Tales from the Table: Stories from the Indigenous Hospitality House

We've just published a collection of our learnings from 15 years sharing our home with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander hospital guests. The book contains reflections from our resident volunteers and members of our broader community over the course of the project, and it has colour photos throughout.
You can order online through our bookstore. We can post your order to you or you can pick it up from IHH (and stay for a cuppa).

Healing Rites for Seven Sites

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A walking liturgy on Holy Saturday

On this walk we will hear the 'seven last words' spoken by Christ, and participate in words and actions of lament as we hear stories of Aboriginal people experiencing violence, suffering and injustice in our land.

For those who have ears to hear ... listen.

The walk will start at 2pm from Rushall Station (North Fitzroy) and end at approximately 3:30pm with afternoon tea at IHH.

Children are very welcome. Some guidance may be required.

RSVP by Monday April 10 to the Indigenous Hospitality House
1/907 Drummond St, Carlton North 3054
house@ihh.org.au
(03) 9387 7557

First 2017 learning circle and Aboriginal heritage walk

Uncle Den joined the IHH for our first Learning Circle of the year on healing.  We remembered the Apology to the Stolen Generations, and told stories about where everyone was when that event occurred and what it meant to us then and now.  We remembered how even as Kevin Rudd made the long-overdue apology happen, the opposition leader was still resistant and John Howard was the only living Prime Minister who didn't attend. As Uncle Den reminded us, 'you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink'. This seems similar to what Jesus said when he invited people to 'come and see' - he was always issuing invitations for people to follow him, but it was up to them.

In the spirit of taking up the invitation to 'come and see', Uncle Den took some folks from South Yarra Baptist and IHH on the Aboriginal heritage walk at the Botanical Gardens on Sunday. We learnt about bushfoods through smell and taste and touch. By paying attention in this way, we started to hear how Aboriginal people see the land as their mother.  The land which nurtures, feeds, supports.  Which can be hurt and damaged. Which cannot be owned, but must be respected and cared for. Uncle Den told us some hard truths about how the land and the first people have been damaged by invasion, and at the same time he was warm, funny, encouraging and invitational.

We can only start where we're at. Come and see.

- Samara

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Making Room at Christmas

(The last few years we've been invited to choose a song for Beer and Carols at the Quiet Man in Flemington.)
 

Why is ‘Joy to the World’ the IHH carol for this year’s Beer and Carols pub singalong in Flemington?

Last year we rewrote the ‘12 days of Christmas’, eulogising the various items that get donated to us:

On the 5th day of Christmas my true love gave to me…
Condensed milk that expired in 1999…
4 cakes of soap,
3 bags of rice,
2 tins of beetroot, 
And a kilogram of kangaroo!

 

This year, we’re singing ‘let every heart prepare him room’.  We spend time preparing for our guests by crawling around on bunkbeds tucking in sheets, plumping pillows, emptying the wastepaper bins, tidying, checking if we need to provide a heater or a fan.  At the same time, we are preparing our hearts to be open to whoever comes through the door, and our heads to learn something of what is going on for people with their hospital business, and in the social and political conversations about health and treaty and land justice.  And every so often, we’ll end up singing along with ‘fields, floods, rocks, hills and plains’ and Nathan’s guitar, to repeat the sounding joy.

- Samara

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