Episode 68 - Building Remote Indigenous Housing with Kristian Rodd and Jara Romero

Following on from NAIDOC week, we bring you another Indigenous-themed conversation as we chat with Kristian Rodd and Jara Romero from the Foundation for Indigenous Sustainable Health (FISH). Kristian and Jara share with us how they ended up traveling to the remote Indigenous community of Bawoorrooga in the Eastern Kimberly region of Western Australia to work with the community members to build a much needed house. They talk about the sub-standard accommodation that existed when they arrived, and the 3-year process of consulting with community members, sourcing mostly free or low-cost materials and co-designing and co-building a house that met the specific needs of the community. We also discuss some of the cultural, environmental and health challenges that needed to be navigated to get the project done, as well as the additional cultural, social and health benefits that have flowed from the housing project for the community. This was a truly inspiring conversation about a project that is aiming to address a fundamental need (sustainable housing) in communities where achieving lasting positive changes have often proven very difficult. We hope you enjoy the conversation. You can read more about FISH and their activities here: https://fish.asn.au As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat