Youth and Communities contracted workers to repair the Atitjere Recreation Hall in June, fixing some dangerous problems.

The Rec Hall had electrical problems, holes in the veranda ceiling exposing fibrous insulation and a rotting floor in the bathroom/laundry. The contractors rectified these problems by replacing lights, removing loose wiring, removing the vinyl and reinforcing the toilet/laundry floor before tiling it and fixing corrugated iron to the veranda ceiling.

To make this happen, Central Australia Youth Link Up Service (CAYLUS) allowed Youth and Communities to repurpose unspent funding for the project.

“This project wouldn’t have been completed without the support of CAYLUS,” said Youth and Communities Manager Jacob Khumalo. “The Rec hall is now safe to continue operating, giving young people in Atitjere a venue to play safely,” he added.

June was a big month for the Central Desert Regional Council Works team in Yuelamu. Along with rolling out new bins to the community, which are now all consistently the same colour community wide, the fantastic crew installed four new solar lights, which was a Granite Mines Affected Area Aboriginal Corporation (GMAAAC) project. They achieved all this while still delivering core services to the community and worked extra hard to accomplish these goals by the end of June, aesthetically improving Yuelamu and making it safer for the residents.

The community have responded very positively and been supportive of the new solar lights. Because they are so popular, the Yuelamu Local Authority Board decided to purchase four more during their meeting on June 26, and the crew will install them soon.

The Safety Patrol team have related that since the installation of the double light on top of the hill, the kids are no longer hanging around the area above the shop.

The Safety Patrol team also periodically park under the light as the kids can see them from both sides of town and know that they are on patrol. An added benefit is that the team can observe where trouble spots may be on any given night in community.

In the short time since the solar lights have been operational, the community has already observed a significant positive impact in Yuelamu.