Introduction to BoyiMarni Connections Inc

BoyiMarni Connections Inc. is a recently established Not for Profit (NFP) Incorporated Association with Public Benevolence Institutions (PBI) status, which is the highest charity status with the ACNC. The idea for this service came from belonging to teams that were working closely in our community with people and their families that had been involved in Early Intervention and/or the Justice system. Our curiosity deepened as we wished to understand more about:

• How people readjusted when leaving incarceration (or not).
• What services were available (or not).
• How the stigma attached to having a criminal record impacts and affects every element in their lives.
• Why a high percentage of these individuals spent their childhoods in Out of Home Care (OOHC) and then ending up in the Justice system.
• Why the undiagnosed mental health and intellectual disability, had not been recognized, and how to get support for these individuals.
• And why these people were not being seen as actual people and just as a statistic.
• What happens to the families when a family member is in jail.
• What supports are in place for families that have the primary carer in jail and there are children involved.
• How trauma and the epigenetics of trauma affected people

These questions led us to discuss what drives us to do the work we do and how our lives have shaped us to do it.

Everyone has their own story and BoyiMarni is no different. Our experiences have shaped our way of thinking, providing us with the foundation and desire to become change makers.

At BoyiMarni we strongly believe that shame needs to live where it belongs, and that is not with the survivor.
And this belief has encouraged the BoyiMarni Team to share their lived experiences.

Ruth Esther Lopez Gonzales – Founder and President of the Board

As an empowered survivor and firm believer, that we can all rise from the ashes of trauma given the right guidance and opportunities, I am freely able to now use the rocks thrown in my journey as steppingstones and grips to climb the mountains presented on this journey called life, to hopefully be a mirror for people to look in, to see that, there is always hope.  From poverty, physical, mental and spiritual abuse, to continuous sex exploitation and rape, to falling pregnant due to rape, to hiding the pregnancy due to fear, to being forced to give up a child for adoption in my teenage years and being made responsible for the abusers’ actions, to trying to find escape in heavy drugs, involvement in the adult sex work industry, to then have failed marriages and raise children on my own as a sole parent, one of them with Aspergers, another with Microtia and deafness and ADHD, through my own mental health and struggles with PTSD and depression, to finding my adopted child at the age of 14, alone and orphaned with serious drug problems and trauma, to not being able to emotionally connect with him due to the initial separation, through supporting him through his journey with the justice system and incarceration, to losing him again, this time to drugs and mental health issues, the list goes on. 

I have found the blessing of faith and trust in God, that has renewed my hope and strengthened me, giving me the confidence that all things are possible and that we can all be, not only survivors, but also overcomers and more than overcomers, conquerors.  That we can all have the chance to make a difference in this world, and with this in mind, I move on in life with the purpose of creating, and pouring my financial blessings on starting businesses, organisations and services with the aim to give others, the blessings that have been given to me, in order to create empowered, resilient communities, to create a positive long term social impact in this country and the world. 

Susan- Co-Founder and Program Manager

 As someone who has been impacted with a number of life hurdles and managed to not only survive them but to actually grow from them, I feel it is important that others know that they are not alone with these struggles. Starting out as being adopted at an early age to then be sexually abused by a neighbour, which led into trauma related sexualised behaviour, significant drug use, interactions with the Justice Dept as well as living in a domestic violence relationship for 10 long years. The drive for change came when I was 38 with 3 small children that needed me to be their rock. And now 22 years later I have come to the realisation that my risk taking, and dangerous life experiences don’t define who I am, instead, they have shaped me and helped me understand that I have resilience, strength, and purpose to assist others to make their life changes too.

Be – Project Officer

My life’s journey thus far has taken me through; childhood physical and mental abuse, the loss of both parents via suicide, sexual molestation and rape, miscarriages, and having a near death experience. The hardest of all in my life is to watch one of my children go through; extreme domestic violence, addiction, mental health and being institutionalised in a mental health facility.  There is nothing more devastating than being a witness to the pain of your child, and this drives me to dedicate my life to improve our systems.

I have been blessed with the capacity to be resilient, to seek out the lessons and solutions for all that has come my way.  I now hold wisdom and experience and wish to support others to find hope and joy in their lives.

We feel an urgency in working out an answer and a solution for all that we have witnessed and lived through.

Our current systems are not working, and we must find better solutions to support the vulnerable people in the community that are being missed.

We need a service that can work with all these people with complex needs that aren’t being met!

BoyiMarni Connections Inc. was born.

HOW WE GOT OUR NAME

We live and work in a community that is in the Northern Rivers of New South Wales Australia.

This is the Bundjalung Nation.

The word BoyiMarni was gifted to us to use for our service with a blessing.

In a meeting with an elder from the Githabul Ngarakbul Tribal Council, Ruth (President) asked for a translation for the meaning “Breath of Life” or to “Breathe freely” as Ruth wanted this to be what we help provide to our participants.

The BoyiMarni Connections Inc. logo comes from Ruth, who is an indigenous woman from the Amazonian region of Peru. 

“I presented the logo ideas to our graphic designer, and we chose fonts that represent a paint brush, and we based these images on tribal art including the symbols used in my own tribal origins which are very similar to the aboriginal symbols here in Australia. The logo symbolizes people seating in a place (camp site or a specific meeting place) where they come together to discuss how to better the community or just talk, have talks, socialise, bring issues up or rest.
The circles symbolise attracting (like a magnet) people together
We used the colours red, yellow, and black as these are the colours used in the aboriginal flag.”

Ruth Lopez Gonzales, Co-founder and President of the Board BoyiMarni Connections Inc

Our Focus

Our focus is on people of Aboriginal descent that are associated with the justice system, with our main goal of preparing people to be life ready and building the human spirit. Also understanding that many Aboriginal people who are in jail because they have either a diagnosed or undiagnosed disability and/or trauma.

We connect with the very complex structure of the local Aboriginal mobs and families of our area within the Bundjalung Nation which gives us an opportunity to discover what can really make a difference to our most vulnerable members of our local Aboriginal population

We have had meetings with our local community members to see what they required from our new service, as well as utilising the knowledge from years of working in Community Services, and came up with:

• Providing quality case management services (mentoring).
• Addressing social disadvantage to relieve people of poverty and stress by encouraging people to start their own personal social enterprise.
• Promoting social inclusion.
• Creating local small advisory groups.
• Responding to community needs by identifying gaps in services.
• Creating innovative programs to meet the needs of the community.
• Support to meet access to the NDIS.
• Supported access to Support Coordination of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) services (if applicable).
• Workshops to assist people with skill and capacity building.
• Working collaboratively with local services.
• Social Enterprises to encourage people to become involved.

Social Enterprise

BoyiMarni Connections Inc’s Social Enterprise is driven by a social purpose.

It’s an organisation that puts the interest of people and planet ahead of profitable gain by reinvesting most of the profits back into BoyiMarni Connection Inc, benefiting the public, community and the environment.

BoyiMarni Connections Inc is a Social Enterprise organisation that applies commercial strategies to maximise improvement in financial, social and environmental well-being.

Our purpose at BoyiMarni Connections is to establish personalised social enterprises, with the aim of working together with our participants and developing income streams. These social enterprises may vary, examples being;

• Purchasing or leasing a café that will then be used as a training and workshop space. Identified and appropriate participants will be given opportunities of employment, training and learning new skills.
• Offering specific community workshops to attract and generate income through attendance fees. These may be craft orientated or skills based.

Profits made from the Social Enterprises will then financially support BoyiMarni Connections Inc participants

• Leaving the Justice system.
• In need of financial security.
• Young people leaving school and/or ‘At Risk’.
• Needing support due to the NDIS requirements.
• Needing stable accommodation.

The goals that we are setting are being supported by;

Our Mission is to be the place to go for exceptional service by guiding people towards independence and participation.

Our Purpose is to be a source of strength to overcome hardship, creating sustainable positive change.

Our Values are:

Excellence – we deliver quality services

Integrity – we act honestly and with transparency

Optimism – we think and act with confidence about people and the future

Steadfastness – we persist to overcome barriers and adversity

We believe everyone has the right to thrive.