YarnUp 10: Melissa Saunders

My name is Melissa Silva, actually now it’s Saunders, I just recently changed my name. My Mob is Gamilaroi and Dunghutti, so my Pop is from Kempsey and my Nan is from Moree. I grew up Western Sydney and then moved to Redfern when I met my husband Jacob, so I’ve lived in Redfern for about 12 or so years now.

My community and my Culture means everything to me. I’m a high school teacher in the Western Sydney area. I practise my Culture every day and I also run Aboriginal programmes as part of my teaching as well. So my Culture and my Mob is an everyday thing for me and it makes me proud. I’m very involved with my family, with my nephews, nieces. Jacob’s got a really big family and my mom’s side of the family is smaller but we’re very active in helping one another.

Jacob and I both started volunteering for Redfern Youth Connect when they first started out on The Block. Every Friday night we’d have a youth night where we would cook, feed the kids, play different sports and just sort of hang out in a safe place. So that’s kind of where it all started and then we built connections out of there. Even though we’re not involved as much with RYC anymore, we still have so much love for Margaret & Sol, and they reach out to get my son involved in some of their programmes. It’s good to stay connected and see what they’re doing.