Djarindjin Drop-In Centre is fun for the whole family

Torres Strait Islander Simon Enosa moved to the Kimberley in Western Australia about a year ago and is loving his new job working with young people in Djarindjin Community.

The Djarindjin Youth Drop-in Centre is open every day after school and offers activities like a pinball machine, foosball table and cartoons on Foxtel for the younger kids.

Simon also has plans to set up a BMX track, basketball, and gym equipment for older youth.

“The facilities attract the kids, because they know they can have fun in the centre, but then while they are here we try to get them outdoors and maybe go spearing and do some traditional stuff, like going fishing,” Simon said.

“It gets the youth in the community to engage in more activities and get them more proactive instead of being in the community with nothing to do or making trouble.”

As a young person himself, Simon said he understood what kids got up to when they had nothing to do and how important it was to make positive activities available.

“There are a lot of issues around kids using drugs, getting into alcohol at young age groups,” Simon said.

“I have been there in that situation myself and fortunately I found a way to break out of that circle and do better things for myself.

“I’ll be able to get them out and show them better things to do instead of having to turn to drugs and alcohol and stealing.”

While youth are the priority, Simon wants to extend his focus to the whole family. During his time as a radio broadcaster in the Torres Strait, he helped organise a number of community events and saw the positive impact of families coming together.

“That sort of stuff that gets families together to have a fun day, so they can realise they can have fun together without having to stay in their houses and look at four walls all the time,” Simon said.

“We try and get them turned away from drinking and using alcohol as a way of having fun – the parents and some of the youth as well that do get into drugs and alcohol. We try and see if we can get them away from that and out into doing better things which we can all have fun with.”