Niki van Buuren working the reins

The Lions Clubs of the Canberra/Queanbeyan Region are seeking community support for their appeal to raise funds for Niki van Buuren, a burns survivor of the 2003 Canberra bushfires.  Niki, a Canberra resident of Kaleen, has been chosen to represent Australia at the 2012 World Para Equestrian Driving Championships in Breda, Holland in August this year.

Niki’s story. 

Niki worked with horses since the age of nine.  At age 19 in 2003, while caring for her horse, she and her mother, Wendy became trapped in the Canberra bushfires.  This firestorm blazed through Canberra on January 18, destroying over 500 homes and killing four people.  Niki received third degree burns to 66%of her body which resulted in the loss of all her fingers and severely restricted movement in her arms.  She spent 10 months in a Sydney hospital recovering from her injuries,

During her long recovery Niki was determined to continue riding as a para equestrian, and set herself the goal of competing at international level in dressage.  She started riding again in 2004 at her local Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA)  centre at Pegasus. Through friends Niki has since discovered carriage driving and has become heavily involved in the sport. Under tuition of expert coach, Mr Max Pearce she has rapidly gained skills in the discipline, leading to her selection for the World Para Equestrian Driving Championships being held this August in Breda, Holland.

Niki van Buuren with Coach Max Pearce - click to enlarge

Because no funding is available from government sources, Niki is relying on sponsorships and funding appeals to raise $50,000 by mid June for her and her support team to compete in the six week campaign.  Lions Youth Haven have taken up Niki’s cause by rallying the support of Lions Clubs in the Canberra region to give financial support and to start a public appeal for this remarkably determined young Canberra woman whose courage in performing at such a high level against adversity is an inspiration to all.

The appeal will be launched by Mr Frank Brown, the Chairman of LYH, at Westwood Farm on Friday 27th April 2012 at 10:30am.  Niki will provide a photo opportunity with her horse and carriage during the launch where light refreshments will be served.

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• The Schools Youth Program;
• Partner Programs;
• Developments including the dormitory, extension to the Crown Lease and chnages to improve our environmental impact.

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Bungendore Show winners - click to enlarge

Two young ladies (16 & 14 years old) have recently been trained to handle our cattle in the show ring. Last Sunday was their first appearance, at the Bungendore Show, where they and their young 14 month old heifers were successful in each getting a winners ribbon. An excellent first outing in preparation for their appearance at the Canberra Show in late February. Our Red Angus stud herd is another element that we use at Lions Youth Haven to help develop young people.

Evie, 14, at Lions Youth Haven (Julia Holman)

Gerry Nussio has a tough gig. One of his jobs involves supervising troubled youths as they put their hands up a cow’s rectum.

It’s part of a program run by Lions Youth Haven, which is located in Kambah on the outskirts of Canberra.

Several local schools have opted to send their disengaged students to this farm to try to improve their behaviour.

Gerry, who is the farm’s operations manager, says that the aim of the program is to push kids out of their comfort zone, and that getting kids to do pregnancy tests on cows – by putting their hand up the beast’s rear end – is a good place to start.

“There was one incident there where this one boy, it was winter, and there was sleet, and he had his arm up this cow, the rectum,” he said.

“These kids weren’t wearing any warm clothes so they were freezing, and he put his arm up there and he said ‘oh, it’s so warm in here’ – and he didn’t want to pull out!”

Most of the kids who visit Lions Youth Haven have little interest in being in the classroom, so learning takes place on the farm instead.

“They come to the farm and they learn mathematics, geometry, biology, chemistry, whatever, but indirectly,” said Gerry.

“That’s what we’re trying to do, re-engage these kids.”

Telopea Park is just one of the schools which visits Lions Youth Haven.

Peter Hobbs is a Telopea Park teacher, and this farm-school visit is part of a larger program he runs for kids at risk, getting them out of the classroom.

“My two objectives are firstly to get them (the students) to attend regularly, my theory is if they don’t attend we can’t do anything with them.

“And secondly once they’re at school, to get them to attend the designated classes.

He says many students have shown a good improvement in attendance, although not every student responds.

“I’ve been told already by a number of my colleagues at school ‘Why do you stick your neck out’?

“I use a lot of football analogies, and one of the analogies I’ve used with them (the students), and I’m an AFL follower, is that if at half time your team is six goals behind and you go into the sheds and the coach tells you to do exactly the same thing you’re likely to get beaten by 12 goals.

“I’m trying to do something different, particularly appealing to their sense of responsibility and trust, and treating them as total individuals.”

It’s not just pregnancy testing that can test the kids. Two of the teenage boys ended up holding hands as they ran away from horses as they were being brought into the crush, worried that it might charge them.

Jimeoin was one of the students, and he said he was speechless with excitement when offered the opportunity to spend one-day a week at a school.

“It gives us more to do, more stuff that we like, and it gives us like a chance to be what we want to.”

To hear more about Lion Youth Haven click the arrow symbol below:

Article sourced from ABC Rural

We are very interested in hear from other educational and community welfare agencies who are concerned for the future wellbeing of our youth. We can be contacted through our e-mail address or leave a phone message and we will return your call.

The ACT Government provided joint funding of $73,000 from the ACT Community Energy Grants Program to Lions Youth Haven, Galilee and Tandem Respite to install a 12.6kW solar photovoltaic system at their shared Westwood Farm site. This has been increased to a 21.6kW system as a result of a partnership with TJ Solen.

“It is a pleasure to be able to launch this large solar array today, and I am especially pleased to see that Government energy grants are helping community groups to make the move to renewable energy,” Mr Corbell said.

“The Lions Youth Haven Solar Joint Venture shows that Government assistance can empower not-for-profit groups to show leadership in the Canberra community when it comes to renewable energy and to show that it is possible to get larger projects off the ground and helping to reduce carbon emissions.”

The Government Energy Grants program in 2009-10 provided more than $1.24million to 47 community groups to improve the energy efficiency of buildings they occupy.

“The Government has set the target of zero net emissions in the ACT by the year 2060, and there are currently more than 4300 solar installations on roofs in the ACT. All of these PV panels go part of the way to help reduce emissions and reach this target.

“As a result of the Lions Youth Haven Solar Joint Venture, the clean energy produced by this 40 metre long array each year may reduce greenhouse gas emissions by some 40 tonnes.”

The array has two banks of panels each consisting of 108 units and is one of the largest within the Community Energy Grants Program. The photovoltaic system will be used as a demonstration site to showcase the benefits of solar energy use.

“Community Energy Grant recipients can access the Government’s nation leading Feed-in Tariff Scheme, which continues to be successful in encouraging the adoption of renewable energy sources,” MrCorbell said.

“I am confident that through initiatives such as these we can make Canberra a cleaner, more sustainable city, and Australia’s solar capital.”

Ministerial Press Release 21 April 2011

The ‘Trees in Trouble’ Program at Westwood Farm aims to conserve the remnant
Yellow box/Redgum paddock trees, while maintaining agricultural production. The
program involves students, who were not engaging well at their school, constructing
tree guards to prevent horses from damaging paddock trees.

A member of Southern ACT Catchment Group, Lions Youth Haven is a community
based organisation dedicated to providing Canberra’s youth at risk with a supported,
learning outdoor environment. While significant areas of the farm are managed for
conservation, most of the farm is used for horse agistment.

The protection of remnant paddock trees (particularly Yellow box) in horse paddocks
remains a concern and priority for Lions Youth Haven and the organisation has
responded by supporting the design, building and trialing of custom made tree guards
to prevent horses from chewing, rubbing and ring-barking remnant trees. These tree
guards are a proven (over 5 years), cost effective solution to protecting these iconic
and highly threatened features of our landscape. Their design solves the problem of
horses attacking paddock trees while still allowing access to the tree by wildlife.
Another of the programs objectives is to make this design freely available to the wider
rural and equestrian community.

Southern ACT Catchment Group has nominated the Trees in Trouble program and the
tree guard design in the NSW/ACT Regional Achievement and Community Awards
2010.

From Southern Catchment Group’s August 2010 newsletter.