4 February 2021

Since the launch of the Findex Community Fund in 2018, we’ve proudly supported Yalari as a partner charity, believing in education as the key to generational change and a brighter future for Indigenous Australians.

Our donation to Yalari provides funding for two Indigenous students in Australia to receive scholarships to boarding schools to inspire generational change through the best possible education.

In 2020, our support went to Courtney and Jye - take a look below to hear what our support means to them.

“In Term 3 of Year 7, one of my highlights was seeing my grades go up from C- to As and Bs. I enjoyed being back at school after the online schooling of Term 2 and I loved going on camp. My best sports are netball, basketball and volleyball, but most of all, I like swimming in the sea. In Term 4 I am looking forward to going snorkelling on the last weekend of term and to create memories with my friends. Christmas holidays will be fun as my cousin’s dog had her puppies and they are American Blue Staffies. My mum and my sister will be having their birthdays too, which will be fun. I don’t know what I want to do yet when I finish Year 12. I am so grateful and thankful for the opportunity you have given me. Hopefully I am able to meet you. Happy 2021!” – Courtney

“Throughout the year I think it’s been pretty breezy. It has been challenging but fun. The challenges this year have been studying for end of year exams, but I think I’ve nailed it. Doing online learning and studying from home was challenging as there were heaps of distractions.

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But I had my family to guide me. Returning to school was pretty exciting. It was good to meet up with mates and talk about what was going on and to get back into the culture of the house. One of the achievements that I have been quite happy about was making the As in basketball. I was in the Bs all season last year. The step from the Bs to the As is quite big. The intensity of the other schools and training with guys that are stronger makes me want to go harder and prove that I deserve to be there. I had a basketball camp during the holidays with the As, 1sts and 2nds. For the first two days it was skills and training and building foundations and then the last three days we had games.

On Monday last week all the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander boys and a few staff members got together with a local Indigenous man from the Blue Mountains. He had a chat to us about his culture, his family and his beliefs and he also spoke to us about weapons, the types of beliefs with using them.

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At the end of the day when he left I thought to myself I didn’t know all the things he taught me and it was good to reflect on some of the things that I didn’t know. I’d like to thank you for believing in me and having a bit of faith for me to attend this school and the opportunities when I finish my HSC.”– Jye