Jyah's Story
"Jyah became aware of the struggles faced with COVID 19 and started a fitness challenge to raise awareness. Deniliquin got behind his and his story was in the paper- enclosed a copy from the school news letter.....It's a big help and very much appreciated from myself being a single mum it still gives us the opportunity for my son to get a good education. "
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Jyah did great with his challenge He also had the Emergency Service's - The Deniliquin Police, Ambulance, fire brigade, SES, Hospital- all areas and even our local Doctors, Mental Health Drug and alcohol services along with local groups such as Vinnies - they work with homeless youth and youth’s struggling with home life, schooling ect. He also had wellways, Lourene Liebenberg- Councillor who got together with Brenda Norman a local who does Channel For Change which is for mental health awareness and he had a lot of local businesses ready to support Jyah and get together in the colour green for youth suicide. They were going to meet in the waring gardens and walking over to the other side of town and back! He was determined to show his community that mental health illness is OK and it’s OK to ask for help that it’s not that scary when you ask. He also wanted to show that our Emergency services all work together to do the best they can for everybody - it doesn’t matter who you are. Due to Covid-19 we had to split groups. That was a massive disappointment not only to Jyah but to them all.
He is doing it again and has started to put it together he wants to see if he can get a footy player or rugby player, also a family to speak about the effects of losing a loved one to youth suicide because they were bullied or they didn’t get help because they were to scared to ask.
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Jyah has made me so proud of him and who he is becoming and he has brought many tears of happiness, to myself and his little sister who he adores. He is a friendly kid that will always stand by his mates, make silly jokes to see people smile or pat them on the back and say good job, chin up!
I feel it can be broken down into a version of a kid that struggled and has done it rough to becoming a teenager that’s trying to making a difference to be heard and for other teenagers to know don’t be afraid or embarrassed or shamed to ask for help, when you need to ask and it’ll be ok. Everybody needs to at some point.
Jyah has played electric guitar for over 4 years now and he is amazing! He gets private lessons now and he plays in a band. They do battle of the bands against the other schools. He also plays at thing like markets and has found his also got a vocal voice that is really good.
He is such a resilient and kind kid and his developing into a strong person. I struggle with his school fees. Jyah can see this and his already wanting his first job so he can’t start saving.
To have the opportunity to send him to a good school in year 7 has been the best! It’s amazing to see how far he has come but it is also beautiful to see the personality and compassion he has.
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