By Cam Lucadou-Wells
Blistered but inspired, a Cranbourne father and his personal message is making a mark across regional Australia.
Nyibil Amum has braved 500 kilometres since setting off from Melbourne’s Parliament steps on 7 March. He is only half-way to his ultimate destination to Sydney.
“It’s been tough but it’s been so good,” the Dandenong mental-health worker said from Gundagai NSW on 18 March.
He was set for another 56-kilometre leg that day, hoping to reach Parliament House in Canberra by 22 March.
Along the way, Mr Amum is spreading word on the “scourge” of suicide and the lack of targeted mental health services for African-Australian and CALD youth.
Last year, his son Oyiti took his own life at the age of 23.
Mr Amum is enduring the pain of sore toes and blistered feet
But he is regularly inspired by the serendipitous encounters and shows of support while on the road.
Several people have confided their own personal losses “to mental health”, he said.
Such as James, a Queenslander trekking through Wagga Wagga raising funds for the Royal Flying Doctor Service.
James broke down in tears when he met Mr Amum. He was six years old when he lost his father, and is fundraising to help rescue people in mental health crises in rural Australia.
“We’re doing the same job,” he told Mr Amum.
In Holbrook, NSW, Mr Amum met a man whose mentally-ill brother lost his life.
“I don’t know what to do,” he told Mr Amum. “I wish I could join you and we could raise awareness together.”
After a muck-up with his motel booking in Gundagai, Mr Amum phoned another motel seven kilometres and a two-hour walk away across town.
He had already completed more 12 hours on the road that day, but there were no available taxis.
The motel owner not only put him up for the night, but insisted on picking up Mr Amum in his own car.
“What you’re doing is part of humanity. You make this community a better place to live,” the owner told him.
Mr Amum also talked at length at African communities who’d got word of his visit to their regional towns.
“I said to them to look after themselves, look after their mental health and seek personal assistance if you’re not feeling well.”
Unfortunately, Mr Amum’s hopes of meeting Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison appear dashed.
He has arranged to meet instead with David Coleman, who is Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention, in Sydney on 1 April.
Before his trek, Mr Amum wrote to Mr Morrison: “The grief of losing our beloved young son was very painful and overwhelming. It has taken a heavy toll on my family.
“But we are determined not to sit idly and watch more young men and women like Oyiti fall to this horrendous scourge.”
Many young people like Oyiti feel lost and hopeless in today’s world, he wrote.
“They have come to believe that they are disenfranchised and worthless.
“We all see the evidence of that disaster every day.”
Mr Amum has set up and raising funds for the Oyiti Foundation for Multicultural Youth as a “voice for the voiceless”.
To keep track of Mr Amum’s trek, go to: facebook.com/OFFMCY
To donate go to: gofund.me/5bbb7435
If you need help, call Lifeline Australia on 13 11 14 or beyond blue on 1300 22 4636.
