WILCANNIA Safe House hosted their annual fashion parade with the theme “Encouraging Dreams” at the community hall last month, in an effort to break the cycle of domestic violence early through prevention.
The parade was an initiative of Mary Ronayne, the Wilcannia Safe House’s Community and Culture manager, who hopes to encourage self confidence in Wilcannia’s youth by offering them the opportunity to dress up and walk the runway to an excited and supportive crowd.
“Each participant is given a beautiful photograph of themselves to embed self-worth and self-respect,” Ms Ronanyne said.
“We also use the event to provide information and awareness about domestic and family violence and promote our and other support services.”
Some 200 members of the local community attended, which is a huge proportion of the town’s population of only a few hundred.
Thirty five children took part.
The Encouraging Dreams theme was intended to inspire the children to consider their dreams for the future.
“We want children to think about aspirational ideas and to dream big,” she said. “Some of the children’s dreams are to become doctors and teachers. One boy wanted to become a professional pig shooter.”
Ms Ronayne has begun planning next year’s event, with the theme of “Convention Rights of a Child”.
Colours for the show will be inspired by flags from around the world.
