# 31 - Yami: The Autobiography of Yami Lester

[emma-in-oz.livejournal.com]

# 31 - Yami: The Autobiography of Yami Lester (1993)

This autobiography details a remarkable life. I found his experiences really inspirational.

Yami Lester was born in the Western Desert. He grew up in camps, leading a traditional life style and then became a stockman.

When he was a child a strange black mist blew over the camp - which was upwind from the Maralinga nuclear testing grounds. He got an eye infection and later, as an adult, went blind.

He was sent to a hospital in Adelaide and his description of what happened there is understated but horrible. He couldn't speak English. He didn't know what was wrong with him. They removed his one good eye and he never found out why. And can I say again, he couldn't communicate with anyone around him.

He eventually learned English and went to an institute for the blind where he made brooms. This sounds like soul destroying work, but after years there he got work as an interpreter into his own Western Desert tongue and moved back to the lands with his wife and children.

He has been involved in Western Desert improvement movements and the Royal Commission into the Maralinga testing (which included an examination of whether or not proper care was taken to remove Aboriginal people from the area and a discussion of who was to clean up the still toxic remains in the middle of the Western Desert lands).

I was particularly interested in this autobiography as one of my mother's first jobs as a nurse in the 1960s was in a TB hospital. Two men were sent in from the central desert and they didn't speak a word of English. The poor men had no idea why they had been sent there; they had no way of communicating with the nurses; they spent the days sitting under the tree in the garden; they had never slept in beds before; they had never been away from their lands before. Imagine it. She said she felt terrible for them - the only mitigating factors were that they had each other and they both got better and sent back to their home lands. I really hope their stories ended as well as Yami's.

Comments

[jinian.livejournal.com]

They removed his one good eye and he never found out why.

WHAT.

How does this book manage to overcome the horror long enough to be inspirational?

[emma-in-oz.livejournal.com]

He went on to work with the Institute of Aboriginal Development. And became like a super star. And somehow it is inspirational rather than horrifying.

[b-writes.livejournal.com]

To be fair, which is difficult to do and making my head hurt a little, there could have been something wrong with the good eye that wasn't immediately visible to Yami-- especially with one eye being borked and the suffering radiation poisoning and all-- and since he didn't speak the language...well, you get the idea. I mean, either way it's a horrible situation and astonishing and angry-making he didn't have an interpreter.

[emma-in-oz.livejournal.com]

Yes, I am sure there was something wrong with the eye but it is horrifying that there was no interpreter. That said, there probably would be huge difficulties in finding one today. I know that the number of anthropologists who are fluent in Western Desert langauges is basically two.

[b-writes.livejournal.com]

That's so depressing.

Question about Yami Autobiography

[supermouse.livejournal.com]

I am looking for books to buy this month and was hoping you could help me choose. How readable is the style of this book? Is it easy and flowing, or something I would have to work at to appreciate? How upbeat is it? (I know that's an odd question given the subject, but some books about terrible things can still be written in an upbeat style.)

Re: Question about Yami Autobiography

[emma-in-oz.livejournal.com]

It was a fairly easy read. He does drop in quite a few Aboriginal words but there's a glossary at the bottom of the pages. It is really upbeat. I'd recommend it.

Re: Question about Yami Autobiography

[supermouse.livejournal.com]

Right, ta. Added to the list then.