Ella

Passion for photography                         

Ella is 14 years old and is a sibling carer for her older brother Rylee.  Ella registered as a young carer with Raw Energy 2 years ago and is a great support to her family.  Ella has protected and cared for her brother since she was 8 years old and she has a very good understanding about Rylee’s disability with autism. She is an emotionally mature and articulate young person who looks out for vulnerable youngsters and people and challenges discrimination when she encounters it.  Ella is very proud of her Aboriginal heritage and culture.

Ella  volunteers at her local community/neighbourhood centre and was nominated and received a Youth Recognition Award from Onkaparinga Council in early 2015. She is very community minded and generous with her time and efforts. At Raw Energy activities she looks out for others and at a recent event where a new young carer was too anxious to get out of the car to join us on the bus, Ella stepped forward to coax and befriend this new youngster. She did it with ease and grace.

Ella helps where she can around making friends and being social with Rylee when he finds it so hard and confusing. Ella is very positive about her brother, has learnt how to support him over the years and provides a high amount of care e.g. social and emotional support as well as some support with homework.

As a registered young carer, Ella attends activities organised through Raw Energy. She has a great sense of humour, bags of energy and enthusiasm. She is also pursuing her creative interests to help divert her energy into something more positive and wholesome. She has just started playing the guitar and she has a dream to be a photographer.  Photography is developing into an emerging passion for Ella, having a creative spark and a keen eye that is a requirement for photography that needs to be nurtured.

The Thanks for Caring team were delighted to purchase a camera for Ella and hope that she will have many hours of creativity and pleasure in taking photos.  We can’t wait to see the results!