A Renewal Of Faith: Meet Be The Change-Makers
Magogodi Makhene
Co-Founder, Zenzele Circle
This week renewed my faith in why I do what I do. GVN Be The Change introduced me to a group of passionate, grounded and very real people who welcomed me into their lives and allowed us all to learn from each other. I am so grateful for this opportunity and cannot wait to see each participant and their idea butterfly beyond the embrace of our community. Fly. Am so proud to introduce you to my new circle of friends and the work they are doing.
Image:Getting goofy with the team. Photo by our resident Artist-Photographer, Kathryn Caruso.
Kent, Palmersto, North New Zealand.
“Everyone can see a kid with a broken arm, but how do we see a kid with mental health issues?” Kent’s presentation of his vision moved the room to silence. This man is powerful. He speaks about mental health services for youth from a deeply gutteral and primal place. He amplifies our best self, the part that helps pull us through dark days, perhaps because he’s been there himself. And he’s only 18. Kent envisions building a safe house for Kiwi youth battling depression. More Kiwis die from suicide than from car accidents. This is a young man who understand the stigma attached to the issue and has the potential to shift a culturally and persoally tragic issue. He’s also mad funny, with raucous jokes for days. And he’s a huge fan of his faith. Cannot wait to see where your star shines, Kent.
Emily, Montreal, Canada.
The travelling bookworm from Quebec. A strong sense of self and the maturity to know how to best be the change according to her own life journey. So many people believe they need to emulate the Ghandi’s of the world to Be The Change. Emily is one of few people I’ve met who understands her greatest contribution is in being Emily and contributing to social change through small, cumulative steps in her life’s journey. So much respect for you Emily. Her goal after Be The Change is to study culture/anthropology/Spanish at Concordia University and to use that knowledge to help build cross-cultural organizations. This is a blooming intrapreneur.
Kathryn, Detroit, US
“Once it’s produced, plastic never goes away”. Kathryn has taught me so much about greening the ocean in just a week, by bombarding me with a fierce combination of keen design, compassionate story-telling and rare passion and commitment. I now know there’s a garbage patch in the Pacific the size of Texas from plastic consumption. Do you know how big Texas is? Mammoth. We eat this plastic and plastic chemicals when we eat fish, because so much sea life now ingests plastic chemicals floating in their waters. Because of Kathryn, I’m challenging myself to move toward a more eco-friendly lifestyle—beginning with just saying NO to plastic. A single bottle of water takes half a liter of oil and 2L water to produce. Catherine also has the sickest, most eclectic music shuffling through her iPod. Think Ray LaMontagne, everything Motown, Guns & Roses and something bluegrass. Am in Love.
Staci, NYC, US
Poverty and unemployment in post conflict and fragile countries drive youth frustration and fuel conflict. Creating business opportunities for youth in these countries could help creating jobs and rebuilding war-town communities. Staci’s social venture is poised to fill this gap. Expect big things, including launch in early 2011. Love this woman, whose lucky number is 13 and who shares a b-day with one of my sisters. Go Virgo! And she knows what she’s talking about—she’s probably one of a handful non-journalist Americans/foreigners who were trolling around inside the Soviet as the Berlin Wall crumbled. Staci’s travel stories are the funny, smart, what the what were you thinking? kind of confirmations of the singularity of the human story.
Caroline, Atambua, Indonesia
Sweet Caroline—she’s an embodiment of the song and a beautiful, quiet stregnth. Fourth generation Chinese born in Indonesia and now living in Australia. Caroline wants to transform education in rural Timor, where she says 60% of students failed national high school aptitude tests for the last five years. The problem is quite acute because rural schools are remote, do not attract top teaching talent and have a language barrier that keeps international volunteers out. She wants to incorporate more creative thinking and learning in the curriculum. Maybe a place to start is with dance? She taught me some mean traditional Indonesian moves.
Cait, Boston, US
Thought I knew Boston: insert stereotype of crazed Sox fans. Thank goodness I met Cait, who’s put that image to rest. Although she’s did make evening news for dancing on an ambulance after a celebratory (?) Red Sox game. Cait is a burst of confident kindness, the type of woman sporting good manners as if it were perfume. And she is poetic. “Imagine if all the UN Ambassadors had grown up together”. Her vision is to bring kids together so they can share their stories and build cross-cultural relationships early “to re-write the single story”. This woman is powerful. The UN will be thanking her in a generation for well-behaved, mindful and kind global ambassadors.
Lindsay N., Kansas, US
Lindsay understand the university is a resource hub and wants to find ways to offer social-change oriented provocative entertainment to students through university student activities offices. She’s from the middle of the country. Kansas. She has sailed around the world and next is flying lessons from grandpa.
Shalla, Australia
Grey Power! Love that term, describing empowerment services her organization offers the fragile and aging population. Shalla has an infectious laugh, a fun naughty streak, “I’ve been trying to get out of fire for a long time” and blue eyes that draw you in. I love how much she respects Aboriginal culture and her quiet understanding of the dovetailing historic stories in Auzzie history.
Lindsay H., Ottawa, Canada
Our RockStar. Literally. Lindsay is a geological star. In a previous life, She helped write community stakeholder consultation rights during mineral exploration expeditions into the law in Guinea-Bissau. Witnessing her blossoming this week and coming into her own both profesionallu and personally–yes, I saw all this in a week–inpired my humanity and faith in the work I do. Her vision of change is going to transform the mineral exploration community and utilize their unique assets for the benefit of communities in remote (and often forgotten, when was the last time you heard of Guinea-Bissau?) developing countries worldwide. And she understands local communities are a resource themselves. Lindsay really plays up my stereotype of Canada as North America’s more mindful twin sibling. Go Canada.
The next Be The Change is scheduled for June 2011 in Tuscany, Italy. Check out the website for details about how to apply and what you can expect. You may also be interested in volunteering with GVN–great programs worldwide.
