Change Makers in 2022
Meg here, founder of Humiform!
I thought I’d take this opportunity to share and reflect on all the exciting things that have been happening over the last 12 months.
Often, when I try to describe our after school program, Change Makers, to my friends or people I meet, I find it really tricky. A lot of our change makers and their families have shared that they’ve had similar trouble. It’s not like basketball, drama or dance where people know instantly what you’re talking about.
I think we have so much difficulty describing it because it really is about the young humans that sign up. They are the ones that bravely show up for the adventure, despite not knowing exactly what it is and how it might unfold. And they are the ones that are in the driver’s seat, influencing how and what change making we do. It’s their love of nature and passion for creating a better world that makes these sessions so wonderful.
Senior Change Makers
Our Senior Change Makers (Grade 4-6) had a very busy year…
Our group grew to 12 unique and incredible humans and we had to create a waitlist for new members!
We had big conversations about climate change, how to be an ally, First Nations justice, racism, patriarchy, LGBTQIA+ issues, the Queen and more!
We went on excursions to the Pride Centre and met with the Greens candidate for Macnamara, Steph Hodgins-May.
We got to know the Yalukit Willam Nature Reserve intimately, climbed trees and connected with all the beings that live there.
We celebrated the opening of the Chain of Ponds in the reserve with lots of jumping across stepping stones and games of camouflage.
Change Maker Projects
The Senior Change Makers all worked incredibly hard on projects they designed. This included:
🎥 An informative and entertaining movie event to educate our change maker community about the climate crisis and inspire them to make a difference. The change makers raised money for the School Strike 4 Climate at the same time.
🌏 A moveathon spectacular to raise money for the Australian Youth Climate Coalition – the change makers smashed their goal of $1000 and let everybody in Elsternwick Park know that they wanted climate action now!
🎨 A mural that you will soon see out the front of St Kilda Primary School, that shares the possibility of two worlds, one if we take action and one if we don’t.
🥕 A sustainable cookbook, see more below…
Sustainable Cookbook
One of the biggest projects that our Senior Change Makers undertook began over a year ago, when we discovered how disconnected we were from the story behind our food and the impact that it can have.
The change makers decided to create a sustainable cookbook titled, YUM, that has over 30 carefully chosen recipes inside. $5 from every sale goes to support OzHarvest and the remaining funds help us to keep creating amazing experiences for our after school program. You can now buy this jam packed ebook here, the perfect gift for every occasion.
Junior Change Makers
Our Junior Change Maker (Grade 3) sessions were also very full and included:
🌿 Play in nature
⛺️ Building shelters from nature
🖼 Creating nature masterpieces
🍃 Learning about the Indigenous principles of the Honourable Harvest
☀️ Learning about how plants grow and make their own food
🎭 Role playing
🧩 Lots of games
♻️Yalukit Willam Nature Reserve litter clean ups
Calling Out McDonald’s
During one of our litter clean ups at the Yalukit Willam Nature Reserve, we discovered that there was a whole lot of rubbish that had come from McDonald’s. We decided to go on an excursion to the McDonald’s restaurant in Elsternwick to find out what might be causing this.
Unfortunately, when we arrived it was all a bit of a mess! Bins were overflowing, we found rubbish everywhere inside and outside of the restaurant and there wasn’t even a recycling bin!
The change makers decided they wanted to let McDonald’s know that this wasn’t good enough. We held a letter writing party with music, snacks, textas, crayons, pencils, coloured paper and stickers. We sent the beautifully decorated and powerfully worded letters off earlier this term and are hoping to hear back soon.
The change makers are already thinking about their next move if they don’t get a response!
School Incursions
Our team ran a number of incursions across schools in Melbourne in 2022. It was fantastic to see so many young people and their teachers with so much energy and enthusiasm for shaping a better world.
We have a number of incursions on offer that align with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and we can also co-create a tailored change making experience for your specific needs.
If this sounds like something your school would be interested in, get in touch and email info@humiform.org.
2023 - We are the Regeneration!
Thank you for being a part of the HUMIFORM community in 2022. There are big things ahead in 2023 and I hope you will stick with us as we grow and evolve.
Next year we have plans to continue our work empowering young people to become active citizens and change makers. We will also be launching a project that will aim to collectively reimagine, relocalise and regenerate education as we know it. Watch this space!
Until then, I’ll leave you with this newly released, short video from the folks who brought you 2040 (bonus points if you can spot one of our Humiform tees worn by an incredible Australian activist!). I’ve watched this video about 10 times now and it gives me goosebumps without fail. I hope it inspires you to think about all the ways you might like to take action in 2023 and contribute to a regenerative and thriving future for all. It will certainly be influencing how we approach change making in the year to come.
