Zimbabwe is my new home. My Oasis. Being in my home was so inspiring. This was my first time, and it was very special.

Making a big fire, the whole night I couldn’t sleep. Taking leadership as part of a team, really seeing the other.

Following the invitation, finding a huge connection with my team, and seeing they are going so far.

The way we worked, the way we laughed, the way we walked the distance – we walked the distance. 

Taking Leadership. Taking Care.

Now I have a lot of energy to go to that crazy world of ours, South Africa. This has been unusual for me. My first of many.

With lots of challenges, this was very testing. Fulfillment. Clarity. Growth. Three words that are the strongest feelings I have.

Getting to know the community was an experience I have never had before. I’ve developed new interests I never knew I had. 

I’ve really benefitted.

It was a great opportunity to be together. Especially the experience of how the Community of Zimbabwe is. I think of continuing this, in the whole of our country.

Expand my leadership through working with Young and Old. This is the future of hope. We have it and we will do it. So many questions… What moves me?

Love. Team Work. Respect is how they came together. A trial to continue to our goal. The missing links – how do we continue building bridges? 

The changes we infuse together in our new home. This made me discover something about community.

Communities usually only come together for funerals – for death. We came together for Life. To do something together. Experiencing the Power.

Maskadi. Acknowledgement. Unity. A chain is as strong as it’s weakest link. You can do nothing for the community without the community.

Hospitality is an open-hearted shelter. Mothers are more, they are organizers. They blessed me. I was touched by something new.

Something exciting and inviting. Something for the little kids who are forgotten. Maturity and Responsibility. 

Counterpart skills. Cross-pollination. My Journey starts here. More to Learn. More to Give. I love you all.

My body is still aching. If you do what you love and love what you do, your journey will be Open.

Respect from elders makes me feel halfway to heaven. I salute you all. Love and Humility of People.

The connection to make Space for the Children. This is where the journey starts. Much love and big ups for the Future. 

I’m speaking in my own language now, with the power of the community. 

Africa is rich with Abundance. How do we define poverty? It’s easy to make assumptions. Oasis is something to show the world that Africa is Rich.

It’s up to us as dedicated servants to take this to the World. A feeling that you can’t explain. I leave with good intentions and come back with Everything.

More than experience. I feel so emotional now. Beyond expectations, beyond intentions. Sacrifice. 

You win some, you lose some. Facing isolation one does ones best. I go far to fetch water, up a steep learning curve. I have to conform. This is how they live.

Aways with laughter, they set a target and do it. The women are stronger than men. Flirting with community. I couldn’t have done anything better.

The good that you do, is it good enough? Am I doing something that others are benefitting from? We’ve all come from different places.

Like a ship to harbor, we are repaired, refueled, renewed with life. We can only plant the seeds – the community has to water them. 

A beautiful Oasis that came from all our seeds. From North to South to East to West, we did our best. 

I’m speaking in Shona. Translate laughter. I was lost, confused by the sun moving in the opposite direction. Having the Heart to continue.

All you have said, I have it. And we have had One Heart, One Aim and One Destiny. And we have done it.

It’s a part of our culture, we cannot move away from it. We are a team. It moved me. This will be part of me forever.

To work with Youth and to work with Elders. This is not the end of the Oasis. And I had the opportunity to Work with Community.

It has affirmed many things in me. We have created more than we can see. Welcomed with tears. I’d drop anything to do such a thing.

Thank You to God and to You that I’m here and we did it. 

More than ever, I felt close to my buddies, Kufunda, and connected to all my co-workers. The honor to be here as a mother and to be called Mother.

A lot is bubbling. How can we take this home and into our world? Start a new beginning. Keep going. This is a need for every community.

It is shown by their contributions. We were taken into their homes. Into neighboring communities. To listen to their call – why not? Come – follow me!

This is something to take further. A True Project that the world is waiting for. Let’s enter into community. I have so much to say I could write a letter to my team.

The whole journey. From arrival to departure. The Love. We really want you to be here. In the mountains – the place of my dreams. Fulfillment.

Africa liberate Zimbabwe – Zimbabwe liberate Africa. How can some people survive in such a place? You can’t stop the energy.

The language challenging expectations. Fighting for sharing the Work. If you can see the Energy, the Universe comes to you…

Immediately.

AZIMA

photos by Shaun Cairns

PS the links in this article are very useful.

Community is essential. It is the only thing that can save us in this demanding world.

I have recently returned from an intensive training in community upliftment in the dynamic port city of Santos, Brasil, that took place in January 2011. This entirely demanding, exhausting and liberating journey was the ultimate learning experience in my work as an active facilitator of social change. This 5-week participatory process changed the way I see social development and taught me what it means to build community, and to believe in the power of community.

This course is known as the school for Warriors Without Weapons (WWW), Guerreiros Sem Armas (GSA) in Portugues, the national language of Brasil. It is a comprehensive training program developed by Instituto Elos, a leading collective of change agents based in and around Santos in Sao Paulo state. This collective, originally a group of architects interested in using their skills to transform social space, has been enthusiastically involved in creating holistic and intrinsic methodologies for engaging in social processes that have catapulted the notion of community development in Brasil into a thriving and celebrated concept. And now their work, which has spanned the last decade and expanded exponentially to hundreds of thousands of people, is seeping out of the Brasilian borders and beginning to make tremors on all continents. I am proudly involved in developing this work in Africa.

Their central method is known affectionately as the Oasis Game. This is an inherently simple – yet inevitably complex – 7-step methodology that makes the most of our human needs and attributes, focusing on qualities such as abundance, enthusiasm and communion. The process is entirely participatory, meaning non-hierarchical, and effectively prepared with strong standards of inclusivity and open consultation with the public, on clear and ethical terms.

The 7 Steps that represent the core methodology, which you can see more fully described here.

1. Appreciative seeing
2. Affection
3. The Dream
4. Care
5. The Miracle
6. Celebration
7. Re-evolution

I experienced an advanced application of this process taking place in a favela (informal settlement) known as Vila Pantanal and home to approximately 4,000 inhabitants, where I was posted during my training with a group of 22 young changemakers from around the world. We were part of a larger group of 70 participants, as the work was taking place in 3 Santos favelas simultaneously.

Pantanal (view slideshow here) is a jumbled concoction of houses and shanties built by a people that have been abandoned by their government and outcast by the class-heavy social system in Brasil. I experienced a miracle of transformation within 3 weeks of our work there, in which an apathetic and ill-affected community made a group decision to turn around their situation and realize the possibility of doing things for themselves – no longer relying on the powers-that-be and becoming a united group of conscious and actively involved citizens. I was amazed at how the veil of a collective sadness and reliance on undelivered services went through a metamorphosis towards resilient co-operation and a brave reclamation of positive engagement. The heart of the community was inflamed in my heart, and at this moment I decided to always trust in this power, in this method of social change, the Oasis Game – the Art of Inflaming.

Beyond the movement in the community, we co-created physical rewards through a large-scale hands-on action, Mao No Massa. The results were miraculous and all completed within an actual physical work period of 5 days, after about 16 days of deep consultation with the community. A massive junk heap at the entrance to the community was transformed into an elegant and vibrant playground and community garden; a decrepit old building alongside this was rehabilitated into a community centre for the association; rugged old grey walls were lit up with bright, passionate murals; a number of producing social enterprises were launched for sustainable business and economic empowerment; a public stage; and in other favelas, tourist routes; a bakery – the list goes on! Furthermore the change was visible in all the 3 sectors of our social development strategy: environmental, economic and cultural. But most of all the children, parents and grandparents were out in full force every day, interacting and engaging with each other on a level they had never quite experienced before.

Philosophy
The entire process is underlined by a bespoke Philosophy of Transformation that answers to the needs of any community. It speaks of principles such as belief in Utopia – that the world can be the best world and not just a better world; participatory leadership – that everyone plays a role and no joy is real unless shared; collective design – diversity is key and everyone has a say; learning through practice – there is no classroom that can replace real life situations.

Throughout the training participants are taken into deeper learning circles with a nature-based ethos of personal development. Part of this is an immersion in a series of indigenous learning hosted by Pataxó tribe leaders in the form of co-operative games that are based on the human qualities of the four elements – earth, water, fire & air. These provided a format for constant reflection and personal empowerment whilst we were battling daily to allow for the flow of courage and passion needed to sustain a program of this immensity. For more info see Instituto Arapoty (use google-translate).

Atop the personal development were dozens of specific tools and methods taught by esteemed practitioners, such as Open Space, World Café, Appreciative Inquiry, Nonviolent Communication, etc. There were lectures by thought-leaders and social entrepreneurs, workshops to develop projects together and networking processes that fuelled the collective power of the group. I was fortunate to host a number of these processes for this global community of 70 young leaders, who are rooted and inter-connected through their love and passion for social change, and ability to see beyond their own needs – to join hands for others.

The participants were selected from around the world by application. We did not necessarily know what we were getting into, and we all answered a call. The call has since been heard by hundreds more as these 70 young warriors without weapons are back home inviting this form of conscious development in their respective communities. We are an active and connected international group of changemakers that are committed to carrying out this work and empowering communities to lead themselves to abundance and co-operation on a level that liberates the outflow of our positive intentions and begins to answer our most human needs

– and the answer lies in community.

I will be speaking about this at the TEDxCapeTown event this Saturday – an enlivening and passionate international forum for presentations on innovation, focussing at this event on awareness, community building and engagement. To attend this exciting gathering along with hundreds of other interested and interesting members, please register here. If you are not in Cape Town please keep posted for videos of these talks at a later date.

For more info contact nathan.heller@the-hub.net

FOR AN AMAZING PHOTO GALLERY AND VIDEO FOOTAGE OF THIS PROCESS PLEASE VISIT:

• Elos flickr photo page
• Elos YouTube videos

So here I am, turning. My first step on Brazilian soil. A lifelong dream come true, and the purpose of being here: to realize more dreams. Not isolated individual selfish dreams, the ones that limit our futures, but simple, unanimous and miraculous dreams, the ones that open us up to limitless possibilities.

How? Through the simple act of entrusting ourselves to the whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. Why? Because we can? When?

The only time to change the world is all the time.

Let’s turn apathy into appreciation.  Let’s live out our dreams.

And Trust.

So where can I start? Should I try play a 2-month catch-up game with a million things that happen to me per week, or should I tell you what solid ground I am standing on right now, that is rocketing up into the sky like an Atlantis-fantasy Anime? Well the latter definitely sounds more rewarding, perhaps we should work for it by digging through some recent history on the sojourns of someone not so interesting but still you’re reading this? Sorry if that’s a bit trite. I’m working on it.

So I left off in Istanbul, where I inked my arm spontaneously with an indelible “information” sign to sign off on the fact that I thought I found my identity whilst exploring my inherited mindset through an emotional connection to the City of Empires, Home of Civilizations.  At least it left me with a good feeling of being connected to the base of the Modern World.

So when I returned a second time to home soil, after the Mafia had cleaned up and shipped out their ill-gotten gains (gold mine 2.0), I was a bit more relinquished of my unstable needs and able to just plough into a new job, a new calling, a new passion, and old friends. I stubbed my toes quite a bit on the social abnorms of this here little town at the tip of Africa, Little Miss Cape Town, Canned Africa / Africa for Beginners. Actually I’m still stubbing my toes trying to find my place back in it, but quickly and surely picking up on what lies beneath the surface of clique connections and where our real intentions are commonly met. Does that make sense? Maybe I need to dig into this more at a later stage, because now it just sounds a bit hi fa luted (sic).

So yes, I returned, jumped into The Hub as business manager and host, met an awesome community of changemakers at heart, began to work with them and dream bigger projects and processes into being here, whilst managing the nitty gritty like how long should the piece of string be and where the hell do we get crushed ice at this time of day, never mind a 30ft ladder? This is pretty much my ‘dream job’, for now. Most of all I have been priveleged to meet a THRIVING organic hub of initiatives and projects, and now I want to bring them together as quick as possible, because..

Well at our LAUNCH event, a large number of self-made social changemakers boldly stood on stage and implored the hundreds of initiative-hungry guests in the audience to take a deep breath and JUST SUPPORT what they are doing. These people had just 40sec to get their message across and guess what happened? It sailed cleanly through the air into a thick blanket of inspiration that covered us all up to the neck in motivation for bottom-up empowerment and transformational local-to-global scale best practice change processes. Whew what a sentence, I never knew you could get out of breath by typing.

So we have the people, the projects, the place and the BEAUTY – what more do we need? CONFIDENCE in BEST PRACTICE changework and PARTICIPATORY LEADERSHIP. That’s my goal, my dream, my target, my true ambition and my duty. Perhaps Sir Lancelot would understand, perhaps he was a fake. Nonetheless, I am still inspired by those words at the big bunker up on the hill near Basel in Switzerland all those months ago, when I was released of a heavy burden to carry out the colonialization of youth empowerment in SA:

The New Knighthood

It rang loud and clear and still to this day I see myself jumping on a horse, riding through a forest of darkness with a firetorch to beam away the spooks and filter out the shadows from the trees. Maybe I should get off my high horse. Maybe I’m allowed to dream. Maybe you are too.

So a new friend has shared with me a good old question: what do you want to be when you grow up? Don’t answer. First let yourself go. You are not stuck in what you don’t want to do. Fantasy was not designed for the movie theaters. Magic is not some invented concept. Fire is inside you, and just like the solar panels that soak up the sun, everything you face will take something from you – so why not give it your best?

So now begin to dream, begin again and again to dream.. What if? Leave it there. WHAT if? What IF?

In all fairness, you are able to realise your dreams.

In all fairness.

So I’m dreaming, to be fair. Not to be a dragon-slayer or Harry Potter, but a happy-go-lucky driven young changemaker, bringing a leading edge into the space of business for social change in South Africa. By roaming around communities of practice and engaging in meaningful conversations and processes and offering up the best of my talents at the best of times to the best of people, and feeding back what I learn in conscious ways to those who need it, in society’s best interests.

Now and then I am not so clear on this goal, and I allow myself to dream in other directions, for security, for a car, for a positive bank balance, for a romance from the stars, for long-lasting friendships.. and then I realize.. don’t dream for yourself, and you will have everything your heart could ever desire. Einstein says “Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.” I’m trying to realise that.

Dream dream dream dream dre-e-e-e-eam all you have to do is dream.

Thanks for your TIME.

(This blog needs some work.)

blue mosque, blue sky ..ndhct

the heat was real. it permeated my head and brought me to my knees. i started to love it. 40 degrees and 100% humidity. for real. and 35 at night, in the streets, in the hustling bustling party district of this densely populated city of empires. 20 million people living on top of each other. you smell them constantly. the sounds, sights and scents are always incredibly rich, almost overpowering.

the chaos of allowing.. excitement for the boat trip opens up in dance ..ndhct

a boat trip to islands and bike rides round and round, settling eventually on a hidden beach, i swam into a cool calm ocean cave that massaged my past as i floated on the pebble bed with subtle waves caressing me. to the dancing fervor of new friends, wild experiences and open adventures of heart. to the wealth of historical wisdom surrounding some of the most remarkable buildings in the world. to the incredible qualities of youth that exploded in all directions during this meeting. to the potential of endless new insights of how to work with this energy. how to conduct an orchestra of opportunities.

this trip inscribed inspiration on my skin.

inkredible.

self portrait with needle. ..ndhct

We are also doing a media harvest of the day, so will have some photos and videos for you soon on representingyouth.com

The speech turned out rather different to the notes but it’s still an adequate basis for what was said, and a lot of the following did get mentioned..

⁃    So, “En Dag for Framtiden, One Day for the Future”
⁃    It’s great that we’re beginning to open up to these questions and have this platform to discuss them. So, I invite you into this conversation, even if it is just me talking for now – perhaps you can stick around and invite your friends for the open dialogue and open mic later, where we get a chance to hear you?
⁃    Ok! So what is the conversation?

I’m Nathan Daniel Heller from South Africa, co-founder of the Representing Youth platform and an emerging Social Entrepreneur. I also represent culturetalent, a platform to support social innovation through creative collaboration.. one of the tripod partners with Fanzingo and Young Investors

⁃    culturetalent ethos
⁃    what is our culture and our talent?
⁃    our culture can be seen as the conditions into which we are born that govern our worldview and perspectives of life. from family, to community, to nationality, there are many layers of culture.
⁃    the world is an immense tapestry of beautiful and diverse cultures. the value of our individual cultures is priceless, something someone cannot give or take from you. it is your heritage, and an automatic contribution to society.
⁃    similarly, your talent, is undeniable. it has been your guide throughout your life, teaching you from the inside out as you adapt to the cultures that raise you. it is what you bring into the world, and that which you have the opportunity to develop into a tangible contribution. it is your choice.
⁃    I believe that every individual has a valuable contribution to make to the betterment of society, if they so choose

⁃    social innovation through creative collaboration – calling questions:
⁃    how do we re-build a culture of positive youth activism, to engage in new methods of social renewal?
⁃    how do we work with power structures to create youth-focused policy-making?
⁃    what are the real challenges of the youth of today and more importantly, tomorrow?
⁃    what are the opportunities of living in a globalized society?

•    collaboration VS competition
•    for as long as we can remember, the cogs of society have been oiled by a passion for competition
•    the laws of human nature have ensured that we build our value systems on our need to compete: survival of the fittest
•    we see this in the world of business and in the governments of today, in the wars of the past and present, and in the economic downfall that now besets us
•    something needs to change
•    what patterns of working together in the current system do not satisfy us?
•    the symptoms of an unsatisfied way of working in society today are beginning to overwhelm us. wherever we look it seems there is the battle of modernity: materialism vs. the rise of a new, sustainable social development model
•    we are quickly developing a fear-based awareness of the global crises in all spheres: ecological, economical, sociological… all of it. does it need to be fear-driven social change? can we not feel confident about our future?
•    we are realizing that it is not an environmental crisis, it is a human crisis. for me, sustainability comes from the potential we create in each other. sustainable commitments, not sustainable development. critical connections, not critical mass. for me, the question of sustainability is: how do we relate to each other as human beings in order to realize a common future?
•    climate change is just one massive precursor of a potential extinction of life as we know it, say the doomsdayers
•    is this why we are here? to discuss the problems of today? or are we here to build on the solutions of tomorrow?
•    can we look at it appreciatively? instead of looking at everything we don’t have, at the problems we received from our parents, don’t we want to look at the world we are creating for our children?
•    could we engage in a culture of collaboration, that unites our intentions to build a world that nurtures us and not only demands that we work and live to sustain a hierarchical system of economic politics?
•    here in Sweden you are in the throes of electoral campaigns, which need to take into account the highest number of young voters yet, and this is not unique. the youth population is skyrocketing, even more so in “developing countries”. I have heard that in 2011, the ratio of human population under the age of 25 will reach 50% – there is a whole new meaning to the word “YOUTH” – so what does this mean? is it a wave of uncertainty sweeping the world, or a wave of opportunity? should we expect the worst, or anticipate a new groundswell of creative minds working together to heal the issues we face in our current paradigm? that depends on the choices we make.
•    what governs our choices as youth? look at the elections: do we look for the best promises made by the best political parties? or do we vote for a system that we can confidently and consciously be a part of co-creating? do we strive to work together to create the best practices for ourselves, or do we rely on the powers-that-be to always spoon feed us with unsustainable dummy-in-the-mouth solutions?
•    in northern countries there is generally a great social security and you do not feel the pressures of masses of marginalized people, but where I come from, in South Africa, there is a different picture on the wall. and the more i look at mainstream media, the less reflective i feel it is of the real world situation. there is some kind of false illusion of safety and security being built by the state. we are in a fragile situation. however, human beings have always been in some kind of situation, and throughout history we have built a consistent resilience and resourcefulness to survive – how do we now expand on this resourcefulness and work beyond our historical borders in an age of information and globalization? there are questions rising that humanity has never faced before… for instance with all this water, will there be enough for us to drink? just look at the floods in Pakistan…
•    the age of modernity is calling for a new type of resourcefulness.

▪    ‘the greatest sin is not hate but indifference..’ – George Bernard Shaw
▪    we have to engage with our peers like never before
▪    we have to encourage a new way of working
▪    we have to envision the type of change that is real for us
▪    we have to engender an attitude of persistence in the face of apathy, and strive to be our own superheroes e.g. Batman, secret worldsavers…
▪    we should be able to be loud and proud about our initiatives
▪    cool is no longer good enough – we need to be engaged
▪    doing something powerful for social development as a young person, not only satisfies you but empowers you
▪    and more importantly it encourages others
▪    and when we begin to take powerful action collectively, there is no limit to what we can achieve when we work together
▪    power over vs power to…
▪    we need to exercise our ability to engage in power structures by giving our power to new insights and innovations.
▪    and these innovations do not need to be planned
▪    they come about through the will and desire to do amazing projects together
▪    social innovation is an automatically emergent process, solving the emergency of our times
▪    business innovations are running wild, our creativity is pouring into the advertising industry, media hype, product development.. but bit by bit large chunks of society are beginning to channel this creative energy into a new form of problem solving.
▪    like Einstein said, you cannot solve a problem with the same thinking that created it – and even more powerfully “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
▪    so we have to step out of our comfort zones, sometimes we have to forget about whatever it is that makes us feel content, and realize that we are in a world of complexity, feeling our way through the chaos
▪    this reality is one that the youth of tomorrow can become accustomed to rather easily – a consciously shifting paradigm
▪    where our leaders are no longer “our leaders”, but our leaders…
▪    we need to step up and be able to lead ourselves in this chaos
▪    that way we can lead each other in the questions we face
▪    personal leadership, critical connections, sustainable thinking, sustainable relationships, sustainable development
▪    sustainable YOUTH-LED development
▪    if it is not youth-led, it does not consider the future
▪    so let’s be considerate towards our future

▪    let’s make all our days a day for the future…

all text © Nathan Daniel Heller

You may be wondering why it has been so quiet. Maybe you didn’t notice. Well, you’ll see by the last post I launched a project at the end of my YIP year in Sweden. It’s taken flight and a lot of my time, and I’ve been blogging there, and for my application for Warriors Without Weapons, a powerful community leadership training that takes place in Brazil in January 2011 (ndhwarrior.wordpress.com).

Since my last post, I have graduated from YIP (the last weeks were a life-changing experience), spent a week in Johannesburg for family, friends and the World Cup (highlight Ghana vs Uruguay live at Soccer City – don’t get me started) and then drove down the coast a few days to see my beloved country, friends and start surfing again (enter 300 metres of bliss in J-Bay). Then I spent 2 weeks in Cape Town checking in with family, catching up with myself, dealing with the break from intense community life, surfing to my heart’s content and loving the land and people where I live.

Then I rushed back to Europe suddenly, invited to help facilitate the Young Journalist category at the World Youth Congress in Istanbul, had 3 weeks of rather intense experience in this vibrantly charasmatic city of the ages (the capital of the world according to Napolean). I have now returned to Sweden to catalyze the next phase of the Representing Youth project with the founding partners here in Stockholm, and will be leaving again this week.

And here I sit writing this at YIP, of all places, where I have been fortunate enough to meet the new participants who fill the 3rd instalment of this incredible training up with a contagious inspiration and zest for life.

To take a closer look at what I am doing, here is one of the posts about my project work, and you can find much more on representingyouth.com

Take care, and see you there

©ndhct

culturetalent is a platform for creative collaboration to support the development and implementation of projects and initiatives that work towards creating a culture of social innovation.

culturetalent partnered with Fanzingo and Young Investors to develop and manage the Representing Youth initiative, to create opportunities for young change-makers to engage with the leading edge of change work that was present at Rework the World in Leksand, Sweden 2-5 June.

There has been a powerful convergence of intentions for this project, and culturetalent is proud to be there from the start, helping to build the collaboration and to clear the way for the young representers to use their talents and contribute their authentic and inspiring perspectives to the global challenges we face.

We are approaching this opportunity with an attitude of appreciation for the people striving together at Rework, to affirm these actions and raise awareness for the positive and promising possibilities emerging there. To illustrate this attitude, I would like to refer you to the following piece of inspiration…

In his latest TED talk, Sir Ken Robinson speaks clearly to the need for society to be aware of the ‘human resources crisis’ – to be aware that we are constantly building on a culture of supply and demand, supplying our energy 24/7 to a system that doesn’t satisfy us, but rather demands more and more from us, limiting our individual growth. He points out the need for an education revolution – to base it on supporting and fostering our individual talents, to encourage our children to follow their passion and fulfil meaningful occupations that allow them to say with conviction “I was born to do this”. Robinson points out that the portion of people he meets who can sincerely make this affirmation, are unfortunately in the extreme minority on this planet – but this can change… please watch the speech here..

For my “individual” project I have decided to collaborate with a team of young change-makers to co-produce a powerful youth media initiative. We will be telling the stories at the Rework the World summit on Youth, Entrepreneurship & Sustainability – from a youth perspective, to a worldwide audience. This is the launch of a pioneering and promising international youth media platform.

Representing Youth. Re:presenting Stories. Being Present.

Bringing together 30 young people from 15 countries to tell the stories that matter at Rework the World through film, radio, photography, blogging, graphic and social media.

We will be co-ordinating a comprehensive approach to interacting with the space at Rework and getting to know the pioneering initiatives present there, to spread the word for those who cannot be present, so they can also be inspired to create positive change in the world through the powerful meetings taking place at this summit.

Rework is taking the critical questions seriously, and we feel it is important that the youth are both seen and heard in this dialogue. I am working with the attitude of creating critical connections across generations, cultural divides and other silos – it is not just about critical mass. I strongly believe that it is through sustainable relationships to each other that our relationships to the economy, ecology and sociology of our planet can become sustainable.

To this end I am working tirelessly on promoting the collaborative dialogue that harnesses our capacity to interact on a meaningful level, which empowers us to come together to form the solutions to our current world challenges.

This is the time I have to make a difference, this life.

21 of the amazing young Representers

Our project Representing Youth is a culmination of intentions and energy from various collaborators including Fanzingo, Tällberg, culturetalent, Young Investors and others, to create lasting opportunities for the young people who are involved and to catalyze the formation of meaningful connections across generations. You can see the profiles of these young inspiring individuals here.

We are earnestly seeking support from companies, organizations and individuals to cover the costs of traveling to and living at Rework for one week. Whilst we gather the stories that matter, we ask for your support in making this possible.

This sponsorhip opportunity is also an opportunity for you to be represented at this summit, by a group of talented young reporters. We are launching an online media portal that will carry all the content from Representing Youth and be widely popular – as a sponsor to this initiative you will benefit from exposure on this site and other potential media channels. For more info please view the sponsor benefits page on our website.

Commencing Monday 31 May, we will be communicating a stream of news about the summit on our blogs, facebook, twitter etc. Please join the following pages to be a part of our social media drive. We welcome your input!

Facebook page, event, group

Twitter @representyouth

Rework the World community

Represent!

A project by Nathan Daniel Heller
On internship from the International Youth Initiative Program (YIP) in Sweden April 2010

DEBRIEF
Location: Kaospilot International, Mejlgade 35, Århus, Denmark Date: 12-30 April 2010

Need: The Kaospilot program has an extensive reach. There are multiple points of recognized leadership in the international network, which are making a significant impact on global society. However, this impact is not so easily perceived. This project intends to map out those points of leadership in order to make the knowledge of the global impact of the Kaospilots more perceivable.

Purpose: To begin to identify and display the emerging patterns of leadership in the Kaospilot network.

Method: During the process of getting to know the Kaospilots from a distance, I have noticed remarkable leadership shown by a number of current students and graduates of the school. My method was to interview these people in order to dig deeper beneath the surface of what is “the best school for the world”. One interview led to another as I became increasingly aware of different areas of the network and the different roles within the organization, and what each one represented. I would map out the information I gathered using freemind mind-mapping software. Slowly but surely I began to identify the patterns of leadership and discovered many more points of significant leadership than expected. This showed my way of studying and what I came across in my interviews in a very simplistic way. This form of study also made it possible for me to better understand the underlying structure and perceived values of the entire system, as well as the leading edges in the support structure and future strategy of the school.

I thus separated the information into the following 4 sections:
1. School: current staff & students; their initiatives / positions
2. Alumni: mostly since 2005; their initiatives / positions
3. Support: some of the local networks supporting the school
4. Strategy: leading initiatives of the directors to grow the school

Outcome: Reviewing this map and my extensive hand-written notes, I plotted a number of the leading initiatives onto a google map. This is a promising way to display the leadership of the KP network and has multiple benefits.

Learning: The knowledge gained during this project was overwhelming – I never anticipated such an endless supply of human resources in the system. With my limited time frame it became impossible to map the whole network, but this made the project all the more meaningful: to kick-start a process that can be carried by parts of the network, for the benefit of the whole network. I finished the first phase of the project with a 1hr presentation to staff and students.

This simple map will hopefully grow in content and importance if utilized by the network…

New home page: ndhct.com

Navigator of the north and celebrator of the south, wondering. Between my home land of proud young South Africa and engaging in aging Northern Europe, I find synergies of youth working together in countless world-changing ways, planting new seeds of global community, tending to the Work that needs to be done.

Weaving simple interchange between communities of practice and networks of change, I bumble-bee between people and places, picking up fine scents of powerful motivation for positive social change, cross-pollinating for systems awareness; hosting meaningful conversations, treasuring meaningful interactions, harvesting meaningful learning.

I contribute ethusiastically to project spaces, learning centres and people’s places, considering the efforts of leading change-makers as a pre-cursor to the new social forms that are emerging; strongly supporting the growth of this new era of Social Entrepreneurship, Social Innovation & Creative Collaboration.

In each place I find myself, I find myself connected to many places at one time, to many people in many paradigms. I find there are too many of us wandering about lost, uncertain of our future… And slowly, surely we begin to work in this uncertainty – honoring complexity for the diversity it brings – as in nature.

Generating a culture of conscious co-creation.

It is from our human nature that compound social systemics, illogical ecological crises and enormous economic pandemics have emerged. It is through our human nature that we can return to what it is that governs clear thought, clear action and clear understanding.

Let it be clear, we are here to make a difference. We have what it takes to recreate healthy living systems, communities of change, societies of value, nations of splendour, and a world of reconnected worth.

Reconnecting the wealth of our families to the health of our planet, the strength of our underlying earth.

If you need more specifics, come and find me…