Have you made a change in your community since coming to a ChangeFest event?
Are you passionate about community and want to share and learn with others?
Have you made a change in your practice?
Have you made a policy change?
Please share what you might be doing differently as a result of learning, listening and gathering at ChangeFest – optimists@changefest.com.au
Here are some changes we have heard so far:
Youth Partnership Project have shared some of the key takeaways from ChangeFest that they are focusing on:
– Making sure that the voices of our young people are at the heart of what we do.
– Re-Purposing how we use data, to help community understand how they fit in and how we can change this picture together.
– Making sure we’re always looking at strengths, as well as risk factors.
Day 1 Poem By Pola Fanous
Baptised in water,
Purified in fire and smoke
Remember your artefacts,
& the healing in faith.
Knowledge is power and responsibility,
your awareness Is tied your ability –
How can you inherit
What you do not know?
So sit at the feet of your elders,
With the humility of wisdom
And listen, knowing they have watched smoke obliterate mountains,
Been shaken by earthquakes,
Seen boats emerge from the belly of the sun
And found peace in the horror of it all.
So ask them how they did it,
And listen when they answer.
Alone, we wither,
Together we thrive,
You are alive!
So sing your voice forth
Into the abyss,
Until eagles bear you home.
Set the torch on fire with your love
Pass it on to your brother and your sister,
I insist ya get the picture:
Willmot will not be silenced,
Mounty County isn’t drowning,
Let’s sing about Shalvey, shall we?
These streets are culture,
These streets are spiritual songs
And battle cries, creativity
So genius it overflows,
Your children don’t need anything,
They know it all,
So give them a microphone,
And let them talk like little
Montana and her avalanche of peace,
And let their voices echo through
And shake these Westie streets:
You can steal a generation,
But you cannot steal a culture.
We will write a referendum,
We will sing a new agenda
Then we’ll walk into their offices
And make sure they remember
That we don’t play ourselves
And we build up communities,
So put your hands up, ChangeFest,
If you believe… in unity!
Day 3 poem by Pola Fanous
Be careful what you build,
Because it’s gotta hold you up,
I’ll let this poem hold you up
To all the errors of your system:
I am not a number, no I am not a statistic,
Despite the fact that
Trauma is handed down
Like a family heirloom,
A gift like a mountain,
That must be overcome.
Let your activism
Be more than a voice.
It is honesty and humility
And bravery, it is feet that stomp
And hands that give
That heal and help this planet.
If a culture can last over 60,000 years,
Then why do you not trust us to build futures that can feed: all of our peoples and your peoples, we are one, and up until we overcome this hatred with our love,
7000 conversations still won’t be Enough!
We all live and love in different places
But not all soil is good for fruit,
Corruption runs deep,
But love runs deeper:
Today you asked;
How do we design things better?
I reckon:
Get of your comfort zone,
Imagine a piano, multi-colour keys
2 civilisations holding hands.
You can’t be what you can’t see:
And if this festival of change Has shown us where we stand to gain, it is in this:
In the ability to turn ideas into action,
Through the joy of interaction,
To unite the white and black,
If we are love,
we are on track!
God bless you ChangeFest.
Pecha Kucha Recordings
Connected Beginnings Mildura
Mid Murray Family Connections