Exchange in action!

After arriving at the Driftsands Cape Nature Reserve at 8am on Youth Day this Thursday morning, Toni Stuart said to me, "I've always worked public holidays, but for once I got up this morning and thought - everything I am doing today I really love!" We had a good laugh about being allowed to paint on a wall as part of our job... But what we did paint holds so much meaning to us and to people who read it.


With the help of participants, we painted the name of our organisation, a phrase which says a lot in and of itself, "I Am Somebody!" followed with a concept of our work, "in relationship to the environment."  Every person who walks into this room is going to see and think about the fact that they are somebody. Proof of the impact of this phrase, Cape Nature facilitators spoke to the eighty participants at their event about how they matter and what they want to do with their lives is important. It has been so moving to hear how people resonate personally, and create meaning from the name of our organisation.

After many partnership meetings, it was inspiring to see the first immediate impact of our exchange with Cape Nature. A group of about thirty young adults joined us out of the larger event to make their mark on the wall. They partnered up and traced one another's hands before painting the outline in their favorite colour.


Then, they answered three questions using metaphor:
1. What do you love about yourself?
2. What do you love about the environment?
3. What do you want to learn more about the environment?

We normally encourage participants to let go of outcome when they paint a hand map, but these young adults, male and female, were intent on making their mark on the wall beautiful. Instead of being worried about how it would look, they were proud of what they were making. Many of them took pictures of one another in front of their hand maps with their cell phones.

Once the wall had been painted on, a few of the seniors who were enjoying the larger event asked that we add a few things they wanted to see, such as drawings of the chickens and horses that the reserve had on their property. A member of a church in Mitchell's Plain asked if we were open to working with them as well because they had spaces in their buildings that they wanted to create on. 





Thank you to Driftsands Reserve for the amazing event they organized and for their partnership with our organisation. Thank you also to the participants for their insight and creativity. It was a great day!

This post was written by Nicole le Roux, co-director of I Am Somebody!