A WORKSHOP AT KAICYCLE – WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND
Sitting in a circle, with a group of teenagers choosing values that mean something to them, could easily be what you might find in one of Global Generation’s London gardens. This time, Rod and I were having a parallel but different experience. We were in the middle of Kaicycle, a jewel of a community garden in Newtown, just a stone’s throw from the main hospital in Wellington, the capital of New Zealand.
We had been invited the night before by Rory who came to the launch of my book Learning-to-Lead-Together: An Ecological and Community Approach which was held at Vic Books, the University Bookshop. Rory’s questions made me smile. “How do you encourage young people to get engaged in community gardens? What are some of the activities you do with young people?” I spoke about going slow and sitting still, working with values and free fall writing, finding stories that might help them let their imaginations flow. Fast forward to the next day and we were sitting in the Kaicycle garden where Rory works with a small group of teenagers from different secondary schools around Wellington. They were part of a programme run by Papa Taiao Earthcare. Students come for a whole afternoon once a week for up to two years; some of the schools accrediting their involvement. Before the session began, fifteen year old Maddy told us that she was the only one from her academically oriented school allowed to go. She had to fight her case with her teachers and they agreed to treat her involvement as a pilot to see how they might offer something more practical; more ecological.
A good portion of Kaicycle’s income comes from a bicycle powered compost collection service, so it was only natural that after a silent observation walk around the garden, we came together in a circle of fruit crates beside a healthy looking compost heap. Each of the young people shared generously of themselves, with the help of the value oriented words we had placed in the middle of the circle.
The group listened keenly to Rod tell the story of Raven and Whale and we spoke about exchanges between the human and the more than human world and the tiny but significant moments in time that bring about change. As we closed our circle I explained that London teenagers have spent months over the last year, doing lessons from their bedroom and only meeting their friends on line. I wasn’t sure if this group of ‘go wherever I want’ kiwi teenagers understood what prolonged periods of lockdown really meant. One thing was clear though, they were all happy be there and so I asked them what they liked about coming to Kaicycle.
I think it’s a great life skill learning how to make things grow
It’s like a little beating pocket of life amidst the dreary city
It’s lush, it’s green, it’s got beautiful things, it provides food and it builds community
It’s like a breath of fresh air compared to school and the chaos of the city, I assume it’s what free therapy is like
I want to learn more about the environment and see if in the future we can do something about the soil
Big thanks to Rory, Rene and Sheldon for making us feel so welcome!
Notes from the Garden
I wake to a bright crisp winter’s day. Finally … after weeks of storms ravaging the country.
As the year ends we are reminded of the magic and beauty that our gardens bring, as places to come together and celebrate, even in difficult times. This year it has been challenging not to be taken over by fear and despair, with extreme weather events being mirrored in different ways across the world, from floods to droughts; with the most recent political events; with wars destroying land and displacing entire populations; and with the constant increase in the cost of living creating ever more inequalities between those that have and those that do not.