Reflecting on the transition from participant to facilitator
I am Abena and as of a few weeks ago I have just begun my journey as an Assistant Youth Projects Coordinator.
The moments after coming back from camping at Wilderness woods were nice moments to gather my thoughts and recenter/reorient myself. I have been reflecting on my journey from participant to facilitator. I haven't thought of these two occasions as moments that are distinct from one another because even as a facilitator I am still taking part, I just hold a different responsibility.
As a Generator, my responsibilities were ones that were for myself and my own growth, I was learning how to arrange my footsteps a little more consciously here at Global Generation. I suppose that the full circle-ness of it all is quite wonderful. I was a Generator some time in 2012, since then I’ve been involved in many different projects but now I am able to put all my leadership skills to use and use others that I learned along the way.
Whilst camping I walked the line of participant and facilitator. I have been in the excited shoes of someone about to go camping for the first time and I have also been in the shoes of someone who is responsible for the wellbeing of a group of young people. What it feels like is a continuation of what I have been involved in and it is; I think a lot about cyclical it all has been.
“Sow the seed it will be, one more tree to grace the earth
Wangari, Wangari x2
One seed, one tree, one woman unbowed x4”— Wangari - Polly Bolton
What amazes me is that the sense of community simply doesn’t leave wherever you are in this organisation. I think that my story is just one of many real life examples of what it means to be a part of Global Generation. This song written about Wangari Maathai makes me think about sowing seeds in not only the literal sense but also in the metaphorical sense. As the song says the seed will grow into one more tree to grace the earth. I relate this song to my transition from Generator to facilitator, one day at Global Generation a seed was planted in me and now the gift has come full cycle. It is my turn and my responsibility to sow seeds in others for them to nurture and grow.
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.