CREATIVITY UK LONDON 2012

Imagine 70 people from 6 nations hell bent on forging friendships, having fun and sharing cultural insights  over 10 seamless nights and day and you get Creativity UK London 2012.

The theme of Identity through Creativity began with the immigration point; a collage of multicoloured finger prints and ID cards and continued into a 'Guess Who?' with participants pulling out all the stops to 'be somebody else'. 

Workshops using drama, dance, music, fashion, arts and crafts and film and photography got Creativity flowing whilst the Mafia wars, treasure hunt, mini olympics and the secret mission got the body jumping.

The final celebration came all too soon and the tears fell freely saying goodbye to our friends from Italy, Greece, Portugual, Latvia and Slovakia. Bring on the next Creativity!!!

RESPECT MORE 2012

England flags ready for inter cultural night 

After hosting Young Swedes last year for the RESPECT Exchange in London, our Partner organisation in Sweden (Kvinnors Natwerk)  invited us to Sweden to take part in Human Rights Workshops, various outdoor activities and experience a typical Swedish summer near a lake and camp fire by night...with no shower...and one environmentally friendly toilet.
See how we got on in the blog created just for the exchange which the young people updated. 

Cycling through Stockholm

The focus of this exchange was of Human Rights and we participated in workshops prepared by the young people and leaders a like. We learnt shared, discussed, agreed, disagreed, presented, debated all things human rights and the diverse group from both the UK and Sweden were able to share their personal experiences (over 12 nationalities were represented in the group of 20) and much like the previous exchange the topic of gender was a hot one. 

The beautiful setting of the Swedish suburbs made for a brilliant experience to build friendships and rekindle the relationships built last year. Every night the group gathered firewood and made a camp fire which we laughed and danced around until bedtime. 
The English group re-enacted Queens Market in Green Street and the woes of supporting England in football at the inter cultural night. 

Making bread on an open fire

We visited a local youth media centre in Stockholm and found similar issue facing us as young people in Newham faced them too particularly around the rich-poor divide. They interviewed three of the loveLifers about free transportation for under 16s as this was something they were also keen to introduce. 

Callum ready for Bat watching

We also visited Kvinnors Natwerk and heard from the amazing inspiration behind the organisation who told us the story of how the organisation came to being. 
The group were also fortunate enough to go horse riding, bat watching, go scouting (make bread over a fire, pick blueberries) which was a first for many of us. 

Secret friends being revealed

The final night had us reveal who are secret friend was for the week; dance and sing at the top of our voices 'when I get older, I will be stronger, they'll call me freedom...' and enjoy mouth watering blueberry pie. 

Saying goodbye 

Words and sentences are not enough to describe the spirit of the exchange but all of us, though sad to depart , have been gifted this time to learn and grow.  


A big thank you to Sofia, Kvinnors Netwark and all the amazing young people involved.

RK 

loveLife Generation and Ushers New Look Foundation

For the second year running,loveLife Gneration has flown over to Atlanta and taken part in Usher's New Look Foundation's Youth conference. 
This is what Rachel had to say: 
Taking part in Usher’s New Look Foundation is such a privilege as it trains young leaders to grow and inspire to be what they dream to be, it also gives us as youths the opportunity to come together and make a difference, not only in ourselves but in everyone else around us. Being a part of Usher’s New Look Foundation, World Leadership Conference has really opened my eyes to the opportunities around me and how easily they can be accessed if I reached out for them. Throughout the conference I gained a variety of inspiration from the many speakers and workshops. Being at this conference has taught me that change starts from within and then is spread out into the community, country, internationally and nationally. My goal in life is to open a children home for children with or without disability and to start a charity for less fortunate children living locally and hopefully spread out internationally then nationally. Taking part in WLC allowed me to think of the big picture and how it can really make a difference in someone’s life. Shadowing a worker in Hughes Spalding Children’s Hospital showed me how lives can be changes and even saved with the simplest of things. Visiting the hospital has pushed me closer to pursuing my dreams of helping children in need. Not only has New Look given me more confidence to achieve the best I can and to pursue my dreams but I’ve made unforgettable memories and friends that will never be forgotten.
Rachel Boateng

LDN TO ATL: Our Experience

Going to Atlanta was an experience that I was willing to enjoy, unaware of what to expect. The week we were due to leave for Atlanta was very hectic as we had to get our Esta Visa sorted, make sure we rehearsed our spoof ,get our suitcase ready and revise for the science exam on the day we were to leave, but it still did not hit me that we were going to Atlanta. On Friday 15^th June, I got to school early to do some last minute revision, sat the exam at 8.45am and finished the 2 papers by 9:20am. As soon as we finished the exam paper the journey began.

We left school, got changed in 10minutes and headed to the airport. The journey to the airport was exciting yet worrying because we didn’t know what to expect, so we tried preparing ourselves to overcome anything that we wouldn’t normally have. The plane journey was 9hours and 25minutes, after 2hours all of us started to become very agitated and began walking up and down the plane every 30minutes. We eventually made friends with the air hostess’ and made conversation for about 1hour. We started to get bored and tired but to our advantage we had are own individual television at the back of each seat with a variety or music, movies, radios and televisions shows that we settled down to and watched. For the remainder of the flight we just made conversation with each other until the pilot said “We will be arriving shortly in Atlanta”, which brought out the excitement that we had finally arrived in America. Our first ever trip to America was going to be one that we all were going to remember.

When we were got off the plane, our mouths dropped to how beautiful Atlanta was ... from the airport anyway. We went through immigration, got our bags and headed to the exit where a man was waiting to take us to Woodruff Residential Center. As soon as we stepped out of the air conditioned airport we were greeted by heat, it was so hot and humid. We gazed out the car windows with such excitement even though we were a bit jetlagged. We took pictures of things we would necessarily find in London, to keep as first time memories.

When we arrived at the woodruff centre, it looked as if no one was around, but we were filled with so much excitement to have noticed. A young man opened the door and welcomed us. His name was James Harris but his code name was Dewey Da Don, so we called him Dewey. He showed us our rooms were we left our bags, freshened up then went back to the lounge. We asked where the other international (Hong Kong and South Africa) youths  were because we knew that the local youths were due to arrive from Monday going and we were told they went to the President’s Circle Reception, which we would have attended if we arrived earlier. But we were fine with that because everyone was bubbling with joy and were just so excited to be there that we wanted to go out and explore Atlanta. Dewey kindly took charge and took us the park near the residential. It was so beautiful we saw fireflies which were amazing for us as we don’t have fireflies in London. We saw HUGE trees, a lake and a waterfall.

Once it went pitch black we walked back to the residential center and Dewey ordered pizza for us. The pizza was so nice but it was really thick so I only had 1 slice. After eating we relaxed in front of the TV and waited for the other internationals to return. After about 30minutes they came back and the first thing I heard when they walked through the door was “HELLO LONDON!!!!” and it was from Robin Gittens, Director of All Things Awesome. We introduced ourselves to everyone and began to build a relationship with every single one of them. The first night in Atlanta was amazing and we had already made strong friends. That night was hard for us to sleep because of the time difference. I only slept for 4 hours and couldn’t go back to sleep. So I just stayed awake until 6 and prepared myself to meet the host families.

Conference Day 1: Monday 18^th June 2012

That morning we left from the host family’s home and headed over to the Chik-Fil-A headquarters. Chik-Fil-A is a private American fast food restaurant which has been around since 1946. It was founded by Truett Cathy and his brother Ben Cathy.

Truett Cathy opened his first restaurant, The Dwarf Grill in which he later renamed the Dwarf House in Hapeville, Georgia in 1946 and developed the pressure-cooked chicken breast sandwich there. At the original Chick-Fil-A Dwarf Grill, in addition to the full-size entrances, there is also an extra small-sized front door. The original Dwarf House in Hapeville, Georgia is open 24 hours a day, six days a week, except on Sundays (when it closes at 4 a.m. on Sunday mornings and reopens at 6 a.m. on Monday mornings). It has a larger dine-in menu than the other Dwarf House locations as well as an animated seven dwarf’s display in the back of the restaurant.

Conference Day 2: Tuesday 19th June 2012

The weather was amazingly hot, unlike London. We woke up that morning to find out that some New Look youths from Detroit had arrived. We (Internationals) introduced ourselves to them and started to get to know each one another.

We had a 2 hour session on Passion & Purpose that the MITS (Moguls In Training) set up. There topic reflected on Youth against Stereotypes.

At 8 we all went over to the student lounge that had many

After spending an hour in the student lounge we returned back to campus and relaxed in the front lounge where everyone wanted to hear the differences between London and their country. It was a good way to interact with other youths as we go to know what they thought about our “accent” and background and how we related to them.

Inspired, Involved and Motivated in the Maldives.

In London 

Running the workshop in London 

loveLife Generation recently run a workshop for young people from the Maldives who were on a study tour of London. The group led by Democracy House and partnered with the British youth Council  were here in March 2012  and took part in many activities, events and met lots of different people to explore the British culture and learn about youth democracy here in the UK.  The highly motivated and enthusiastic group were selected due to their involvement in  different  youth democracy projects in the Maldives.

After getting a taste of what loveLife  do (by shouting the house down) at an event put on in East London for the group, we hosted a workshop for them.

Jasmine, Janine and Rukiyah ran a sample of the fun but thought provoking activities for the group. The aim was to look at how the young people see themselves, their roles in their own communities and how they can continue to achieve great things by working together when they got back to the Maldives.

Having explored opportunities and attitudes, the loveLife team steered the workshop to a game show in the effort to make individual teams Win As Much As they could.

‘If you want  to be incrementally better: Be competitive.

If you want to be exponentially better: Be cooperative’

After accusing teams of cheating and not playing fairly  (not helped by the ‘evil’ game show hosts who di not discourage the selfish ‘winning’ behaviour) the young Maldivians were left  with a sense of their greatness as a group made up of great individuals who could ‘Be the Change they Wish to see’ by recognising their inner leader and stepping up.

In the Maldives 

Having returned to the Maldives the excitable bunch got stuck right in to making a change and at the Learning to Live Together Training organised by Democracy House, they decided to run a workshop based on the loveLife Generation workshop they had taken part in whilst in London.

The facilitators in the Maldives, including Nawaf the lead facilitator who took part in the workshop in London,  was able to get tips, help and support from us in London to make this a really great workshop.

‘The session went much better than I expected and the outcome was inspiring’

Nawaf with the Vice president of The Maldives

Running the game show was quite the experience for him and left the participants sharing their stories reflecting on their own lives and seeing how much more they could do as young people.

On top of this the Vice President of the Maldives decided to pop by and check out what was happening. The team were not expecting his appearance but he was very impressed and thanked the facilitators for their excellent work.

‘Everyone was very impressed with the session, and the response was overwhelmingly positive. Thanks for all the help (loveLife) . I look forward to working with you someday’  

We really hope we can continue to work with awesome empowered young people where the domino effect of one workshop we ran in East London could be seen half way across the world. 

Your Team To Shine

Our group agreement 

Our tem name is “your team to shine” we are a group of 7 boys who are hosting a football tournament. The funding for our project will hopefully come from the charity run by usher (Ushers New Look Foundation)  which is £316 and an additional £300 pounds from a project run by O_{2 (O2 Think Big).}

Our project was based on what teenagers in Beckton and close areas do in their spare time or on the streets. So we decided to organise a 5-a-side football tournament where kids aged for 11-16 could enter as teams and play each other to become the best out of everyone. As well as this the winning team gets £10 JD vouchers plus a medal.

We are  organising our tournament in many stages. For example we had to secure a venue for our tournament, where we had 2 choices (our school astro-turf or a local field) then to organise equipment and schedules for what happens on the day.

some of us on the streets of Beckton to
find out if people are intersted

Mapping the area to see what exists

So far we have just given letters to our head teacher to see if the astro-turf is available for use for our tournament and we should receive a reply by the next 2 weeks. We will keep you updated on what happens. 

By Michael, Tyrrone, Praveen, Harris and Mason. 

Take Back the Future

This project, funded by The Big Lottery’s Awards For All scheme, worked with a mixed group of young people from diverse backgrounds and life experiences. It aimed to build confidence and self esteem; improve communication and social skills as well as support them in developing a product based on teamwork and creativity.

We worked with three cohorts of young people for 10 weeks at a time. Having taken part in loveLife workshops and activities, each group focused on creating a final product. These were: 

     Hidden Hero: A short film exploring the relationship between the visible vulnerability and inner strength of each individual which are often unseen by the world.

     Summer Mix: A music track with original lyrics celebrating a new generation of young people with a  positive attitude and lifestyle

-          Today: A spoken word piece set to music about individual reflections on what today means.  

Out of the 48 participants 24 gained a nationally accredited Youth Challenge Award and 3 completed their Duke of Edinburgh Award. 16 of the young people involved have continued to work with us even though the project ended

Greece - Creativity

Creativity Six was back in Greece in September 2011. loveLife groundbreakers aged 18 – 26 years spent ten glorious days with 120 young people from 12 EU nations developing the theme of volunteering and activism in creative ways.

We chose one creative medium from Performance, Dance, Web radio, Comics, Circus Skills, Arts & Crafts and Photography to create a presentation at the final celebration. We shared a truly inter-cultural experience of food, languages, humour, music, friendship and fun on the beech, in our wagons and at the barbecue available every night. Night ran into day and vice versa. Eyes were permanently glazed open as people didn’t want to miss out on another crazy experience.. there were so many!

We made so many contacts and developed so many positive relationships and networks across Europe –we’ve already been invited to Poland next year! Bring on Creativity 7!

Sweden - R.E.S.P.E.C.T Exchange

This very exciting exchange brought together young people from Sweden and young people in the UK on a boat in Essex for a week. The aim of the RESPECT exchange, funded by Youth in Action program, was to explore issues of gender equality, what it’s is like to be young and European.

The week was spent learning about each others cultures, values, attitudes and behaviour, improving communication, problem-solving and teamwork skills through personal development workshops, creative activities, outdoor education and visits to projects and cultural sites.

By the end of the week the bonds of friendship developed over active days and sleepless nights filled with laughter were strong and the tears when we said goodbye to each other were hard to hold back. The Swedish group is now working on a return visit in 2012. We can’t wait to see them again!

The exchange was organised by loveLife Generation and Kvinnors Natwerk in Sweden A short film titled 'The DNA of Europe - Young, Free and Different' and postcards reflecting the programme were produced to highlight the amazing experience and a blog was kept before, during and after. Check it out here.