“ I was born in Johannesburg, South Africa to Polish parents so from the age of 5 we would move between Poland and South Africa every 3 to 5 years until my 20’s. I got to grow up in these two very contrasting cultures, weathers and languages. By the time I was 20 I had spent 10 years in both countries.
I felt pretty Polish and pretty South African and I came to Australia. When I arrived I thought, Wow! I can really make a home here as there are so many people from around the world making this their home. It was the perfect place. My father had Immigrated a number of years before so I joined my Dad who has since gone back to Europe.
I did my tertiary education in Sydney. I studied some film and fine arts and eventually completed a teaching degree in Primary School education. I taught around Sydney and in England and quickly realised I didn’t want to teach main stream schooling. I started looking out for alternative education projects. One thing led to the next and I found myself doing residential care and high risk youth mentoring. That work was really important to me. I also ran specialist workshops in schools, things like recycling instruments and other weird, interesting stuff. I was always the fun guy and the kids loved it. I really picked up that a lot of schools are great at teaching how to not want to learn. I didn’t want to be the policeman or the guy that comes in to 30 kids and says everybody shutup and sit down. Education is about attention really so ratios of 1 – 30 are extreme and you can’t give the same attention that every child deserves.
I did a long Yoga course in Sydney and started teaching Yoga. Through that I connected with a lady who was instrumental in running Kinma in Sydney which is an alternative to democratic school. Julie and I connected very strongly on education and social projects. Fast forward 3 years we decided to open a community learning space and we wanted to do it in a place where the social eco system was fertile so it was a choice between Katoomba and The Northern Rivers. I had spent some time here and absolutely fell in love with the Rivers. It’s an incredibly beautiful and abundant land and our communities thrive on that.
We began in Mullumbimby 2 years ago at a place called The Commons. A year later we opened the doors to what we called Wildspace which was a community learning space for the people by the people. By then we had a great relationship with the community. We were running events, sharing meals, activist projects and running conscious cinema where we would put on Doco’s and have discussions after the film.
We had such a learning curve doing that project on all levels. How to sustain a place financially, how to keep it non-profit, how to keep an ethos and the values while still navigating capitalist life. At the moment we are in limbo, though we are preparing projects and running workshops we don’t have a physical space.
That’s one side of my story and the other side is what I’m doing here. When I arrived here I really wanted to work on some kind of community project and I eventually saw an ad for a position with Social Futures. It was like I had written the position for myself. It was for a youth group facilitator for creative projects that involve technology use and re-engaging kids with education outside of their school environment. I became the facilitator for a youth space called the Club House which is at the bottom of the Conservatorium in Lismore. It’s a youth space which is open to any teenager in the area to come in and make use of the incredible resources we have here. Everything from 3D Printers, Mac Computers with heaps of software, lots of music making gear and instruments, a big craft section. We have a virtual reality set. The kids can cook here. It’s amazing!
The Club House is an international network which started at M.I.T in the States. It was an initiative to offer minority groups access to high-end technology. There are about 100 of these in different countries and we are a part of this network. It’s free and it’s open from 3.30 – 6pm in the evening every week day. Kids can come in and hang out. It’s a place for kids to come and be themselves and meet other kids and engage in projects they are interested in. We are also unpacking a lot of social issues and I get to be there navigating these issues with the kids. I feel so connected to the kids and general culture of teens. The age is 12 – 18. For a lot of kids it is a respite from home life which may be turbulent at times. It’s a space that is their space. If they want to cook, they cook. I see kids show their best colours when they are given their freedom. I give a lot of trust and faith with kids now. There is no better way to be with kids than ..’I trust you can be the best you can even though sometimes you might not live up to that, I will not fail in trusting that you can.’ Often they return with absolute gold. I love it!
I love Lismore. It’s a town that opened itself up to me. When I first arrived here I found that most of it’s magic lives under it’s skin. Once you start diving into the weird and quirky projects and spaces like the Back Alley Gallery, The Overtopping that they had over there, Dream bigger and lots of cool people are doing amazing things but you won’t know until you start getting involved. It’s a place that will open to you if you are open to it. If you get involved, it will involve you. You can’t just come here and think you know Lismore when you’ve just rocked up for a day. It has incredible colours. You need to give yourself to this place and you will know it.
Coming from living in Mullum I now live in Clunes so Lismore is my town. I love the Northern Rivers but I really believe in what’s happing in Lismore and I want to add that Lismore has a resilience unlike many other towns. The floods that come through, people have to pull together and there is this can do attitude. You see it when times get tough. People show up and get on with it. People help each other. It’s epic. The flood of 2017 was one of the saddest and happiest things I’ve witnessed. The feeling of togetherness was absolutely heartwarming and the devastation was so sad. Lismore has that and you won’t know till you’ve lived here.”
https://www.facebook.com/ClubhouseLismore/