Hackney Pirates

Learning can be adventurous.

It can be mythical and magical and explorative. It can take you to lost islands, across forbidden borders and down deep to sunken treasures on the ocean’s sea floor.

In the traditional sense of the word, pirates have a reputation for robbery and piracy, acting outside of the jurisdiction of nations and governments. The Hackney Pirates in East London may not be law-breakers, but they are rebels.

They have instigated an ambush to inspire young people's imaginations (and grown-ups' for that matter!) in the name of creative learning.  

With an initial funding pool of just £500, Catriona Maclay, former secondary high school teacher, along with a team of other teachers and locals in the area, decided to run with an idea that had long occupied their thoughts.

"Like many teachers, I saw that some pupils needed more support than we were able to offer them during the school day. This is where we saw an opportunity to have a big impact using time and resources outside of the classroom," she explained.

“Some students, particularly during the transition years of 5,6 and 7, were under achieving and needed extra one-to-one attention, but with more than 500 students in my classes a week, resources and time were restricted.”

In 2010, Catriona left teaching and joined Ashoka, a global network of social entrepreneurs. While she aided men and women to birth projects, which challenged structures and systems by creatively offering another way, Catriona’s vision grew.

She researched and developed her idea. A project which helps students to learn and apply themselves with confidence outside of the classroom environment as young creative professionals, or as Catriona says, Young Pirates, with real world assignments.

These ‘Real world’ assignments include short plays published on t-shorts, a radio show about the day aliens came to town, a guide to Hackney uncovering the borough’s finest secrets, and a recipe book of the tasty treats in Dalston, to name but a few.

All imaginative endeavors, which un-tap local resources in fun and exciting ways.

Catriona remained connected to the young people she taught and listened to their needs. “ I knew the students needed consistent support and that Hackney had the potential wealth to back such a project.”

Tomorrow Today

Two women – both ardently committed to bringing hope to those forcibly made hopeless – have returned time and time again to Bogor, a city 60km south of Jakarta in Indonesia, to hear the real stories. Not the stories which trickle through our mainstream media channels with filters and agendas, but the actual on-the-ground stories of the people living a life in limbo.

Bogor is a hub for some 3,000 refugees and asylum seekers who have fled danger in Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Approximately 500 are children and youth.

While families wait to hear of their application status - which can often take up to several years - life is put on pause. Everything comes to a complete stop. With no rights to work or access education, families live in very basic conditions with no certainty regarding their future on a day-to-day basis.

Meet Laura O’Neill and Julia Frei from Australia who have worked extensively with displaced people over the last decade all around the world. Connected not only by their passion, but their deep compassion for refugees and asylum seekers in Indonesia, Laura and Julia are raising essential funds to establish a learning centre in the area of Cisarua for the displaced children and youth of Bogor.

I speak with Laura who shares why her and Julia are devoted to their project.

But before we begin, take a moment to watch this video Tomorrow Today. Meet the people of Bogor.

Laura, can you explain to me the situation for refugees and asylum seekers who find themselves in Indonesia? What rights – or more accurately, lack of rights - do they have access to? What is life like on-the-ground?

“Many asylum seekers have traditionally come to Indonesia with the intention to find a people smuggler to aid their journey to Australia by boat. Since the introduction of the current government's deterrence policy, many individuals and families are no longer choosing to take this journey. Therefore, thousands of asylum seekers are waiting in Indonesia for their refugee status determination outcomes. During this waiting period, adults are unable to work which means that it is incredibly difficult for people to support themselves and their families. Children do not attend local school and spend their days without purpose in small rented rooms.”

I know you have both have recently visited Bogor to meet families who have been displaced from their homelands. Tell me, what took you to Bogor?

“I first went to the Bogor area because I knew this area is a migration hub where many asylum seekers lived. After arriving to Jakarta, I met a young Hazara man who invited me into his community. I was a total stranger to these people yet I was hosted in absolute warmth and hospitality, sharing food, shelter, stories and tears with individuals, families and children. Their situation and stories moved me deeply and since then, Julia and I have both returned a number of times to develop our project – a learning centre for children in the area known as Cisarua - so we can find ways to give back to these people who deserve so much more.”

During your conversations with the community, what stories were shared? What were you shocked to learn?

“I learnt a lot about people who have been displaced from their homelands. People, who like you and me, have tapestries of history and dreams for their futures. I heard stories that force people to flee from war, terror, kidnappings, bomb blasts, persecutions, missing family members and the heartache of often leaving alone and carrying a burden of worry for the wellbeing and safety of remaining relatives.”

Monsters, young people and stories

Monsters need supplies if they’re to properly scare their victims. Whether that be a bottle of ‘Escalating Panic’ to instill an increasing sensation of pure fear among a crowd. Or maybe if you’re a monster, you’re shopping for ‘Fang Floss’, to remove all common forms of fang-matter, including: brains, gore, bones, viscera, entrails, seaweed, toffee, and much more. Or possibly a bottle of ‘Salt made from Tears of Laughter’ is what you’re after. Made from a century-old craft with the freshest human tears, which are gently boiled, crystallised, then harvested by hand and finally rinsed in brine.

These are some of the supplies you can purchase in the Hoxton Street Monster Supplies store – an ordinary looking shop, which upon expectation, is actually far from ordinary, unless you are in fact a monster. Different bottles and capsules hold normal household items including salt, olive oil, lollies and jam, but it is the stories on the labels that introduce you to a whole new world of imagination and creativity.

This is where storytelling comes to life.

“Behind a secret door accessed through the shop you will find us – the Ministry of Stories. We are a creative writing and mentoring centre for young people in east London. We use storytelling to inspire young people aged 8-18 years because it is our belief that writing unleashes their imaginations and builds confidence, self-respect and communication,” shared Lucy Macnab, the co-director.

Through workshops, publishing projects and one-to-one coaching - services which are provided by local writers, artists and teachers who volunteer their time and talent - young people are supported to express themselves through story.

But what really sets the MoS apart is the way the treat the young people in their care.

“We see each as a young creative professional,” said Lucy.

Blog-Hearted

I flick back to the pages of my diary, to April 2013, and read these words:

“I want to create a space for storytelling and exchange, with advocacy and human rights at its core. An online pocket for positivity, creative exploration, social inquiry, and community building.”

Then below, I read this note to myself:

“Remember Leah, to accomplish great things, we must not only act but also dream, not only plan but also believe.”

More than one year on, it’s almost surreal to see these early ideas scribbled among the pages of my ear-bent, post-it tagged, leaflet holding, multi-highlighted diary, which is falling apart at its seams (held together by a large pink elastic band) that has been lugged from Australia and across Europe, northern Africa and into Asia. This very diary has been my comrade on late night bus trips, during flight delays and rocky voyages, on sun soaked beaches and during days in the park, and of course, while sipping on many a chai in cafes and restaurants.

This diary carries with it the very beginnings of what is unraveling day-by-day: my dream, my vision, my penultimate idea.

Photo by Jason Di-Candilo @billthebadger

To create an online space, which shares stories of people, groups and projects that are BEING THE CHANGE we want to see in the world (as an appropriation of the Gandhi quote). Stories which aim to augment people's understanding of the world, bolster greater connection, inspire and build opportunities for collective action, and ultimately, radically change the world.

And what do you know? That’s what I’ve created. A feat aided and supported by the Bright-Eyed and Blog-Hearted online 8-week course by Rachel MacDonald from In Spaces Between.