you dream, I dream, together we dream

In 2011 while trekking through the Himalayas of Nepal with my friend Steph Reynard, we met Jeff. Actually first we met incredible flags describing children's dreams on them around a local school at nearly 4000m altitude. And it won our hearts.

We interviewed Jeff back then and he won our hearts too and since, life on the road has enabled me to become a more practical supporter of the project and put more energy in to what I feel is one of the great examples of how we can all contribute to a better world for our children.

I feel very grateful for Jeff's friendship and humbled to know someone so committed to creating a platform that empowers children to dream a better world for themselves, to walk the path of their hearts truth and enable Schools to help prepare students to be part of a world they WANT to be part of.

I am a big fan and hence, would like to share a short exchange I had with Jeff on the project and its expansion in to the digital realm (with this Kickstarter campaign), enabling a shared dream, bringing dreamers together in an increasingly digital world.

What is the Dream Flag Project?

The Dream Flag Project is an invitation for students to reach into their hearts, to find what Langston Huges calls their "heart melody," to write about it, often in poetry, to put that on a standard sized piece of fabric, make it sing with color, attach it to a line with others, and share it with the world.
That's the simplicity of the project and the reason it's travelled so far and so deeply--around the world, into innner cities, into remote villages, all over. But at a deeper level, The Dream Flag Project is a path for bringing dreams back into the classroom for a better world.

What does that mean?

It means that when you look at the way education used to work, at least in America and much of the world, "the dream" was to do well in school, get the opportunties that afforded, and "do better" than your parents--to have a material life that's fuller and materially easier. It may or may not have ever been true, but it was a motivating dream for many. And it doesn't work anymore. Students do well in school, go to college, and can't find jobs. They have fewer opportunities than their parents, not more.
The old system was built on a model of continuous growth, a stockmarket that always increases in value. Greater GDP every year. Continuous economic expansion. And, as Jane Goodall tries to point out to everyone who will listen, that doesn't work in an ecosystem. It's a recipe for disaster--a recipie for death.

And The Dream Flag Project? Making stuff out of fabric and hanging it? Where does that fit in?

The Dream Flag Project brings a different kind of dream back into the classroom. It brings a "we dream." It's fundamentally a group experience. Students, inspired by the poems of Langston Hughes or whatever else their teachers provide, are invited to articulate their dreams. Some are simple--like having a chicken on a Dream Flag from a village in Madagascar.  Some are poignant -like the wish for a cure for Alzheimer's from a student I taught this year who lost her grandpa to that disease. Many are global, like the a Dream Flag from a village in western Russia about hoping that people will be kind everywhere or for an end to wars. But all are linked to a line, done in a group, and connected to each other. As in powerful poetry, it's the metaphor of the project that carries the impact. Connecting to others. Knowing you're not alone in your dream.
As it says on our Kickstarter site, "Schools should help prepare students to be part of a world the WANT to be part of. The Dream Flag Project already helps students to imagine that world. DreamLine will help them make it their reality."

How?

Through network and connection, the greatest single benefit we have from the sytem of technology that's part of all of our lives. Connection to others who share a dream, brings strengh and potential for real change. So it's a very open forum. And it's in schools, not outside of schools. That means it's safe for children. The teachers are in charge of making it a safe space through moderated exchange.

What will happen if we create this global network of teachers and students around the world who share dreams?

We don't know. And that's a great thing. Starting The Dream Flag Project, we just invited teachers to have their students take part in a simple process of Dream, Create, Connect, and Share. It's an open framework that's been taken in so many directions, places, and extensions, we never could have anticipated them. In today's educational world, everyone wants to know about outcomes. Like children are being processed and we can predict what we'll turn them into. Like any organic growth process, the outcomes are not completely predictable. We're not machines. Yay! But the growth that comes from connections has tremendous potential to instigate positive change.

It's very simple really. When you look at hundreds and hundreds of Dream Flags, or thousands and thousands, not one, not a single one, zero--say they dream of wiping out all of the so-and-so's or beating everyone in a war. They're about health, about safety, about prosperity. And they're about peace and fairness and harmony. When you create a global way to help children see those goals as tenable, and when they have a structure that supports small actions toward them, who knows what will happen.

So we want to bring dreams BACK into the classroom--but for a better world, for a we-dream.

Please pledge your support for DreamLine here.

we're all mad here

This is my friend's brother Sam Reynard driving at 100 mph on a motorcycle while his friend drinks a milkshake and sports a 'Saved by the Bell' t-shirt.

When I saw this years ago, I thought - Sam's cool.

I guess I was right. Since then Sam has set up an enterprise that teaches kids how to make their own films. It is called; Mad Hatters Film Camp with a goal to inspire others on the art of film and video production, tools they believe students can learn to express themselves and use as a powerful tool of communication.

Based in Sotogrande, Spain, students learn about story, character and from day one the course offers a hands on film experience. After two weeks, they leave with a number of short films and students then can enter the films into festivals around the world boosting their creative talents and hopefully starting a hobby or even a career in filmmaking.


Mad Hatter's Film Camp 2014 from sam reynard on Vimeo.

Based on previous camps, both the students and instructors have grown from their experience together and I asked Sam Reynard to share.

"I, for one, have learned a lot about myself through passing my knowledge onto the students. I hope this camp in later years expands into a world-wide film camp. Where we have students stay over for 2 weeks a summer to create all types of film media and learn the importance of film and video production in an online media world."

When I asked Sam, 'what makes a good Director?' he replied;
"I think someone who can share their vision with others, be a fair leader and work harder than anyone else on set has what it takes to be a good director. The rest is practice, practice and more practice!"

We live in a world where content and more content can occupy our lives online and offline. What a wonderful endeavour it is to learn to be a creator of content to share with others and empower kids to feel the same... perhaps with less war scenes and of course many more happy endings!

If you have any rug-rat Spielbergs in the making that need to hone their craft, get them to Mad Hatters Film Camp for a tea party with Sam. Hopefully they won't be returned covered in milkshake.

a shining light for buenos aires

SOCIAL OPPORTUNITY GROUP IN ARGENTINA from Jessica M. Brookes on Vimeo.

A city that poked fun at all my Britishisms, has broken pavements decorated with dog poop and the most phenomenal architecture and devotional cemetery I have ever seen; I just couldn't resist a revisit to Buenos Aires this year when my Colombian visa expired and forced me out the country and what a blessing it was.

Besides meeting some beautiful friends; coffee connoisseurs, talented artists, English teachers and impressive cooks, I also met one lovely inspiring New Zealand gentleman who despite his humility, had an honest determination to make a positive difference on the world.

Ben and I met one evening for an ice cream and before I knew it I was enjoying a trip around the city, sneaking on to the rooftop of an antiquated building and pondering the world as we shared stories and inspirations under the moon.

Ben Whitaker is the founder of SOG; Social Opportunity Group and invited me to volunteer at SOG's commodore in the slums of Buenos Aires. Here we collected the children in the community, made healthy food for them, sang and helped them with their studies. It was a really beautiful and inspiring day.

Recently I asked Ben some questions on the project.

What is SOG and its vision?
Social Opportunity Group is an NGO that we started in 2013 to try and make a difference in the lives of people that need it. Our vision is to try and create sustainable social change in disadvantaged communities in South America.

Through building and maintaining relationships we are able to support communities in making educated decisions for themselves and their families, today and in the future.

I decided to start SOG because there was a burning need inside of me to offer support to people in a world where there is such an imbalance in quality of life and now that I am doing it, I have never been happier in my life. It is such a fulfilling and rewarding journey. It is a lot of hard work but worth every drip of sweat.

Tell us about the SOG Commodore? 
"Food for Thought" is our first project. We started it in December 2013. It is a nutritious food and creative activity program for around 25-30 children in a vulnerable area Gonnet, Monte Chingolo, Buenos Aires.

We have a regular stream of volunteers from Europe who are an integral part of the day to day running of the program.

We have three SOG staff members on the ground for this project; Valeria, Justine and myself. The reason that Food for Thought makes such a difference in the lives of these children is because of the dedication, love and commitment of those two ladies, Valeria and Justine. Their devotion to the children means that around 25 kids from Monte Chingolo have a better shot at life! They are amazing women to work with and together, we make a great team.

What made you decide to start SOG? Why is it important to you?
SOG is important to me because it is changing my life for the better every day. I now can't imagine life without it. SOG allows it's members to choose a different direction in life.

We are malleable which means we assess our effectiveness at every step of the process. This means that not only can we offer opportunities to others but there are endless opportunities for us to learn as well. I love that everyone involved with SOG gets the opportunity to learn. Learning is a fundamental necessity in life. That is why SOG is important to me.

What's been the biggest challenge for you? 
The biggest challenge for me is communication. Relationships are the base of SOG. Without relationships we have nothing. In a healthy relationship, communication is essential. My Spanish language skills are improving but they are definitely holding me back in truly creating deep and meaningful relationships within the communities that we work.
Spanish has been my biggest challenge but I am working hard to conquer it!

What do you enjoy most about the work you do?
The things that I enjoy most about the work I do are the smallest of things. A thank you. A smile. The smallest of changes in a child's attitude. A child that eats all the vegetables on their plate. A hug from a child I haven't seen in days. These things are so small but to me they are so big!

I thoroughly recommend any travellers looking to volunteer to reach out to Ben and his team and visit their special place on the outskirts of the city. 

For more information on SOG, check out their website. 

See my travel photography page for more photos.

time to go to the moon kids

When I was a child, like many, I had a fascination with the moon. I remember my Dad returning from a business trip with fluro painted rocks (obviously from his trip to the moon) that could glow in the dark. Mine was green and my brothers was, his favourite colour, orange. Together we would switch the lights off and pretend to be spaceman explorers discovering rocks on the moon. When I heard that an old school friend Craig Reeves had created a children's show about a man on the moon, obviously my inner child was very excited! 

His creation is so full of joy and imagination. Such a lovely little gift for the little rascals of our time. 

I asked Craig of Pickled Pepper Productions a few questions on their latest wonderful creation; Moon Man Dan.

For those who don't know - who and what is Moon Man Dan?

Dan is a Moon Man, the keeper of our Moon.  He lives in a ‘Luna-Caravan’ and has adventures with his Moon friends, The NoOms and the MoOnMoos.  At the end of the day, the Moon Clock chimes, and Dan readies The Moon for bed. He pulls the blanket that gives The Moon it’s shape, checks through his MoonMan Telescope that the Earth is happy and ready for bed, and when all is right, he turns on the big Moon light.

What's the inspiration behind the Moon Man Dan project?

Moon Man Dan was inspired by a younger me, having conceived the idea many years ago as a young boy looking up at the night sky. The notion of looking out at our Moon and projecting a character from an imagination spoke out to me. Personally, The Moon has been a place of wonder and mystery, echoed I am sure over the century’s by millions of stargazers to all who have stared up at the night sky.  Its simple and alien landscape is the perfect stage for our characters to engage with our young audience and bring the notion of a world beyond our own

How have children and adults responded to it?

Pickled Pepper Productions has had some fantastic and exciting feedback from both parents and children, it has simply been overwhelming to see and hear. During production of the concept and episode design, we presented Moon Man Dan to children of different age groups. This activity allowed us to understand where Moon Man Dan works or needed attention, since, the concept has seen many tweaks and alterations over the years to bring us to where we are today. Our research has ensured that sounds are stimulating, characters are engaging and that our concept achieves its goal of bringing The Moon and space to the attention of children through entertainment. We believe that this detail in our craft and development is key and why we have had such a great response to our work. 

What is next in store for Moon Man Dan?

Moon Man Dan, The Gravity Lever has been created with a personal budget and a team full of passion. We are children’s TV professionals with experience working on many award winning shows such as In The Night Garden, Peter Rabbit, Teletubbies, Shaun the Sheep, Octonauts and Abney & Teal to name but a few. With many of us having been made redundant from our long standing positions, The Moon Man Dan project has kept us together over the past three plus years and hopes to secure our continuing contribution to the children’s TV industry. We are currently collating our feedback in order to present to investors and commissioners from all walks of the children’s media world, both in the UK and internationally.

- I wish them all the best of luck! You can stay tuned with them on Facebook, Twitter and Youtube.

super madre!

One of the most inspiring people that I have met in my life has got to be my mother. She's a Venezuelan born lady who left her homeland at 19 to see the world. She lived in Perugia, Italy studying Italian and then made her way to England with hitch-hike galavants and her very own free spirited adventures before meeting my father and settling down to married life and babies. That's the short version. The fact that she was born in to a very poor world that many of us in the west can only imagine, living in a simple and humble family concrete bungalow where she supported her family financially at an age where many of us are still at school also adds to her incredibly amazing and inspiring life story.

Mum has come in and out of my travels and the evolution of our relationship and our experiences has been the most impressionable and powerful as I'm sure any one can imagine. She's a super woman and despite at times wishing for some motherly loving in moments of despair and sickness, I've learned to take care of myself which has been hard for us both to realise. As any traveler will know, those moments are the hardest and most loneliest while being far from loved ones has taken a lot of getting used to.

I asked Mum what the best advice she ever received was recently when she came to visit me in New York. Her response moved me so much and gave me another level of appreciation and respect for her that I had to share it.

My younger brother was born with a hole in his heart and the blood circulating his body in the wrong direction along with a couple of broken ribs. Intuitively Mum knew something was wrong with him, he wouldn't breastfeed, his skin was pale and yet every time she saw a doctor they told her he was fine. I am sure any parent will know how upsetting it feels to sense something wrong with one's newborn and being met with wall after wall of cynicism from those who are 'supposed to know'.  Eventually after tests, doctors realised my brother James had a serious heart condition and at 7 months old was to be one of the youngest children to have a heart by-pass in the UK. It was a tragic time for my family. Mum explained to me that as she prepared for her baby to go in to surgery the anaesthetist turned to her and gave her those words of wisdom that she still carries with her today; "Stop crying and get yourself together. If you want your boy to live you need to be brave and give him stregnth. Be happy and play with him and make sure that he can't sense that you're so distressed."

My brother's chances of survival were incredibly slim and yet to my mother's credit she prayed and prayed for his life, for that, I have the most amazing gratitude. My pops also agrees that it is thanks to Mum, that my brother is alive today - a friend I know I will have for life.

A pretty amazing woman if you ask me and an honour to share my life with. 

my new boyfriend. boo bear.

I was fortunate enough to visit a friend of mine who I met in Buenos Aires at TEFL teacher training. He lives in Vermont and his family kindly invited me to stay for a week while embracing some of the beautiful wonders of the area.

What made my stay more remarkable was that one member of the family, never knew that I was actually staying under the same roof. His name is Aiden, he’s 7 years old (due to be 8 on Christmas day), affectionately known as Boo Bear, and I evidently am his new girlfriend.

Boo Bear is such an interesting character. Hyperactive doesn't even cut it. In the mornings, as I stealthy lock myself in Kyle’s sister’s bedroom, I awaken to the sounds of a very loud child slamming doors and stomping through the hall. Hence, he is what in the modern world would be termed as “a special needs kid”. I seemingly have great taste in men.

Besides having great admiration for Boo Bears mother Nancy and his family who have resisted school teacher’s insinuations that he is a child that should be put on drugs or kicked out, I can’t help but feel that this is a story that many parent’s in this day and age are having to face.

He just doesn’t fit in the box.

Some say that trauma in early life, as in Boo Bear's time pre-adoption, can create challenges in development. This may be the case, however it can also be argued that there’s a box that hasn't evolved with the consciousness of the world around it.

This box being an educational paradigm saying that a child with special needs should be put on drugs, on therapy or socially excluded.

Don’t get me wrong, Boo Bear is certainly special. He craves a lot of attention and by being incredibly disruptive, creates stormy moments in the household and at school that require the family to delicately handle his need for control. Equally at school he has a ‘safe room’ and several teachers. Discipline is challenging for him because he wants to control every situation he’s in and when he feels he doesn't have that, things ‘get big’ which escalate and escalate to a point of self-destruction.

I am not a psychotherapist. A mere traveler am I seeing the world and all its shifts and madness, however, I hope that besides getting over me quickly enough once I go, I also hope Boo Bear finds his place in a world yet to evolve beyond medicating him and trying to force him in to a box.

The time we spent together among his toys (the 'softy party') renaming one “Booger Bear” and collaborating on a very eclectic salad will forever be treasured in my memory. Despite sometimes high-fiving my hand waaaay too hard, I mastered a trick to ensure the next girlfriend that comes along gets treated gracefully; "Darling, remember, I'm a flower".

Bless his heart... What a naughty little child he is. 

I want to share this alternative medication for certain special children as something to consider. I am not joking neither recommending beyond just something to think about.

For wild child reference (and laughs).