I’m going to talk to you about what a changemaker is and a changemaker that I found interesting. I really struggled with this topic. I wasn’t sure what a changemaker was and why I’d want to know anything about changemakers. I’m 9 what kind of change matters to me. The teachers showed us pictures of all these really ‘important’ changemakers – Einstein, Kate Sheppard, a lot of them black and white’ boring pictures. I know that these people are really important and that they have made the world a different and better place… but what makes them important to me.
So to help me understand - I looked up what a changemaker is. I found out that it’s someone who does something to make a difference in the world, they don’t do it to be famous or to make money. They do it because they want the world to be a better place for everyone, not just those who have money or the ability to do things themselves but every single person in their community.
Then I googled ‘who is a changemaker’ and I found a whole load of old people and not many people that really interested me. So I googled NZ kids who are changemakers and I found Wildboy - Brando Yelavich! He looked very interesting – he is just a normal NZ’er like me and you…so I emailed him to find out more…and do you know what…he wrote back to me within 1 day…How cool is that…within one day he’d changed my speech…
Brando is a normal kid who changed his life because he didn’t think he fitted in at school, he wasn’t doing well at school, he did drugs and he wasn’t happy with his life or who he was and he decided he wanted to change his life – he had a dream to have an adventure but had never done it. He woke up one morning and decided enough was enough, he was only 19 and he figured that he would walk around the coast of NZ and start to live his dream.
Brando wanted to help kids follow their dreams and he wants to help people with their mental health, and when he caught everyone’s attention when he was on the news he told everybody about his trip and why he did it. He raises money so he can go and talk to kids about thinking outside the box, following their dreams, reconnecting with nature and most importantly how to look after their mental health. The funniest part of it all is – he said that when he told his mum and dad that he wanted to be the first person to walk around the coast of NZ – they told him it was a silly idea – but he did it anyway – and now he’s doing trips around the world raising awareness.
My message to you about changemakers is that there are all these important people in the world that have achieved huge things but the message I got from WildBoy is that change doesn’t have to be big that YOU can make a difference in the world – it's up to all of us to be the change in the world. Change our attitude to learning and life, appreciate what we have, give back, be better, enjoy life and try new things. Make other people happy and you will make yourself happy – then you can help make the world a happier place - and that’s got to be the best change any one of us can make. Remember that you are the change – we all need to go out now and make a difference!
