Creating Space Project

The Nuba Mountains are a remote region of northern Sudan, in South Kordofan. The Nuba are various Indigenous tribes who inhabit the region.

Abyei lies further to the south and was also part of South Kordofan. It is just north of the border with South Sudan. Abyei Area, rich in oil, is disputed territory between Sudan and South Sudan. I remember being in Nimule in 2007, listening to troop carriers in the night driving north to Abyei, when the Comprehensive Peace Agreement was allegedly in place.

Five women, Muslim and Christian, who arrived in Australia as refugees from these two areas talk to Jodie Heterick and I about their homeland. Jodie and I learn about the 99 mountains of Nuba, about building your home, scarification, dance, and war.

These are beautiful, strong women. From hiding in the rocks from aeroplanes dropping bombs on schools, to adapting to modern life in Khartoum where you must pay for things and are looked down on for your traditional practices, to building a new life in western Sydney, this is a fascinating insight into the tumult of seeking refuge.

Apologies, however, for the quality of the sound. With the number of children and number of languages* that the seven of us had between us, it is amazing that we got such a coherent conversation.

The Sudanese politicians referred to when the women are describing the topics of songs are:

Omar Al-Bashir - the President of Sudan;

Yousif Kuwa – the leader of Nuba;

Salva Kirr – the President of South Sudan;

John Garang – who led the Sudan People's Liberation Army in the 2nd Sudanese Civil War, and then was the First Vice President of Sudan until his death in a helicopter crash in 2005. He is considered a hero in Sudan.

* I only had one of those languages. I am in awe of these women with their 3 or 4 languages.

Alison Harrington is a formidable woman. She is a woman with a great deal to teach the world about creating a life of meaning and purpose. Alison is also a fabulous illustration of Carol Dweck's "growth mindset," which is about the underlying beliefs people have about learning.

A social entrepreneur, Alison tells the Creating Space Project a simple story about getting seniors to dance around nursing homes with silent disco technology.

"I'm really fascinated by how we can use this technology to improve the outcomes for people with dementia and basically make people healthier and happier."

Alison has a post-graduate degree in social impact.

"It's incredibly gratifying to do something where you effect the emotional outcome of people, particularly people who may not have great circumstances."

Alison has undertaken a number of entrepreneurial enterprises.

"It's always great for me when I'm creating something entirely new."

New business ventures are a risk. For some people, that is such a daunting prospect, that they retreat from their ideas. For Alison, it is a lure. She values testing the limits. She's a pioneer and she values failure.

"It's always a combination of fear and excitement. It's that trepidation, it's that stepping over the edge."

Alison explains that failure isn't something to avoid. It's a necessary part of growth. It's better to take an opportunity, to say yes and fail, than to let it go due to not knowing whether you can do it or not.

"Even if you tried doing it and you can't do it all, you might get 80% and everything is about learning."

Alison describes the sensation of taking the risk of moving forwards in business as like going over a cliff.

"The image I have is abseiling."

But, she says, not only do you have to go over the cliff, the more you do it, the more accustomed to the sensation you become.

Being a social entrepreneur is about creating businesses or value in the social sector, Alison says. Using innovation to improve the outcomes for another human being.

"It ultimately comes down to impacting another person at the most basic level."

It has taken Alison many years to get to where she is in her career now. She describes it as being a place where she is authentic to the elements that drive her: The creative, entrepreneurial side; and the social side, which is about providing something meaningful and purposeful for the world.

As Alison says,

"The funny thing is all the failures and all the experiences have all helped me, in a way, be where I am today."

Climate change is impacting agriculture.

"We know it's going to bring different weather conditions, and hotter conditions, less water, more freak events that will ruin crops eventually. It is scary but it's interesting to see the way it will react with our crops in the future."

Grace studied agriculture and now works as a microbiologist. She tests pharmaceuticals for the presence of bacteria.

"Which I'm hoping will give me experience for agriculture, because agriculture really relies on the use of microorganisms."

At the moment, agriculture uses nitrogen fertiliser to increase crop yields. The problem is that this is bad for the environment and can be costly.

Grace is interested in how bacteria can be used to meet that nitrogen requirement instead.

"Because there are lots of bacteria that instead of using oxygen to respire, like we do, use nitrogen. And the product of that kind of breathing is that they basically produce fertiliser."

She is fascinated by bacteria. They have interesting structures and colours.

"We grew one and it looked like this crazy alien spreading tree root shape… they're incredible."

Grace is also motivated to find ways to ensure food security, particularly under the changing conditions brought about by climate change.

"The environment is the most important thing that you deal with. It provides your land, your water, some of your fertiliser requirements. So obviously it makes sense to protect it."

A lot of research is required to map the effects of climate change.

"They see more changes in the life cycle of insects that could damage crops, and also the migratory cycles of birds, they're just seeing that here… subtle changes, but they're mapping these changes."

Grace explains that agriculture is also impacted by biotic stressors.

"It might be interesting to see how climate change might affect these types of beneficial bacteria as well. I guess, these bacteria rely on nitrogen in the air. So if that balance is thrown off by carbon dioxide in the air, I don't think it would be enough to do anything, but it might be interesting to see what happens to them."

Mikell works in technology.

"I've been in technology now for more than a decade professionally and this topic of harassment and sexism and discrimination in tech comes up repeatedly."

As a teenager, in a robotics competition, she and every other member of her all-girls team were groped in a human tunnel. They were assisted by their male mentors to effectively address this situation. It taught her about the value of men who are prepared to listen to and accept women's experiences.

"The reasons I'm in tech still and haven't kind of given up is that I have had very good allies. I have had men who they do their best to be empathetic, they do their best to support me. They take me seriously when I say there's a problem."

At university, studying engineering, Mikell made friends predominantly with males. She identified it as a coping mechanism for being in a male-dominated field. She looked down upon traditionally feminine ways of dressing and behaving.

"It took a real mental shift for me to basically deal with what was effectively internalised misogyny and be willing to be overtly feminine and be willing to be friends with women and to try to nurture those friendships."

Mikell has long prided herself on being skilled at dealing effectively with sexist men, in order to get her job done. It is a work in progress towards not taking responsibility for managing their sexist behaviours.

She reflected back to the experience of being groped as a teenager.

"Our whole experience really hinged on the fact that we were a group of women who had all just had the same experience. We talked to each other, we agreed that we weren't crazy, that this had actually happened and we went together as a united front to deal with it."

Mikell still experiences gratitude to the young men who were so supportive of the adolescent girls. She also draws the conclusion that in addressing sexism and harassment, male allies and female solidarity is crucial in effecting change.

"There is strength in numbers in these kinds of situations and not allowing women or other minorities in tech to leverage that is a dangerous thing."

"Being an Aboriginal midwife is my absolute passion."

Leona McGrath has just participated in the Walk with Midwifes, as part of closing the gap for Indigenous health outcomes in Australia.

"When I had my own children, I often say that if I had another black face in the clinic, in the birthing room, on the postnatal ward, I know my experience would have been a whole lot different."

Her reason for wanting to become a midwife was to look after her own people. Leona was aware of the health disparities in Australia. But she was horrified to learn, at university, just how bad infant and maternal Aboriginal health outcomes are. This knowledge spurred her on, a single parent, to complete her Bachelor of Midwifery.

Leona's family story shapes her as the strong and passionate person she is today.

Her great-grandmother, a Woppaburra woman from Great Keppel Island, was taken to the mainland in chains.

"I say I'm the person I am today because of her. There's something that's come from my Big Nanna."

Her mother, a beautiful and incredibly strong woman, was born in 1952 and grew up at risk of being taken from her family by the government, as part of the Stolen Generation.

"My grandfather just kept moving everybody around. Because he… didn't want them taken. And a lot of horrible things happened to my mum."

It was a privilege to sit and listen to Leona talk. The sense she evoked of her family and culture was powerful, a spiritual experience. As she said,

"We wouldn't be here without our elders and how strong they were."

Kath has a costume shop in an Australian country town. She sells costumes, armoury, live action role play gear, weapons, pop culture and other paraphernalia. She loves cosplay and the way it allows you to express yourself and be who you are.

She talks in this interview about some of the factors that have enabled her to succeed in running her own business, namely the support from her family. Kath is passionate, she's a hard worker, and she's comfortable taking risk. Her mother, who died a few years ago, raised her to "not pass through life."

Kath is teaching her kids that they can do anything they want in life. But, she acknowledges that this is a measure of privilege, as are the circumstances that have allowed her to succeed in business.

"I would like them to follow their passions and not be put in a box and whatever they want to do in life, they can do. Once again, I wonder whether I'm raising them that way because I have been a little bit privileged. I feel safe that they will be safe to do that."

Sophie is part of the Youth Food Movement - which is about providing a way for young people to have conversations about food and health, to inspire them to eat better, buy and waste less, share more and enjoy the food experience.

Sophie had a "negative relationship with food" as a child and teenager.

In her mid-twenties, she began caring for a young girl with Type One Diabetes. This afforded Sophie new insights into her food choices.

A curiosity as to where our food comes from, how well it is produced, and how it can be grown, led her into studying Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security. Her hope is to "transform my negative relationship with food in the past to something where I could really help people."

Sophie is passionate about food security, which she describes as when people "have access to the types of food and the amounts of food they need to lead a happy, healthy active life."

The Youth Food Movement, for Sophie, is about addressing food security:

"There seems to be a lot of problems at the moment which are really centred around food. Food waste and then lack of food security. People are obese, people are getting chronic diseases, there are lots of issues revolving around food. They're not easy to fix but they can be. The Youth Food Movement's largely centred on preventing these problems."

As Sophie says, "I do really want to make a positive difference in people's lives. Because otherwise, what's the point? What are we doing here?"

Anna Chisolm is a whole food plant-based health coach. Formerly a social worker, she uses her skills to help people, especially those with chronic health conditions, transition to diets that help them heal their bodies.

"If it was as easy as getting the information, we'd all be fit and healthy. My skills in counselling and social work have really played a big role in why I've been successful as a health coach – I can really help people with that behaviour change."

She moved from social work into this area because she had embraced this way of eating herself and found herself to be so much healthier and happier. It came naturally to her to want to educate others on this healthy lifestyle.

"So important for me to do something I'm passionate about and believe in myself and trust my gut instincts."

Sr Monica is the leader of the Sisters of St Joseph in Australia. She tells a simple story of an encounter with a man on a train. From this story, emerge themes of dignity, courage, the looks of other people, the ongoing work of seeking non-judgement, and how it is the unfamiliar place that is the catalyst for growth.

MC Free, a remarkable young woman from a Cook Island/Tongan background, works for Rap 4 Change, a hip hop outreach educational program in the outer western suburbs of Sydney, Australia. She works with all sorts of kids – disabled, transgender, diverse cultural backgrounds, both in the community and in juvenile detention. Her personal background, of abuse and living on the streets, gives her common ground to reach out to these kids. Free's passion in life is helping them discover their worth.