Back after a short break while we were out in the Northern Territory hiking on country along the Larapinta Trail. Soooo much to share from our transformative week without signal or devices, but I probably need a bit longer to be able to find the right words, so I’ll kick off this week with a bit of a hybrid #yaysofourlives episode that we recorded before I left.

While I know I just set you up with the three sections for this segment, this week’s guest is so fascinating that our interview was almost as long as a regular episode (and probably should have been), so today’s episode is all about the Yayborhood Watch. Our wonderful yayborhood member, Stephanie Ippel, submitted the most amazing nomination for her fellow Phillip Island local, Mat Bowtell.

You may have seen the video already of our visit to his factory on social media (and if you haven’t, watch here), but Mat goes into more depth here about starting Free 3D Hands to make assistive hand devices using 3D printers at a fraction of the cost which he then provides FREE for children around the world. His aim is to make these items at 1/1000th of the cost changing the terrifying static that 90% of the over 1 billion people in the world who needed assistance devices aren’t currently able to access them. The factory is solar powered ad the printers use recyclable plastic, recently advancing to even producing a bionic arm that costs just $100 versus the $30,000 that some equivalents cost to make. And it all unravelled during a pivot from a redundancy - the best kind of yayborhood story. I hope you enjoy as much as I did!

And thank you so much again Stephanie for the nomination, I’m relying on you all to dob in your local heroes (especially those who would never nominate themselves for the spotlight they and their work deserves), so keep your eyes peeled! Please email [email protected] with your nominations...

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