Well, it seems that the universe has an understanding of the types of projects I would be over the moon to work on. One I’m currently a part of is an educational app for Australian children, put together by an incredibly worthwhile charity, All Together Now. My involvement is to design characters and provide illustrations for various scenarios based on exclusion around racism.

A bit more about the app: “A recent study of NSW teachers’ found that only half of classroom teachers had undertaken professional learning around incorporating anti-racism strategies into lessons, with 20% not having taken any professional learning in the area of multiculturalism. 60% of teachers agreed that implementing anti-racism strategies are effective for fostering cultural inclusiveness in school….In response to the findings in our research and development phase, All Together Now will be creating an evidence-based app that will teach students in Year 2 (8 years old) and Year 4 (10 years old) how to identify and challenge non race-based and race-based exclusion….”  You can read more about the whole project here.

Personally, I was on the receiving end of some pretty harsh bullying at primary school. It hurt in more ways than one. But the sad thing is, I can remember instances where I joined in on jokes and jaunting of other children who weren’t Caucasian, (because they weren’t). It’s incredibly shameful to admit. If I could take it all back, I would. So I guess the next best thing for me to do is to contribute to positive change, now.