Active Horizons Digital Programme

It’s an exciting time for us Active Horizons as we’ve been busy planning a new programme of digital events to both complement our annual leadership programmes and our new digital platform.

Whilst we soft launched in April, the site has slowly come into its own during lockdown, and will continue to play a focal part for both online events and our traditional Hub activities once lockdown is lifted.

Calling young entrepreneurs

We kicked off our Young Entrepreneurship campaign on the 8 June which we were proud to present 14 year old baker and founder of ‘Cakes by Ruva’, Tasha Bvunzawabaya. Tasha did an IG take over of the Active Horizons account Instagram account, and was interviewed by Active Horizons Benjamin Hamandishe on a Facebook Live the same week, where they discussed how she got into her business and why. The campaign was conceived to inspire other young people in their passions and interests, and we’d love to hear from anyone else who is interested in taking part. Please get in touch.

Know Your Rights

At Active Horizons we always try to respond quickly to the changing conversations in our communities. As a response to the Black Lives Matter protests that took place around the UK recently, we hosted ‘Know Your Rights’, in partnership with Africa Youth Arise.

The talk was set up as a safe space for young BME people to air their concerns about their treatment by the authorities and society generally. The event also aimed to teach young people about their rights and open up conversation about peaceful protest, debate and lobbying to implement positive change.

On the panel sat Human Rights Barrister Leo Kachingwe, Superintendent Dennis Murray,  and Youth Worker Benjamin Hamandishe.

Many youngsters in the group felt frustrated and hopeless, particularly after seeing the media coverage of the protests. They were able to ask how ‘Stop and Search’ works, and why it seems to focus on young black boys so much. We were proud of the youngsters in the group for being brave and articulating their concerns so well, and overall we felt it was a positive space to allow the children to express themselves honestly and openly.

Yeukai Taruvinga, Director and Founder of The Hub at Active Horizons said: “It wasn’t an easy session, but it was vital for them to be able to have frank conversations and talk about the affect of discrimination on their lives. Children are exposed to such strong messages in the media, it’s difficult to navigate life anyway, especially when the portrayal of young black people is often not hugely positive.”

“The best part of this was giving a platform for them to speak directly to decision makers. They were able to hear directly from the police, not only on the importance of policing, but to address the relationship breakdown between the police and young people. They got to say how they felt and also hear what the police need to do to carry out their job.”

Superintendent Dennis Murray asked anyone who ever gets stopped by the police to remain calm, but advised that anyone who feels their rights have been breached, that they have the right to ask questions and to video the event.

Yeukai Taruvinga commented: “During this time of social distancing, our young people need us more than ever, they need feel supported so they can address the affairs affecting them directly. I felt it was overall a very positive discussion.”

Leadership sessions

Our learning from the Know Your Rights talk has now been built into our existing Leadership Programme. Sessions will be run to include the aims of the Black Lives Matter movement, knowing your rights with the police, and teaching skills to effect change through media, lobbying, leadership and social engagement.

On the 6th July Multi-media news reporter, Abbianca Makoni, took part in a talk on youth leadership in the media. Abbianca, who has written for the Evening Standard, PA news agency and US outlets, specialises in writing about community affairs, gangs and social mobility and discussed her work in the media with Active Horizon’s own Benjamin Hamandishe. During the talk she discussed her interesting entry into journalism, how to get into the field through apprenticeships, as well as the issues she covers in journalism to bring BME stories to light both in the UK and abroad.

You can view the session on our Facebook page.

I CAN – Launches July 2020

On the 20th July, we’ll launch the I CAN program which aims to develop skills for young people with entrepreneurial flair, but do not have the opportunity to do so because of limited resources and support. This is a new part of our Development and Leadership activities, and is a pilot phase for us. It currently focusses on three elements: Learning, Mentoring and Seed Fund. However we expect to build on this as we progress through the year.

See our dedicated event page for more details

New processes, security measures and how to sign up

Social distancing has pushed Active Horizons to further explore online options and as such we’d like to assure parents and children of the security measures we have in place for our Zoom meetings. We have the paid version of Zoom which has enhanced security features, and before children attend sessions, we give them the login details just an hour before the events start.

Children need to get consent from their parents to sign up to events, and we’re confident that being online, parents and carers will get more exposure to what they’re youngsters are engaging with through Active Horizons.

We’re also looking into introducing membership numbers so as no personal details need to be given on sign-up forms going forwards. Watch this space.

How to support Active Horizons work

Last month we were touched to receive an email from five young adults living locally who decided to fundraise for Active Horizons in solidarity with Black Lives Matter. The news came as a complete surprise, as none of these people have ever been members of The Hub, but have heard of our work.

Each day Isabella, Amy, Elyse, Helena and James ran five kilometers throughout June, to reach a combined target of 750km. The money they raised wias split between the Black Lives Matter cause and Active Horizons. At the time of writing, they’ve already raised 130% of their target at £1,275.

If you’d like to contribute, you can still donate.

writen by Yeukai Taruvinga

writen by Yeukai Taruvinga

Yeukai is the founder of Active Horizons. Yeukai believes that everything she has learned can (and should) be shared to help those without the means to change their situations.

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