Youth social justice conference a first
Jason Poutawa leads the youth panel as part of the Salvos Ambassador Movement Youth Social Justice Conference held at Auburn recently. (Photo courtesy of Salvos Ambassador Movement)
Over a hundred Sydney students learned more about the world of social justice – and how they might make a difference – at a first-ever youth justice conference in March.
A total of 130 year 9 and 10 students from 20 Sydney schools attended the first Salvos Ambassador Movement Youth Social Justice Conference at Auburn Salvation Army.
Throughout the day, the students moved between three different workshops, focusing on the areas of youth homelessness, human trafficking and refugee issues.
Salvos Education Coordinator Bee Orsini says the underlying message in these workshops was challenging the stigmas and stereotypes that exist around these issues.
“We started from basic education to empowering the attendees on what they could do about it on an individual level, more so than on a big scale,” says Ms Orsini.
Café Horizons, which is part of Youth Link, provided a catered lunch, before the students split into two separate groups for the afternoon.
Half of the students watched a performance by the Milk Crate Theatre group. The members of the Milk Crate theatre group have all experienced either homelessness or social marginalisation.
Their performance encompassed a mixture of real life stories from the ensembles own lives, and everyday situations that could go horribly wrong. After the performance, students were invited on stage to act out some of these situations, to see how they would react, and if their actions would be wise given the circumstances.
The rest of the students attended a youth panel on leadership in everyday life. The panel consisted of a Salvos youth ambassador, an Edify intern, a long-term volunteer and Salvationist, and an external student who had an incredible HSC assignment on human trafficking where she was able to help save girls from a brothel through money she raised.
Salvos Youth Foundation Territorial Coordinator Jason Poutawa says the conference was a great success. He believes the Salvos ambassadors movement is an innovative platform to shape and impact the future of our young leaders, and to influence school communities to engage in the social issues that surround us.
While educating the students on these serious issues was the focus, there is hope the students have been exposed to ways they can make a difference in their lives.
“Sitting in a workshop is not the only way to do advocacy and is not the only way to do social justice. I think in the creative space is where we might explore next year,” says Ms Orsini.
As well as coming up with new and innovative ideas for next year, the team hope to be able to provide teachers with professional development, to help encourage more school communities to attend the junior social justice conference.
“We had a lot of schools that had been connected with The Salvation Army for a long time, who were there to show their support. And there were some schools who hadn’t engaged with The Salvation Army at all,” says Ms Orisni.
“There was an energy and vibe in that space that is very hard to articulate, but it was something that we’ll certainly remember for a long time and we really hope that the students do as well.”
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