By Andrea Ferrari - Nambucca Valley News of The Area

Motivated to make change, 24 young local people from Bowraville participated in an action-oriented leadership workshop run by OzGREEN’S Youth Leading the World team.

They were inspired after being involved in water testing of the Nambucca River with OzGREEN and

Nambucca Riverwatch, where a group of 60 conducted water testing and assessed river health around

Bowraville.

“Volunteers from Nambucca Riverwatch, which is supported by a start-up grant from the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal, have been consistently finding faecal coliform present at unsafe levels over recent months,”OzGREEN Co-founder Sue Lennox told News Of The Area.

“Faecal coliform being present indicates there is poo in the water.

“It could be from sewage, warm bloodedanimals or birds.

“Consequently, there’s a real risk of waterborne

diseases,” she said.

“We felt it important to do some follow up testing around Bowraville and invited local schools Bowraville Central School, St Mary’s Primary School and Tallowood Steiner School to get involved.” A cohort of 24 came from across the three local schools and gathered at the end of July at Bowraville Theatre for a two-day workshop hosted by OzGREEN with the objective of reviewing findings and creating an action plan for change.

The project is supported by a NSW Government Regional Youth Grant.

Emerging tired but delighted after the two-day leadership workshop, Sue said the experience had been incredibly heartening. “It’s so rewarding to see them face up to what’s going on and get their heads around it, work out what

they want to do to bring about change, and then go on to do something about it,” she said.

“What I love about this process is that we have absolute trust in their capacity to be change leaders and trust in their local know-how.

“They are the best ones to work out what to do,” she said.

At the end of the leadership workshop, a list of six main concerns was decided on by students. Students voted to continue the collaboration of the three schools.

“Their first project is to organise a river health day which will take place at the end of this school term.

“They want to do some weeding, tree planting and more water testing,” said Sue.

In addition, students voiced their intention to educate their classmates on these issues. The group aims to introduce a waste minimisation program at school and to plant vegetable gardens.

“It was wonderful to work collaboratively with teachers from local schools,” said Sue.

“The teachers really valued the students’ getting involved in real world STEM activities,” said Sue.

Linda Burke from Tallowood Steiner School said, “It was a big experience for the children in so many

ways and they returned to school inspired and ready for action.”

Alice Magner from St Mary’s Primary School said, “Such a great experience for our kids.

“I look forward to continuing this journey in the coming months.”

By Andrea FERRARI