Impact on My Life

I was part of a group who won an award at the impact awards tonight.  We received our award at the Scottish Parliament from the MSPs who are responsible for adult learning.

My group's stated purpose is to end homelessness by transforming lives and preventing others from becoming homeless. One of our key aims is to influence the external agenda so homelessness is eliminated and homeless people are integrated into communities. 

Not an easy task so we started working on a new  project called Home- A member-led multi-media theatre performance designed to:

*   Raise awareness of the situation for people who are homeless living in  
     Edinburgh
*   Allow members to find creative expressions of their lived experience.

It wasn't easy and sometimes we just wanted to walk away but our learning programme transformed us into a polished group who learned to write better, speak better and present our case well.
 
The results have exceeded the expectations of all of us 18 cast and crew. 
After a sold out first night Archie, one of the cast members and writers, said, “we were expecting folk to drift away due to the nature of the people in the group, but no one has, we’ve all stuck with it”.

And after a recent successful three night run the group will explore options for the future which may include: drama related qualifications, going on tour, or performing at the Edinburgh Fringe.  We were advised that our work really fitted the bill for the new statement of ambition in adult learning-because we're focusing on being learner centred.  It's nice to know we get it right now and again.

'A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.' 
Jackie Robinson


Who knew I could have such an impact on others?