"All my life I have viewed the future the ‘western’ way – looking forward to the future and leaving the past behind me. But through this tool I realised the importance of facing my past to guide my future actions. It is this way that I can learn from mistakes and reflect on my successes in order to make positive and meaningful change."
The shift came from the kaupapa Māori ideas built into Mō Āpōpō, including shifting time horizons and thinking across generations. In one activity, Lexi was invited to close her eyes and walk backwards; to imagine the future she wanted to pass on to those who come after her.
Lexi is a member of Students Against Dangerous Driving (SADD) in her rural Canterbury community where crashes are common. She dreams of a 2040 where these rural roads are safe because everyone understands the risks of dangerous driving. Using Tārai Anamata, an imagination tool, she mapped out what she could do about it, and the smallest ideas were the ones she was most inspired by – because she could start them today. "I was surprised with how many ideas I came up with and how many of them were already very achievable. It made me realise that there is so much I can already do to spread road safety awareness, and that not every action has to be big."
Lexi ran impaired driving events with students in schools across her community, where they were invited to wear impairment goggles to get a sense of what driving under the influence is like. "I hope that the events our SADD group have run have changed the mindset of at least a few when it comes to being a safe driver; because even if not all take in our messages, some is better than none. And that is how reaching safer roads in 2040 will be reached – not just by big actions, but the small ones too."
"All my life I have viewed the future the ‘western’ way – looking forward to the future and leaving the past behind me. But through this tool I realised the importance of facing my past to guide my future actions. It is this way that I can learn from mistakes and reflect on my successes in order to make positive and meaningful change."
The shift came from the kaupapa Māori ideas built into Mō Āpōpō, including shifting time horizons and thinking across generations. In one activity, Lexi was invited to close her eyes and walk backwards; to imagine the future she wanted to pass on to those who come after her.
Lexi is a member of Students Against Dangerous Driving (SADD) in her rural Canterbury community where crashes are common. She dreams of a 2040 where these rural roads are safe because everyone understands the risks of dangerous driving. Using Tārai Anamata, an imagination tool, she mapped out what she could do about it, and the smallest ideas were the ones she was most inspired by – because she could start them today. "I was surprised with how many ideas I came up with and how many of them were already very achievable. It made me realise that there is so much I can already do to spread road safety awareness, and that not every action has to be big."
Lexi ran impaired driving events with students in schools across her community, where they were invited to wear impairment goggles to get a sense of what driving under the influence is like. "I hope that the events our SADD group have run have changed the mindset of at least a few when it comes to being a safe driver; because even if not all take in our messages, some is better than none. And that is how reaching safer roads in 2040 will be reached – not just by big actions, but the small ones too."
