I often get asked who inspires me and who are my role models. At the top of my list is always Spencer West . I live by his motto, “No can’t. No won’t. Only how.” Spencer has lived his life redefining possible. In the past few years he has climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa; he has walked from Edmonton to Calgary and has inspired hundreds of thousands of people around the world. Spencer is getting ready to set out on his next adventure: the We Create Change Tour. A 10 week cross-Canada bus tour visiting schools and meeting students all over the country to hear about the change that they are creating – locally and globally. The We Create Change Tour is supporting Free The Childrens’ Year of Education and will honour, celebrate and motivate students, schools and communities who have committed to build a school in one of Free The Children’s developing communities. I am so excited to share that I will be joining Spencer on the We Create Change Tour! I have had an an amazing year speaking at We Day – sharing Malala’s story, my spark and my belief that we are never to young to make a difference. What is different for me about the We Create Change Tour is that we are going to be visiting and spending time at so many schools and meeting so many awesome young change-makers that are taking action. Wait, there’s more. At a few of the We Days, a band named Neverest performed. Neverest is a melodic pop boy band, they write the hit songs ‘Rewind’ and ‘About Us’. They are so kind, funny and overall, awesome guys. They are also coming on the We Create Change Tour!
A few weeks ago we all got together and did voice-overs for this amazing animated video for the tour. I hope that you like it.
In the coming weeks there will be many more exciting announcements about the We Create Change Tour – special guests, planned school and community visits and so much more. Today the official tour website was launched and that’s where the updates will be as well as blogs posts, photos and videos from all of us from the road.We’ll also be really active in social media – it’s gonna get loud. I want to thank RBC and Ford for being such great sponsors to make this tour happen. I hope that you’ll share in our adventure online.
My History with We Create Change
Last year, I launched We Create Change at my school and another school in my neighbourhood. It was the first time that I spoke on stage in front of a large audience. I told them: $25 dollars in pennies gives clean water for one person for life in a developing country as part of Free The Children’s clean water initiative. Students from across Canada collected 140 million pennies – that is 1.4 million dollars! All of those pennies is equal to the weight of 64 full-grown African Elephants! If the pennies were stacked up on each other it would reach the International Space Station SIX TIMES! The overall impact is that 56, 000 people got clean water for the rest of their lives. Way to go Canada! When Free The Children was first founded, both Craig and Marc just wanted to build schools. But when they built a school, nobody was going. They realized that there were so many reasons that the kids were not in school and it wasn’t just because there wasn’t a school in their community. Kids were not healthy – they were too sick to go to school. Children were needed by their families to help with chores and work. Girls needed to collect water for their families and community – sometimes this took many hours. Seeing that there were all of these other reasons – barriers they called them – to education, Free The Children created Adopt A Village which looks at the big picutre of what the community needs and works with them to help them get there. There are five pillars in Adopt a Village: Water, Food, Health Care, Income and Education.
We Create Change and The Year of Education
This year, instead of water, Free The Children is focussed on education. Their goal is to build 200 schools in one year. They have a campaign to help kids to fundraise for a school still called We Create Change but with a different concept: $20 dollars in coins buys one brick and 500 bricks builds a school. $10, 000 dollars is the amount of money needed to have that many bricks. That might seem impossible but every school who signs up for We Create Change has up to 3 years to build a school. So don’t worry, everyone has lots of time. You can get involved with We Create Change by signing up for the camaign to open the doors to education for so many kids!
Facts about education around the world:
- More than 120 million children around the world are denied the basic right to an education.
- 57 million primary school-aged children not in school, and 31 million of them are girls.
- 32 million kids worldwide has repeated a grade.
- Two-thirds of those illiterate in the world are women.
What having an education means:
- Children who are born to educated mothers are less likely to be malnourished.
- Education empowers women to make healthy decisions about their lives.
- A child born to a literate mother is 50% more likely to survive past the age of 5.
- A girl with an extra year of education can earn 20% more as an adult.
- Educated women re-invest 90% of their income for their family. Men re-invest 30-40%.
Imagine a world where all this happens. That is why this year We Create Change is dedicated to education. After a girl or boy has been educated and has enough knowledge to get a job, he or she could have enough earnings to help their family and village so that the community will become self-reliable. Malala says, “One teacher. One pen. One book, can change the world.” I believe this and that’s why I’m supporting The Year of Education and why I’m proud to be hitting the road on the We Create Change Tour. So, see you on the road Canada! If Spencer, Neverest and I are coming to your school or community, post a comment below or send me a note. I can’t wait to meet you!
Chris says
No words, Hannah. Right when I feel like I am starting to get lazy and need motivation in my life, I see you are doing something amazing and it never fails to energize me to get off my butt and try harder. have fun on tour! PS – Spencer is totally amazing.
callmehannah says
Thank you Chris! Your kids can be like that too, you just have to give them the empowerment to do this. I hope that I maybe got you off your butt so that everyone could start caring about issues that matter in the world. But when you went to We Day and shared it with your thousands of viewers on your own blog. You spread awareness and that is one of the biggest things that you can do to make a big impact.
Kari says
Hi Hanna,
Your tour sounds so exciting! You are an inspiration to me & my daughters Kayla & Kylee! Spencer West is a huge inspiration to us as well! We have met him once at the Whistler Water climb last year in Vancouver, it was amazing! My daughters have been raising money for different charities for the past 3 years. Just by painting and selling rocks they have raised over $4000. We have donated to Free the Children, BC Children’s Hospital and a few others! Craig & Marc, We Day and Free the Children have been great inspiration for the girls to continue doing what they do!! Please please check out their website; rocksforcharity.weebly.com and check out the events page to see all the great stuff they do!! We are also on facebook, facebook.com/rocksforcharity
It would be amazing if somehow the girls were able to see one of your events while you are in Kelowna, BC.
If you have any info about where and when your event in Kelowna is and if I can buy tickets please let me know. Thanks for your time and I hope you have an amazing tour, what a great way to get your message out to so many kids!!
callmehannah says
Thank you so much Kari! What your kids did was so awesome, and they were raising money by painting rocks, something that they probably love to do. On behlaf of all of the Free The Children team, we thank you and your daughters for fundrasing over $4000 for a cause in the world that matters. Also, thank you Kari because you are giving your daughters the tools and resources for them to create change. You are introducing them to issues that not a lot of kids care about, when they found out about the cause they took action. You empowered them to do this, you are without doubt, their inspiration. It’s the kids like me who are making change, but people like you are the encouragement to lead that.
I will definitely check out your website and Facebook page, I would love to see how I can get involved with this so cool organization run by young people. Unfortunately, I do not have the information right now about how you can get in the We Create Change Tour event in Kelowna. It is at the beginning of June, where it ends, to find out more about when exactly it is, go to freethechildren.com/wecreatechangetour. You can see the route from there, again, thank you so much for everything and I hope to see you in Kelowna!
Kari Kallen says
Thank you Hannah! I hope you have an incredible tour and I know you will encourage so many kids to get involved and start making a difference in our world!
Kayla & Kylee are both signed up to go to the Kelowna Summitt on June 7th that your tour is putting on and they are so excited to see you & Spencer West & Neverest! They may also be at the event that is happening on June 6th (Kylee’s 11th Birthday!!) ! We are also going to the Whistler Water one climb in Vancouver so hopefully we will see you there too!! We had a blast last year climbing the Grouse grind, you will love it!! Thanks for all you do, you are an incredible young lady!! You are very inspiring to my girls !!
Enjoy your tour! Kari
callmehannah says
Thank you Kari! My mom, who is the Project Manager of the tour and I cannot wait for the summit, we think that it is going to be different than the schools. I cannot wait to meet Kayla, Kylee and hopefully you at the summit or at the school. I don’t know if I will go do the Grouse Grind, I am not that athletic! Please tell your daughters I say hi and to please keep up the amazing work that they are doing, they are making such a huge difference in their community and in the world.
Hannah says
I’m coming to see you in Halifax Hannah! 🙂 🙂 I can’t wait!!!!! You are so amazing and inspiring! April 15th cannot come sooner!!!! 🙂 I can’t wait to feel the powerful feeling of WE Day once again!!!
callmehannah says
Thank you so much Hannah! I feel the same way, I cannot wait to just go to Halifax and meet the kids like you who are making a real difference. It is our generation that is changing the world right now, and we have to make our planet better for the next generation. Before or after the event at the school in Halifax, Spencer, Neverest and I do a meet and greet with the students, I would love to meet you there!
Hannah says
Awesome! That would ROCK!:)
Laila says
Oh my god Hannah,
I was at Ashbury College today and saw you, Spencer and Neverest. I swear you are my role model! I am ten and I always feel like you are only one year older than me and your are making such a big difference. I really enjoy your blog and your words! Thank you so much for trying to make this world a better place for others! I would really apreciate if you would answer <3
Your BIGGEST fan,
Laila
callmehannah says
Thank you so much Laila! I am so glad that you really liked the presentation, Spencer, Neverest and I could without doubt, feel the power of WE! We were at Ashbury College that day to celebrate what you are doing, it was not about Spencer, Neverest and I speaking. The only reason we were there was to let you know that you are OUR inspiration, kids like you are MY role models. It is up to young people to not only be the present, but also the future and we are doing that right now! Like I said “We are the change, we lead the change.” Please remember that and I would love to keep in touch with you.
Laila says
Aw thank you Hannah!! I agree with all my heart that we are not only the present but also the future. You are really amazing and your message should be heard all around the world. I can’t wait for the next We Day. It will be AMAZING. I know it.
Laila – say hi to everyone that is on the tour with you. Good luck guys!!
callmehannah says
Thank you Laila! I hope that you will continue your journey as a change maker for a while, if you earned your ticket to We Day, I know that you have fundraised and have made lots of impacts around the world. YOUR message should be heard everywhere, it is not just me that CAN get on the We Day stage, you have a worthy story of it. Use your voice and share it with other people so that they can make a difference, though I am sure you are already doing this now!
Icecream says
Hi Hannah!
I think you guys will be coming to my school on thursday!(Spruce Avenue)
I really cant wait,there will also be an event where you,neverest,and Spencer West will be coming to at west edmonton mall,and I was one of the 30 people from my school who were chosen to go!I cant wait!