MEET SOME OF OUR CHANGEMAKERS
Elliot graduated from New College of the Humanities in July 2020 with a degree in History and Philosophy and a deep sense of unease. He began speaking to Human Hive co-founder Darren, who mentioned the work taking place at The Hive in Cabrera. The choice between a well-paid but un-impactful job in Shoreditch, starting from scratch in Hastings, or taking a leap into the Caribbean seemed like a no-brainer.
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Elliot ended up working with the Hive School between February and October 2021, working as a teacher in 4 sessions, co-developing and co-hosting a two-week art and drama summer camp, and running several after-school clubs. Through the process, Elliot learned some life-changing skills and mindsets; including embodied decision making, co-regulation, working in fluid team dynamics, and how to organise obstacles into plans.
ELLIOT RILEY
​Elliot returned to the UK in August 22, and has been putting the skills he learned with the Hive into action. Since returning, he’s been working with the Hastings group Project Rewild; volunteering with children’s woodland play groups, supporting their men’s circles, and running Cold Water Somatic workshops.
He’s also in the process of getting some larger projects off the ground.
ALON HARSHAK AND MELISSA RAY - FROM BRIGHTON TO THE BALKANS
In 2018 Alon and Melissa took the Human Hive van on an epic journey from our base in Brighton in the UK through Europe to Greece and back. Their mission was to visit projects across the continent set up to support people fleeing war and the effects of climate change in the Middle East and Africa.
Alon originally took our second ever training and volunteered with the School Bus in Calais in 2016. Wanting to do more to support people in crisis, he and Melissa were the focus of a crowdfunder campaign to get them on the road, carrying our pop up Crisis Classroom with them.
Read the report of their ChangeMaking trip here:
SUZIE ALEXANDER & LOOP-LA-LOOP
In July 2017 The Human Hive's mobile Crisis Classroom visited the towns of Sarteano and Cetona in Tuscany to bring local Italians and migrants together to share skills. There we met Suzie Alexander, entrepreneur farmer and teacher. Suzie attended our training and offered her beautiful organic farm - Suzie’s Yard - as the location to host the Eat, Make, Play activities day at the end of the training.
The friendships that grew from that event blossomed into a co-operative called Loop-la-Loop, co-created by Suzie and 9 young men from West Africa. Loop-la-Loop started with a simple activity to pass the time - making crochet hats - and eventually changed the lives of the group, the community itself and people far beyond their small town. Hear their story of change in
this video:
LOUISE HAMIL -
THE SCHOOL BUS PROJECT
In 2016 when our converted bus first rolled into Calais, it carried a special teacher. Louise was a trained primary school teacher but after attending our training in July, decided to take some time out to manage our mobile school in the Jungle camp and become its first head teacher, coordinating the many volunteers who came to provide lessons and activities and ensuring that it remained a welcoming and inclusive space for everyone. Louise always had a smile on her face and was a major reason why the School Bus Project was able to serve so many people in the months leading up to the closure of the camp.