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The Big Walk

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By Sophie Huber

This summer a group of adventurous Kiwis spent two months completing The Big Walk—a 3,000km journey stretching from one end of New Zealand to the other. Why? To spread the message that our young people are our future. Find out more about their incredible adventure inside

The foundation for Youth Development

The Foundation for Youth Development (FYD) is an organisation that manages development programmes aimed at inspiring young people to reach their full potential.

Sadly New Zealand has a poor record when it comes to the health of our young people. Our rates of suicide, unplanned pregnancy, drug and alcohol use and death from vehicle injuries are among the highest in the western world. FYD is dedicated to changing these statistics and growing generations of healthy, confident, strong New Zealanders.

Graeme Dingle and Jo-anne Wilkinson are the dynamic duo behind the Foundation for Youth Development. They founded it in 1995 as Project K Trust with the aim of giving young people the skills to maximise their potential.

The core aims of the programmes are to build self-esteem, FYD promote good values and teach valuable life skills. The programmes include Kiwi Can, Stars, Project K and youth offender programmes, and New Zealand’s magnificent outdoors provides the backdrop for many of the camps, tramps, community projects and other activities participants get involved in.

There are over 20 regional trusts around New Zealand offering FYD programmes, together they help over 18,000 young people a year contribute positively to society and reach their potential.

what is The Big Walk?

Two islands. 3,000 kilometres. 100 teenagers. The Big Walk began simultaneously at the extremes of the North and South Islands on November 30, 2009.

Graeme Dingle set out from Bluff with fellow Foundation for Youth Development (FYD) co-founder Jo-anne Wilkinson. Adventurer Jamie Fitzgerald began at Cape Reinga. Both groups headed to Wellington and were met on the steps of Parliament on February 1, 2010 by the Minister of Youth Affairs, Paula Bennett.

The walk was broken into 15 legs in the North Island and 12 in the South Island, each up to 100km long. And true to Graeme Dingle’s belief that the outdoors provides the perfect canvas for opening and changing a person’s mind and attitude, they travelled over mountains, across rivers, farmland and forests.

Joining Graeme and Jamie during the journey were groups of up to six teenagers who had participated in FYD programmes.

Concepts such as goal setting, leadership, and meeting challenges were worked on through a variety of activities designed to further develop life skills and uncover what they think is required to engage other youths within their community.

The objective of The Big Walk was to raise awareness of New Zealand’s sobering youth statistics and the issues faced by our young people, and learning how to motivate our youth to fulfil their potential. The Big Walk aimed to encourage a unified effort from communities—health care, social services, education, and families—to improve the well-being and development of our youth.

The walk ended in Wellington, where every participant of the journey walked the length of Lambton Quay in a parade to Parliament.

On February 2, a one-day workshop—Youth 2010: The Big Download—designed and organised by TelstraClear, provided a point of connection for those involved and a chance to share their personal stories, experiences and insights. Attending the workshop were some of the country’s business, political and social service leaders who looked to identify the key factors for success in shaping future youth development activities. From that, FYD put together a paper detailing outcomes and pathways to present to policymakers.

The team that went the distance

The Big Walk would not have been possible without Jamie Fitzgerald and Foundation for Youth Development (FYD). This initiative provided some awesome experiences and very real challenges for the students who took part. The participants are all involved in or have graduated from FYD programmes.

jamie

Jamie Fitzgerald, a highly regarded keynote speaker created the blueprint for The Big Walk. “I enjoy the opportunity to inspire people with my own thoughts on reaching goals, but providing them the opportunity to demonstrate success is far more compelling.”

He approached Graeme Dingle and the Foundation for Youth Development (FYD) to involve them, and The Big Walk was born. “It’s about connecting young people to our communities. We’ve worked hard to provide new, learning-based experiences that students wouldn’t get otherwise.”

Jamie says the most exciting part was in Wellington, where every participant could share their journey with New Zealand’s decision makers. “It was a huge opportunity for the youth sector.”

There are three objectives for The Big Walk. First to create awareness of youth statistics; second to raise money so FYD can provide more transformational experiences; and third to involve, align and build commitment from the government and corporates towards a possible future strategy for engaging youth in their communities. graeme

Graeme Dingle is a bit of a living legend when it comes to adventuring. He’s an outdoors extraordinaire who has achieved hundreds of ‘firsts’ in mountaineering, rock climbing and adventuring the world over.

He is co-founder and executive trustee of the Foundation for Youth Development (FYD), which was initially set up as Project K and has developed over the years into multiple programmes. “Jo-anne and I came back from the Arctic in 1993 and were rather depressed to see such a gorgeous country with such horrendous youth statistics. We set up Project K with a view to helping New Zealand youth feel better about their future.”

Graeme hopes The Big Walk is planting a seed that will see real results in the next few years. “I think this will be a multi-year process and I’d like to see even more people and communities getting involved.”

Among numerous awards, Graeme has an MBE for services to outdoor pursuits. He has founded four successful charities including the Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre, and has written 11 books. joanne

Jo-anne Wilkinson is co-founder and executive director of the Foundation for Youth Development and was very involved in organising The Big Walk. She walked many of the South Island legs with Graeme and says it was a wonderful opportunity to meet the kids who took part. “They’ve all got huge contributions to make and they all bring something different.”

Jo-anne hopes The Big Walk will raise awareness among New Zealanders about the issues facing our youth. “We’ve still got terrible youth statistics that we should be ashamed about in a country as small and caring as we are.”

She is a veteran of the great outdoors and has achieved some impressive adventuring feats, which include a 1,200km sea kayak and mountain traverse off the New Zealand coast, canoeing down the Yukon River, and ascending to 5,700m in the Western Himalayas, to name just a few. mason

Mason Crofskey (16) was part of a group of five Waitakere Project K graduates to undertake the challenging second leg of the South Island trip, walking and biking from Ohai to Glenorchy with the snowy Southern Alps as their backdrop.

In spite of the wintry conditions, one leg wasn’t enough for the Year 12 Kelston Boys High School student; he also joined the South Island walkers for the final leg from Blenheim to Wellington. His highlights were white-water kayaking on Lake Mavora and doing a tyrolean traverse, using ropes and harnesses, across the Mararoa River.

Mason is a member of the FYD Youth Advisory Group: FYD Directionz, 12 young people who meet monthly to give their voice to developing FYD activities.

“The Big Walk was a good experience and a way to develop skills. Not everyone gets to do what I’ve done.

michael Michael Lindsay (17) was picked three years ago to join FYD’s Project K programme, getting his own mentor and spending 17 days on a wilderness adventure. He says being offered the opportunity to do The Big Walk was “perfect.”

The Year 13 Rangitoto College student was part of the group who walked and biked the first North Island leg from Herekino to Kerikeri. “The first 15km hike through the Herekino Gorge was really fun and it wasn’t too hard actually.”

He’s enthusiastic about FYD and says he’s learnt to have confidence in himself. “I’ve learnt that you can do things even though you’ve been chucked into the deep end.” His highlights were getting to ride the quad bikes and milk a cow when they camped on a farm. “I reckon if they called me now and asked me to do another leg I’d go straight away.” sam

Sam Palmer (16) is a keen sportswoman and took part in the second leg of the North Island trip, from Herekino to Kerikeri. Then she put her hand up to join the South Island’s tenth leg from Boyle River to Tophouse. “It’s great getting to meet new people around New Zealand and I’m seeing the South Island for the first time.”

Sam is a graduate of Project K and is now studying for a certificate of sport at the New Zealand Academy in Northcote. She says The Big Walk taught her a lot about how to pace herself as well as practical skills such as map reading. “You learn patience as well, because there are people with different levels of fitness. It’s definitely an opportunity I wouldn’t pass up.” raksha

Raksha Prasad (17) joined The Big Walk in the North Island, walking and biking from Waipu to Warkworth with horse riding, surfing and kayaking thrown in along the way.

The Year 13 One Tree Hill College student is a Project K graduate and says the programme taught her to have determination and belief in herself.

She’s thrilled to have made life-long friends doing The Big Walk and says the experience has left her feeling physically strong and pleased to be part of raising awareness for New Zealand youth. “I’d like to say to parents—don’t put down your teenager’s dreams, because they can achieve them.”

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