SOLD: Beautiful Happyzine

Some 'good' graffiti

By Lani Evans

Free hugs and happiness

This week the roadtrip crew rocked up in Dunedin, my hometown and found, to our delight, that free hugs and happiness were the themes of this
region.

One of our first stops for me was a filming gig with Francisca Griffin, a wonderful naturopath and an inspirational lady. I first met Fran when we
started up the Port Chalmers Community Gardens three years ago. She was a force to be reckoned with, wielding pruning shears and shovels with
alacrity.

Since then, I’ve seen her in action, working with people to keep them healthy, fundraising for local community causes, organizing events and
volunteering to help keep groups like the Pioneer Hall cranking. To add to her awesome factor, she’s also a punk rocker – she was in the all girl 80’s
band “Look Blue Go Purple”.

During our interview, Fran talked a lot about happiness and I reckon she had some awesome things to say. Check out the 90-second documentary about
Fran here… http://www.regeneration.org.nz/in_your_region/otago

Among the other awesome events of the week (stacks of schools visits, the Hands Up! youth event, an 8×8 presentation night, inspiring stories
workshops, youthworker training with Volunteer Otago, and a World Cafe) the Free Hugs stall at the Otago Farmers Market really stands out.

In just three hours, we were the lucky recipients of over 350 hugs. There were shy hugs, bear hugs, hugs that spun you in a circle, long hugs, short
hugs and hand hugs (aka. the handshake).

Free hugs was started by an Australian guy named Juan Mann who was looking for a way to create a bit of community connectedness and bring a
little joy into people’s days. I can vouch for the free hug effectiveness – seeing the surprise and pleasure on people’s faces when they had a hug was
energizing. For more info take a look at www.freehugscampaign.org

And to top the week off, my lovely friends, Anna and Em got married at the Hoopers Inlet Community Hall, in a beautiful ceremony with a fire, friends
and some hot ukelele tunes. Thanks Otago, you rocked my world. In fact, this week, even the graffiti was ‘good’.

Tags: good, hugs, regeneration, Youth