By Rachael Hodge
The Cancer Society’s Christchurch Smoke Free Youth Ambassadors are at work again after the devastating earthquake in February.
The Smoke Free Youth Ambassadors are a group of teenagers from around Christchurch who come together to develop projects which encourage others to be smoke-free.
The latest earthquake postponed their work, but not for long.
“There's no point letting the earthquake stop what needs to get done,” says ambassador Fraser Allen.
“A smoke free future is something I believe is best for our country.”
Collectively the ambassadors are working on the goal of making New Zealand smoke-free by the year 2025 and they say the earthquake and its aftershocks are not going to stop them.
The ambassadors have already begun their next projects. The first is an investigation into the way smoke-free is portrayed in the media and to find out what types of smoke-free ads appeal to teenagers.
The ambassadors have spent their holidays filming and editing six smoke free ads that they hope to show to several schools around Christchurch in order to gain feedback for their investigation.
The group also hopes to organise a smoke-free film competition next year to allow other teenagers in Christchurch to support the idea of smoke-free in a variety of ways.
The ambassadors have also been given the opportunity to work with Selwyn District Council, who are considering adopting a smoke free policy for public places, like parks and sports fields.
They have been given the opportunity to talk to the council and voice their opinions on why they think a smoke free policy should be adopted.
Lucy Burridge, an ambassador who is actively involved in the Selwyn District Council project, says this was one of the reasons she joined smoke free, “because I wanted to help change our environment in a positive way”.
The ambassadors are working on gathering other teenagers’ opinions from the area and showing them to the council through a variety of presentations.
The ambassadors will continue to work on their goal and will be joined by other smoke-free ambassadors from around New Zealand, all helping to educate teenagers about the effects of smoking.
Ambassador Alice Diamond says her friends smoking habits have emphasised the importance of being smoke-free.
“Being a teenager, I have recently seen many people I know start smoking socially or even worse, smoking becoming a part of their every day life.
Being a smoke-free youth ambassador to me, is about giving other youth a smoke-free role model to look up too. My goal as an ambassador is to see a change within youth in the way they perceive smoking.”
Hopefully the ambassadors will achieve these goals in the not too distant future.
Rachael Hodge is working with UNICEF as part of the 3Youth project, an upcoming section of the 3 News website focusing on youth issues and written by young people.