G. Marl Jamal

Rachdar Abubakar Giraneza better known by G-Marl Jamal, born in 1993 during the war in East Africa.Greatest aspect is the belief he has that all young people have the right to succeed. Rachdar strives to address this through his FNTS MOVEMENT initiative which engages community youth in positive experiences that will result in social, academic and physical growth. Rachdar achieves this through the use of drama, music and digital media including film clips, documentaries and short videos. Rachdar's goal is to open a youth centre in WA and help global orphanages. Born in Burundi 1993, Jamal attended school and dreamed of being an international soccer player. His leadership and athletic skills were clearly evident, and he excelled at his sport. One fateful day, while G-Marl was in high school, he was unfortunately severely injured during a soccer game. A member of the opposing team kicked his ankle instead of kicking the ball, breaking two bones in G-Marl's right leg. After two months of physical therapy and using crutches, G-Marl got the devastating news that he could not play soccer anymore as his doctor was concerned about lifelong damage. While G-Marl will always be a huge soccer fanatic, he turned his sites to other interests. Even when he was dreaming of becoming a soccer player, G-Marl always loved the arts. He became involved with art workshops and media projects and found that he thoroughly enjoyed it. As he progressed in the arts, he began to notice how much he loved color and developed great attention to detail. While in high school, he was able to utilize these skills through a media class where he was able to watch and critique movies for a grade. His writing skills progressed and soon he was being recruited by real connections (City of Stirling) to write and produce a short film with other young teenagers. The process was life changing, and G-Marl even got to play a character in the film they eventually called "New Arrivals." Bit by the acting bug, G-Marl joined drama class and the youth theatre company called Sharing Stories. Through Sharing Stories he performed several school plays and also produced films such as "After School I Will Marry and Miss Understood," these two films were sold all over Australia and performed on the stage at the National Youth week in 2011.G-Marl performed the main Character in the miss understood play. Not only did Sharing Stories help him hone his performance skills and prepare him well for the stage, but it also led him to build valuable connections. One of these connections was Astro Black, a professional disk jockey from Los Angeles, California who became a role model to G-Marl. If was from this meeting that came regular hip-hop workshops presented by Real Connections (City of Stirling). Astro Black was generous enough to let G-Marl use the mixer, and eventually G-Marl was handing his own shows. Pretty soon, G-Marl became a well-known figure in teenage and basketball circles and eventually even created a hip hop crew named the TAO BOIZ crew. G-Marl's big break came when he did acting with the Film Bite acting school in 2010 which led him to be signed with an actor's agent. Through his agent, he became involved in a documentary called Skin Deep that was shown on major television channels around the world. In 2011 G-Marl left his Crew (TAO BOIZ) in order to focus more on drama. He traveled with Sharing Stories in Sydney for the National Youth week and began to devise a plan to start his own business. Later that year, he founded FNTS MOVEMENT the entertainment that organizes hip-hop events in Perth for youth . Every event he planned got excellent feedback, and soon he created whole network of teenagers who loved hip-hop in Western Australia. During a multimedia project at high-school he came up with the name "From Nothing To Something" (FNTS). His media project was to produce a self-documentary and was recognised for 'Best Production'. In addition to Rachdar's cultural endeavours at school was his leadership in running Hip Hop events every term to give the opportunity for young people to showcase their talents with the school. Lastly, whilst in school Rachdar joined the Sharing Stories Youth program during his time outside of school, which he was committed to for an extensive period. During Rachdars time with the Sharing Stories program he helped devise their theatre and film productions, highlights are; 'After School I'll Marry You' and 'Miss Understood'. For both productions Rachdar presented at important forums and conferences, the greatest being the2011 Australian Youth Affairs Coalition Conference in Sydney where he performed 'Miss Understood' to leaders in the youth sector. In 2013 Rachdar helped produce the 'Carla and Jamal' comic on raising Hepatitis awareness. Although Rachdar enjoyed his time with Sharing Stories, his true passion was with FNTS as he wanted to strengthen to support and ensure young people are able to participate as active citizens through their cultural endeavours. From 2011-2013 Rachdar organised Perth Jerk/Dougie and B-Boy functions; these were free events for young people aged 13-24 which reached approximately 600 people each day. The prize for winning the dance battles was to perform on WEST TV. The events brought different young people together who shared a common interest (arts) and helped increase support networks and encouraged group involvement in the community to reduce at-risk behaviour. Unfortunately as Rachdar wasn't funded/supported he got banned from holding these events in the city, after this he noticed many youth getting into trouble either with police or at home. This did not deter Rachdar it only concreted his belief that youth events and the arts should be used and more supported to mentor young people to make positive change within their lives. From 2013 to present, Rachdar focused heavily on building and growing FNTS by mentoring younger artists, participating and supporting the arts, contributing to the cultural fabric of WA and ensuring other youth are involved in youth arts events. Rachdar began facilitating a music program for young people where he supported their cultural endeavours in lyrical writing, music and sound production, studio recording and filming their own music videos; Rachdar done all of this without any external financial support. Rachdar noticed that some of the boys in the music program were having problems at home to the point of becoming homeless; he immediately addressed this by ensuring the boys were able to find employment by fixing their resumes so they could buy their own school lunch and clothes to wear. Furthermore he encouraged the boys to apply for their drivers' license and gave them access to his own laptop to ensure that they had no barriers to overcome. A success story of Rachdars ability to engage young people through the arts and make positive change in their life is through a young boy who experienced family problems and overcame this through the assistance of Rachdar by getting a job at Hungry Jacks, passing his driving test and acquiring a car, graduating high school and is now currently a youth leader and mentor in the FNTS initiative; as this young boy wants the opportunity to assist others who were in the same situation as himself. Another story is how Rachdar supported a young man involved in the music program who lost his license, Rachdar wanted to encourage him to be better and more responsible. Rachdar drove him to work until he could get his license back to ensure the boy did not lose is employment. This boy has now been in a Tiling apprenticeship for one year, this year Rachdar will assist him on releasing his album of 9 songs. The music program have had the opportunity to participate and contribute to the cultural fabric of WA by performing and volunteering at fundraisers, school events, World AIDS Day celebrations, and they will be performing at this year's 'Expresstival' whom he has an annual partnership with. In 2014 Rachdar started the 'Feed the Homeless' program through FNTS in which he gathered youth champions to cook and deliver food to homeless people, he documented this through a short video which he uploaded online. He received great response with many young people wanting to get involved in the next event. In 2015 Rachdar in partnership with the Sharing Stories program secured funding with Hepatitis WA to deliver Hepatitis information through the 'Feed the Homeless' program. The event was very successful and brought attention to a health issue and created more youth leaders in the community. Rachdar realised that his desire to serve the community through cultural endeavours was also similar for other young people which led him to change FNTS to 'FNTS MOVEMENT' as he believed this name better represents what his initiative strives to do; Furthermore in 2015 he entered partnership with WAAC and ECOS to create a HIV awareness raising campaign through soccer; a tournament titled 'LOVE GAME'. The LOVE GAME campaign has now expanded its mission in which Rachdar is now a part of the organising committee on behalf of the FNTS MOVEMENT to create a red carpet event that uses music, poetry, photography and multimedia to celebrate World AIDS Day 2015 and 2016