Youth Leader is a volunteer superstar!

Student journalist Roshni catches up with youth leader Edan Merlin

Te Hōnonga a Iwi Restoring Rosedale has many youth leaders, including students and local community residents. 

Edan Merlin, a Year 10 student at Rangitoto College, is one of those outstanding youth leaders. Originally from Kazakhstan, he moved to Aotearoa at the young age of four.  

Along with Restoring Rosedale, he is part of clubs such as the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) and Candy Waves, which supports children at Starship Hospital. 

Edan’s favourite subjects at school are definitely maths and space science, though he enjoys most of his other subjects as well.

Edan decided to be part of the restoration mainly because of his love of animals and interest in helping them and their surroundings.

When Edan came into Year 9 at Rangi, he already had a mindset of ‘I want to get involved.’ When he saw the daily notices and heard about the Restoring Rosedale projects and working bees, he signed up along with his friends.

Since then, he has continued to come to the working bees and help with the projects. 

As a youth leader, Edan has some exciting privileges. For example, in February, he had the chance to meet an amazing Kiwi environmental activist, Nate Wilborne. Edan says that if he hadn’t had the chance to be a leader, he wouldn’t have had the opportunity to attend so many phenomenal events and meet many people. 

Edan helping to return a healed Ruru home

Though he was really outgoing and confident at the start of Year 9, he thinks his confidence has increased quite a bit, especially since meeting so many new people. 

Additionally, since he joined the restoration, he has picked up some new daily habits such as picking up trash, power and water conservation, and not wasting food. 

Though he’d love to have his own garden to tend to, Edan does not live near one or have one at home.

One job Edan loves doing at the restoration is chicken care. As mentioned, he loves animals. He mentions that the chickens really get to know you over time. “At first, they’re scared of you, and later, when they’re used to you, they run to the gate and swarm you,” Edan says. 

He also mentions that he enjoys removing weeds, as he knows the impact a single weed has on a plant. 

Edan thinks that through every working bee, he and the team make an impact, and the area behind Hilton Brown swimming has changed a lot. It has gone from a weed-filled space to an area with native trees that are no longer seedlings, but have grown to waist level.

Edan looks up to his mum and his older sister, saying they are the people who support him most and care about te taiao and animals just as much as he does. Edan mentions that his older sister, an activist, won the Impact Awards 2024, and though it wasn’t in the nature category, she is a great role model for him.

Edan says that every action people take makes a difference. “It might seem like a piece of rubbish or planting a couple of trees in a small park like Rosedale isn’t a big deal, but big changes are always made from small ones,” he states, “If everyone litters, the negative impact would be huge. The same for the positive side of things. If everyone plants a tree, it might not seem like much, but the change in the numbers would be so helpful. My point is, big or small actions can lead to huge changes.”

Edan is a great youth leader and helps out a lot with Restoring Rosedale’s projects and working bees, where he loves to share his knowledge with others.