The Mycelium Siblings Society wants to do something simple: help people from different countries, cultures and faiths understand each other a little better, through real stories, face-to-face conversation and art.
Wherever you’re from and wherever you live, you’re welcome if you share this idea. We plan to register in New Zealand and start from Auckland. Friends anywhere can take part online; in-person gatherings start in Auckland, and we hope members will one day organise them in their own cities.
The name comes from mushrooms. The mushroom we see is only the small part above ground; the real body is the mycelium underneath, a web of fine threads with no centre and no one giving orders. It grows with its surroundings and connects as it goes, until it reaches across a whole forest.
We’d like the society to grow the same way: a community that grows on its own, where no one’s ego sits above anyone else’s, and everyone is an equal part of the network. Mycelium takes nourishment from the soil and passes it on to the trees and other life around it; we hope the stories, understanding and friendship gained here get shared on too, with the people around us and the wider world.
“Siblings” is what we hope people can be to each other: even from very different backgrounds, we can be close and look out for one another. Getting to know someone can start with listening to their story.
Marvis, the initiator, took her friend Colleen travelling in China
Colleen is a good friend of Marvis. Before the trip, most of what she knew about China came from the news and from other people. This time Marvis took her to see it for herself.
After seeing it and spending time with people there, her view of China changed, and she let go of some of the assumptions she had before. The trip convinced us that meeting people in person can open a door the news can’t.
A friend, Tim, recently came back from Iraq
Tim recently travelled to Iraq. When he came back, he told Marvis that, in his own experience, the trip was far safer than he had expected, and very different from the impression the news gives.
His story made us want to start this society even more: a place in the news, and the people someone actually meets there, are often two very different pictures. We’re inviting Tim to tell this story himself at our first gathering.
Please note: this is Tim’s personal experience at one time and place. It doesn’t describe overall safety there and isn’t travel advice. New Zealand’s SafeTravel advises “Do not travel” to Iraq; see the official advice for the latest.
Right now: we’re looking for 10 founding members who share this idea, and then we’ll make the first storytelling evening a good one together. After that, we’ll listen to how everyone found it and decide together what comes next.
We’re welcoming members: people who share the society’s purpose and take part in the way that suits them, whether that’s coming to listen, sharing a story, helping organise, or just passing an event on to friends who’d be interested.
The constitution is being drafted. Once it’s final, we’ll invite everyone to complete the formal membership process; members’ rights and responsibilities will follow the constitution.
Fill in the form below and we’ll have it. Once it’s sent, you’ll see a registration reference and get a confirmation email with a private link to make changes within 30 days. This isn’t formal membership yet: once the constitution is final, we’ll invite you to complete the formal membership process.
You can also just tell Marvis directly.
Marvis Meng is the founder and director of Hypha Consultancy, a digital transformation consultancy in Auckland, New Zealand. She has worked in IT and consulting for more than ten years, helping small businesses, not-for-profits and community organisations review how they operate, and choose, set up and support the software, data and AI that improve it. She also built Hypha Desk, the shared workspace Hypha uses to run its own client work.
Outside work, Marvis is a mushroom lover and politically non-partisan. She is building Political Radar (politicalradar.org.nz), a factual guide to what New Zealand’s Parliament and councils have actually decided, with no opinions or endorsements, and she makes music with the band My Mycelium Sibling. Learn more at hypha.co.nz.