The former Nowra Public School student won a competition, sponsored by UNICEF Australia, the UN and Nickelodeon, to represent Australian children at the United Nations Special Session on Children.

Although that adventure was ultimately postponed until the following year due to the September 11 attacks, he later joined 17 other kids from around the world taking part in the UNICEF program.

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Fast forward to 2022, and that 11-year-old is now 32, and has just returned to his hometown after living for the past seven years, ironically in New York, where he started a production company, making documentaries.

And now he wants to combine his documentary making skills with another of his loves, meditation.

"I've been into meditation for the past seven years and in the past two years I've learnt to be a meditation teacher," he said.

"Over the last two years I have really been looking for a reason to move home.

"With the bushfires, COVID and recent floods, I felt a sense of disconnection living in New York and wanted to come home to Nowra."

Barron hopes an information evening to be held in the Nowra CBD on Thursday evening (May 12) will launch his latest project, Be Here Nowra, combining his love of filmmaking and meditation.

He wants to establish a local meditation group and then over the next three years document the participant's journeys as they learnt meditation and record the changes.

"Nowra is a place I thought could benefit from meditation," he said.

"Our goal is to improve community happiness through meditation

"The area has certainly been through a lot over the past few years and this would allow me to combine my three passions - filmmaking, meditation and Nowra.

"Ultimately we could have a documentary series following the journey of the different characters as they learn to meditate."

Dubbed the Community Happiness Project, Be Here Nowra, Barron has set himself the lofty target of trying to get at least one per cent of Nowra's population to meditate.

He said there are wide ranging benefits from meditation.

"Reduced stress is the main one," he said "meditation is a stress reduction tool.

"Generally it also allows for the number one thing - more happiness

"And of course, it has psychological benefits, such as better rest, better physical health and an increase in adaptability is also a big one."

As well as the project, Barron will be running classes open to anyone - the cost will be on a sliding scale, depending on what people can pay.

"We will have some community positions available for people on lower incomes. We'll have various scales on how people can afford it."

So if you'd like to be part of the project, again putting Nowra on the map head along to the Be Here Nowra information night which will be held at El Horses, 22 Berry Street Nowra, (the former Bishops store) on Thursday, May 12 from 6-7pm.

Or you can contact Barron at barron@beherenowra.com.

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