News from the Room
Think of the Children
I wasn’t sure whether to write this.
Then I watched Dr. Feroze Sidhwa speak at the UN. He’s a trauma surgeon. Not a politician. Not an activist. A guy who’s stood in emergency rooms watching kids die.
He spoke about Gaza, about the kids who are still alive after the bombings, the starvation, the blockade.
He said some of them are asking questions like:
"Why didn’t I die with my sister?"
"Why did I survive when my whole family didn’t?"
Not because of extremism. But because of the weight of unbearable grief.
I’ve lost a child. Our daughter Billie was stillborn. And I’ve sat with grief so heavy I thought it might crush me. But this?
This is something else.
This is what happens when grief is scaled to an entire population of children.
As of April 1st, UNICEF reported that more than 15,000 children have been killed in Gaza since the war began.
That number should stop everything. But somehow, it hasn’t.
Instead, we get caught up in choosing sides. In defending “our team.”
That kind of tribalism only deepens the conflict. It blinds us to the real human cost.
This newsletter isn’t about politics. It’s about people.
It’s about children who are being buried under rubble.
Children who are starving because food and aid are being blocked.
Children who are still alive and wishing they weren’t.
You don’t have to be an expert. You don’t have to know all the history.
But if you feel something when you read this, let that matter.
Let that become action, however small.
If you want to help, Amnesty International has a Gaza Crisis Action Toolkit that outlines what you can do, from writing to MPs, to donating, to simply spreading awareness.
This isn’t a callout. It’s a call in.
To empathy. To decency. To refusing to look away.
Because even if we can't fix everything, we can choose not to be silent.
And silence right now? That’s a luxury not everyone has.
The 411
This Week at Room Eleven
The Room Eleven Podcast: Episode 1 (Coming Next Week!)
Kicking off with a story that captures everything Room Eleven is about.
Endurance Athlete & Stillbirth Foundation Ambassador - Michelle Mcranor
Michelle and I crossed paths last year while both awareness raising on our running endeavours.
She was training for a 1,000 km run across two states. I was running 6 km every day for 366 days. Both of us were fuelled by purpose, trying to turn heartbreak into something... useful.
Michelle’s daughter, Celeste, was stillborn on August 9, 2001. What followed was a quiet kind of devastation, the kind that rewires you. Then, years later, she found trail running. And in between the rocks and ridgelines of the Blue Mountains, she found a way to keep Celeste close.
In this episode, we talk about:
Depression
Endurance
And the invisible strength it takes to keep showing up when nobody’s watching
We also talk about her powerful new documentary:
🎥 Her Name is Celeste
It follows Michelle’s 1,000 km run from Adelaide to Port Melbourne, and her mission to raise $1 million for the Stillbirth Foundation Australia.
First screening:
📍 Adelaide – Wednesday 11 June
📽️ Event Cinemas Glenelg – Tickets: $25
🎟️ Grab your ticket here
Want to help?
Know someone in Adelaide? Forward them this.
Know a cinema or venue? Ask if they’d host a screening.
Want to run your own event? Michelle and Tim are all ears.
Every ticket funds research. Every screening starts conversations.
And every conversation helps families feel less alone.
Sponsor a Kilometre. Power the Ride. Fund Real Change.
As mentioned last week, but leaving it in as a reminder. We launched a new way to get behind Scooting for Hope — and it’s perfect for people and businesses who want to be part of the record-breaking ride, without, you know, riding 270 km on a scooter.
We’re inviting 135–270 individuals and businesses to sponsor 1 or 2 kilometres of this world record attempt.
1 km = $150
Includes a certificate of appreciation, your name on our sponsor wall and official tracker, plus an invite to the private event at Calder Park.2 km (1+ lap) = $250
Everything above — plus a feature in the livestream, event materials, and across our socials.
This isn’t just a donation. It’s a purpose-driven partnership.
Support helps cover the infrastructure and broadcast costs, so every dollar from public donations can go straight to the Pregnancy After Loss Service at the Royal Women’s.
Room Eleven takes no profit. Just heart, wheels and momentum.
Weekly Musings
What I’m Watching: Derek
Derek is a British comedy-drama created by Ricky Gervais, set in a care home for the elderly. Gervais plays Derek Noakes. A kind, socially awkward man who loves animals, reality TV, and his job. The show follows Derek and the staff as they navigate everyday life, ageing, and human connection with awkward humour and unexpected tenderness.
Hard to believe Derek is over a decade old. I watched it when it first came out, loved the weird charm, the dry humour, the awkward moments that somehow land with heart.
Now, rewatching it years later, it still holds up. Maybe even more than before.
It’s still funny. Still one of Ricky Gervais’ best shows. But this time around, I noticed things I missed the first time, the quiet moments, the humanity underneath the jokes. The way it celebrates people who don’t usually get celebrated.
I wouldn’t say it’s loss or profound grief that changed how I see the show, it’s just life. Experiences stack up. You grow, lose people, become someone else in a thousand small ways. And suddenly a show you thought was just sweet and quirky hits you a little harder. In a good way.
Highly recommend if you’ve never seen it. Or even if you have. It’s the kind of show that meets you where you are.
What I’m Reading: AI 2027
AI 2027 is a speculative, expert-informed timeline that explores where artificial intelligence could realistically take us over the next few years, if we keep going the way we’re going.
It reads like sci-fi, but it’s not fiction. It’s based on real research, real breakthroughs, and real conversations happening behind closed doors in governments, labs, and tech companies.
Think: rapid AI development, world-altering economic shifts, and an existential-level question mark hanging over our collective future.
Some of it is incredible. If things go well, AI could unlock a golden age of humanity:
Universal Basic Income becomes the norm
People finally get to pursue passions, not just paychecks
Disease? Eradicated. Medical research goes supernova
Energy? Abundant and clean
Education, creativity, even climate repair — all radically transformed
But then there’s the flip side.
This same report also walks you step by step into a scenario where AI doesn’t just outpace us… it replaces us.
Entire industries gone in months. Decision-making systems no longer needing people in the loop. AI agents becoming smarter, faster, and more capable, until human beings are the bottleneck. Or worse, the problem.
The final chapter? An eerily plausible account of the human race engineering its own extinction.
Not through a sudden robot uprising, but through a slow, well-meaning, deeply logical series of steps that make perfect sense until it's too late to undo them.
So yeah. Hope meets horror. Utopia meets unintended consequences.
And just for transparency, I use AI.
Every week. I use it to brainstorm newsletter ideas, map out messy thoughts, draft tricky emails, and help manage the swirling chaos that is my calendar. Even this section? AI helped me get it from “I have a vague idea” to something readable.
So this isn’t an anti-AI rant. It’s not even a warning. It’s more of a nudge.
Let’s use these tools. Let’s embrace what they can do.
But let’s not blindly hand over the steering wheel.
Because convenience is a terrible reason to give up control.
And history has a funny way of showing us that power without reflection rarely ends well.
This week’s newsletter brings together some tough realities and hopeful stories.
We reflect on children caught in conflict and the deep pain that comes with loss. We hear from people turning grief into endurance and purpose. We also look ahead to the future of AI , a tool full of promise but one that demands careful thought and control. It’s a reminder that life is complicated, but even in the hard moments, there is space for growth and connection.
Take a moment to think about the children who need help right now. And if you want to share your story or be on the podcast, please reach out. Your voice matters.
See you next week!
Rob
Giving Back
Donate a Still Billie Box
Our care packages for families who’ve lost their baby, named after our baby daughter Billie. Offering comfort during what should be a special, happy time.
Your donation can make a real difference in allowing us to provide free Still Billie Boxes to hospitals across Australia and fund our Scooting for Hope $100k Campaign.
Room Eleven is a social enterprise business and does not qualify for DGR status.