StickYourNeckOut!: Recent Episodes
Yampier Aguiar Durañona
With this podcast we give our community the opportunity to get to know the Giraffe Heroes behind the foundation better by gaining deeper insight into their work. Thus you will have an opportunity of a direct encounter with these personalities sticking their necks out for the common good, fighting for the social issues that matter: justice, freedom, our environment. In our podcast, commended Giraffes are talking with us about the issues that count most for them and which drive them “To Stick their Necks Out” for our common good. We offer you a direct and often very personal "look" behind the scenes of their day to day activities. What made them start fighting for their local communities? How did they manage to cope with and overcome resistance? And yes, what concerns them and which dangers do they perceive as threatening the success of their struggle? Be inspired and have fun!
Last Summer, as for 2021, Afghanistan was again everywhere in the news. The Taliban captured Afghanistan's capital Kabul 20 years after they were ousted from power. Most of us, still remember the horrifying video, showing two people tragically falling down from a plane in Kabul, as they tied themselves to the wheels of the aircraft to fly out of the country, amid tension. My guest today comes from Afghanistan. Nematullah Ahangosh is an Activist, a Poet, and founder of Stretch More; a mobile empowerment parkour for the disable. By Stretch More, people with disabilities can empower themselves through survival skills, entrepreneurship, leadership and sports activities. Nemat is physically disabled and also a kanthari alumni, he just graduated. A few weeks back, as for december 2021, he had his dream speech which you can see at the youtube channel of the kanthari education center.
First an Apology. It's been a while since we published an Episode of this Podcast, but I had strong reasons. I explain everything in the first two Minutes of this Episode. Now, today´s Podcast: one of the lesser known facts of 20th-century world history is Cuba's military help in Afghanistan during the critical years of the Saur Revolution of 1978. Cuba was among a small number of countries who voted against a resolution by the Non-Aligned Movement at the United Nations General Assembly which condemned the Soviet union's intervention in Afghanistan in 1979. And todays Podcast its about Afghanistan. I recorded this Interview in january, a few days before I went back home. The interview lastet two hours, but I decided to split the recording in two, so this week my guest is going to talk about the situation in Afghanistan. Next week, he’s going to talk about his dream. So I kindly invite you to listen to this Episode.
Hubert Maria Dietrich, one of the new commended Giraffe Hero, is a very nice, very straight guy. We all know, Giraffes are known to need a big and strong heart to pump the blood all the way to the head – Humadi’s heart full of helpfulness, attention and generosity is an impressive example. We at the foundation call him Humadi, founded humanum, a people-to-people company that produces pioneering products for a better world with the following vision: “When everyone shares, no one is left empty-handed.” Today you'll get to know Humadi. On the day he got his commendation, he talked to us at the foundation and also played some songs. Yes he is also a musician. His speech and performance was in german. So i'm apologising to my non-german speaking listeners with a promise. Soon I'm recording a Podcast with Humadi and you will get the chance to get to know him better. In the meantime, I kindly invite you to enjoy this speech and performance. To reflect and, why not, to philosophize a little with us. So please, lean back and enjoy Grenzgängertum und die Verkürzung der Strecke.
As children, gender bombards us in more ways than one – the clothes we wear, the toys we buy, the way we express ourselves…From the moment we're born, our gender identity is no secret. We're either a boy or a girl. We are pink or blue. Today I'm talking to a recent kanthari alumni: Niwas Kumar. For some children, what's between their legs doesn't match what's between their ears -- they insist they were born into the wrong body. They are transgender children, diagnosed with gender identity disorder, and their parents insist this is not a phase. My guest today has founded anantmool, a Gender-Free Learning Centre for children who are experiencing gender dysphoria.
Giraffe Hero Katharina Lehmann, a psychologist with her own practice, had a permanent position on the police force in Zürich. She could truly have had a quiet life. However, Katharina was not willing to compromise on the truth, stepped out of her comfort zone and put her employment and public reputation on the line. She co-initiated the VitaNetz Foundation. VitaNetz is building an innovative society that places health and the harmonious coexistence of humans, animals and nature at the center of its activities. This includes pesticide- and antibiotic-free agriculture, animal husbandry, solidarity-based economic management with its own monetary system, and a lot more. But listen to it yourself, today I'm bringing to you Katharinas speech at the headquarters of the Giraffe Heroes Foundation as a podcast.
Violence against women in Zimbabwe is partly accepted as a fact of life, especially by elderly “counselors” that traditionally perceive women as the property of their husbands. My guest today Precious Kiwiti was known as a strong woman, running restaurants and catering services successfully, and starting a kindergarten for single mothers. But hardly anyone knew about her well-hidden tragedy. Precious recently completed the kanthari course in India and is now jumping into the practical part of her training. Now, she is about to head back to Zimbabwe to work with women and girls who have been affected by domestic violence. Her social venture “Precious Hearts Haven”, plans to work towards the elimination of gender-based violence.
This is the last Podcast of this Year 2021, we at the Giraffe Heroes Foundation, are hoping for more Giraffe-Nominations in the New Year and are wishing you all Hope, Love and Faith. May this coming year bless you with love, peace, and empowerment.
Dear listeners, are you looking to come out of your comfort zone? Are you ready to challenge your fears, for an adventure? Then get ready for the great Indian treasure hunt. today in our Podcast we are hunting a treasure in Kerala with my guest, kanthari participant, Abhilash John. Locked in a cage of constraints and expectations, Abhilash was not able to dream and follow his personal path. A street child helped him to challenge his fears, to set him free to explore his strengths and passions. Through his social venture, Khoj, he offers “the great Indian treasure hunt”, An adventurous journey for Indian youngsters to break out of their parent’s dreams.
„Life is what you’re happy for getting up for.“ - if not, there is something wrong in your life”. „Life is what you’re happy for getting up for.“ - if not, there is something wrong in your life”. Giraffe Hero Paul Kronenberg is cofounder of the kanthari program for social change makers in Kerala. About a year ago, we had the pleasure to listen to his partner Sabriye Tenberken on this podcast. Today we have Paul sharing his vast experiences and getting to know his attitude towards life. It's a delight to listen to his very practical advice, entertaining anecdotes and certainly - I'm sure we can also try to take it in as an enhancer to overcome our comfort zones and start doing something, while starting to look. He uses wit and humor to mirror the true shape of the world that makes one think and reflect about what can, or maybe, must be done differently to become part of solutions.
Akhina Mohan from Kerala India, plans to start alarmo, a youth driven, Kerala based task force that nudges people to act immediately. Nothing makes her more furious than the mistreatment and irresponsibility towards the environment. But Akhina never had the courage to stand up and speak out. Participating in relief work during the 2018 Kerala floods, helped her to break out of her shell. Now, she knows, her actions can make a difference! The younger generation needs to realize that their planet is on fire, and together they have to start saving it.
"Allowing for the book, after all, being a parody, something like 1984 could actually happen. This is the direction the world is going in at the present time. In our world, there will be no emotions except fear, rage, triumph, and self-abasement.” George Orwell. In today's Podcast you get to have a deep theoretical and philosophical insight of the Giraffe Heroes Foundation. In our latest event, Giraffe Heroes foundation founder Tom Amatt, read from four authors who tried to give their compatriots a wake-up call as long as there was still time. And this is what he and the Giraffe Heroes Foundation team wants. To make a wakeup call to the society in these times of unprecedented changes in our natural and societal environment. The question is: is there still time now? The texts are extracted from René Guénon, The Crisis of the Modern World and George Orwell’s postscript to 1984. He also read Brave New World Revisited from Aldous Huxley and the End of Belzebub’s Tales to his Grandson by George Gurdjeff. I kindly invite to enjoy these passages. To reflect and, why not, to philosophize a little with us. So please, lean back and enjoy the reading.
Please make the effort to follow our talk with Sarita Lamichhane who is talking about her experiences in Nepal being a daughter, and blind. What does it mean for the family? She shares with us how she grew up, through the quota got engaged in a government job, went for training at kanthari and founded her own project Prayatna Nepal. It also includes a fight back programme to increase confidence, especially for visually impaired women, who often suffer discrimination and sexual harassment.
Being widowed can be one of the most overwhelming traumatic experiences that women and also men face in their lives. Loneliness significantly affects those who’ve suffered the death of a husband. Widows can become some of the most marginalised groups in society. Yet they are often in greatest need, whether in terms of physical or mental, emotional or practical adjustments to their lives. Our Guest Gram Tinashe Makwarimba, better known as Carter Founded in 2014 , Yolk Africa. A non-profit entity that enriches people and communities on the margins of society to overcome social and economic discrimination with a primary focus on widows and single mothers.
Today's podcast is not a Podcast, at least not as you, dear listener, are used to, every tuesday. Today, we´re bringing to you the latest event of the Giraffe Heroes Foundation as a Podcast. Let me tell you what you are about to hear. In today's Podcast event, Giraffe Heroes Foundation founder Tom Ammat, is going to welcome you, with a notion, his notion of what makes the work of this foundation. Afterwards, you are going to get an Idea, about the latest nominations, some insights about the people you'll get the chance to get to know better in this Podcast, in the weeks to come. As a key outcome of this event there was an exclusive concert offered by Oganes Arustamov, one of our latest commended Giraffe Heroes and Fuko Ishi. If you'd like to listen to this concert, I kindly invite you, after listening to this Podcast, to just go to our YouTube channel and watch it. To lean back and enjoy this special interpretation.
India has one of the world’s highest numbers of fatalities due to electrical accidents. Especially among farmers. kanthari alumni Satya Illa founded kaanthi wich means light, a social enterprise that addresses the lack of awareness , and response preparedness among villages in Telangana. Through practical training on safety, Satya has been able to save the lives of many farmers and prevent unnecessary accidents.
Kerlinda War finds joy and satisfaction in her years of work in rehabilitation for children with slow growth and physical impairment. Marveling roots in Meghalaya, India provides training on early identification for the rural population, referral services, and prepares children for schooling and socialisation.
Bashiro Adamu is the founder of the Dream Again Prison Academy. The 2013 kanthari alumni from Nigeria, aims to ensure that the very high recidivism rate is drastically reduced through qualitative education. His education program begins in prisons, and as soon as his students are released, he reintegrates them into the labor market. Bashiru Oyahkilome Adamu is a firing social change maker who has brought light and hope to many inmates across the correctional space in Nigeria and pushing through Africa. With almost a decade experience in building a non-profit from the scratch, beginning from a sub-rural community in Otukpo, Benue State, Nigeria. Today the organization Dream Again correctional and Youth Initiative is in full operation in some parts of the Western and Northern Nigerian.
Robert Malunda is opening a gateway to the world for the blind with his organisation Gateway to Elation. he does this by providing training in computer literacy, daily living skills which include mobility and orientation, as well as social interaction. He was born in Makokoba, Bulawayo; in southwest Zimbabwe. At age 3 he was affected by glaucoma and became totally blind. In 2015 Robert joined the kanthari course. Upon return to Zimbabwe he started Gateway to Elation. Robert trains other blind people in the use of computers as well as daily living, orientation and social interaction skills so that they are able to become independent and are able to integrate themselves in society. If you´d like to support Robert or to know more about his experience, have a look at gatewaytoelation.org/
When we use the word transgender, we are referring to an inclusive umbrella term, that consists of binary trans people (trans men and trans women), as well as non-binary people and people who cross dress. There are a lot of ways that transgender people can describe their identities. Understanding the words and labels people use encourages respect. Today’s Episode offers a wide view about several topics - each of them deserving plenty of space in today’s world. And you might feel like being in a roller coaster, imagining how Gumisayi Bonzo, my guest today, manages to engage herself in all of them. She's fighting for equal laws and acknowledgement for transgender persons in Zimbabwe. Helping to get proper healthcare and establish support groups for transgender and intersex persons, but also for HIV-postivie persons. She's also helping HIV-positive prisoners since from her own experience, she knows how tough that can be. With the organisation trans smart trust they’re fighting for inclusion, using HIV as an enter point - since usually there is no legal acceptance for trans topics at all. Be ready to listen how a person that really went through so much could become so cheerful, strong, powerful and passionate.
kanthari alumni Pynhoi Tang was brought up in the Khasi tribal community in North Eastern India. She went to a local school but was thrown out because she was visually impaired. That moment influenced the rest of her life. Pynhoi Tang, is empowering the persons with disability through her Sapphire Early Intervention Center and Community Based Inclusive/Inclusion Development program, as part of Bethany Society in Jaintia Hills, Meghalaya, India.
In Santa Cruz, Bolivia, Carolina Ortiz with her Centro Colibri supports people who suffer from domestic violence – to participate in programmes, to heal, to learn how to speak up, look for help and gain self esteem. Centro Colibri offers a support system for victims of sexual violence, and it also runs Advocacy campaigns in Bolivia, the most violent country in Latin America for women. In this Podcast she’s talking about her own story, about how everything changed once she was ready and found help and how she learned to speak up and identify these experiences in others. Thank you so much for the very important effort you’re taking – empowering women and especially girls to achieve a mindset change and be ready to leave the nest, speak up against the very patriarchal society.
Connecting informal waste collectors to the source. This app does it – cycled.Today we have a very enlightening talk with our friend of the Giraffe Heroes Foundation, Ayoola Brimmo. We talked about waste in Nigeria, smart bins and the Cycled App. This App helps users who want to recycle more, and reduce their General Waste collection bill, by using a SmartBin. The “SmartBin”, Ayoolas innovation, uses image recognition, and artificial intelligence, to recognize waste items thrown into it and sorts individual material types into separate inner bins. Learn about Ayoolas personal motivation, about what it needs to achieve a paradigm shift regarding our waste production and how he and his team are trying to contribute.
In the hopes to establish a cross-border collaborative platform for kanthari graduates and friends to share ideas, challenges and solutions. In March, kanthari started the initiative “knock”, as for kanthari network of change and knowledge. „A network can only sustain if each person is contributing something“. My guest today, Meghana Raveendra took on the job to coordinate kantharis all over the globe to boost collaboration and amplify their impact. And we learn – it is all about using the connection one has – through a network. How she’s trying to manage this and what else she does, for example with her organisation “Moringa” (miracle tree), to help children and students to live with anxieties – she will explain in this very delightful talk.
When parents are incarcerated, their children are punished, too. Prisoners’ families, particularly their children, are often termed the ‘innocent victims’ of crime. Since 2012, the Global Network for Equality, founded by kanthari alumni K.R. Raja is doing an impressive job for the children of incarcerated parents. They are successfully breaking the circle of the crime. In our talk, Raja gives us first a very interesting general picture on how the situation of the families are and how the children can be identified and monitored, to guarantee they really get ideal support. In the second half of the talk he convinces us on how the organisation works in detail and proves the initial motivation. We also talked about how, since two years, they’re also working with children of women prisoners, who’s mothers are extremely stigmatized as soon as they are accused of a crime.
Runing away from abuse, violence and poverty, or simply being left behind, lots of Children use India's extensive railway network to get to the cities, where they hope to find a better life. The stations are perfect for predators. With over 11 million children living on the streets in India, there is a lot at stake. This is another Episode of the Podcast to restore your faith in Humanity. Welcome to Stick your neck out. Today´s guest Sanoj NT from India wants to see a child-friendly atmosphere at Indian Railway Stations. With his project "Child in Rail" he wants to get to railway children before the streets get to them.
While talking to Joshua, I have to say, it's incredible how witnessing everything he has experienced, he is still able to bring hope to the children in an unstable Cameroon. According to him, organic farming on its own has a lot to do with peace. This set of young farmers PEACE CROPS is training will be part of a new generation of environmentalists, that are trying to build communities in Cameroon which prefer health to wealth. PEACE CROPS uses Organic Agriculture as a building tool for community development as well as to promote a peaceful environment.
Sherin Noordheen is from the 2017 generation of kantharis. She is a mental health activist and founder of Let’s Live. She experienced depression and suicide ideation at a young age and knows the value of emotional support to those who need it. Sherin is sharing with us very impressive projects she's running. She explains how to get conversations started when it comes to the point where life becomes a choice. Her NGO focusses on mental health awareness, their mision: cutting down the stigma established on suicide and mental health issues in Kerala. There is a lack of life skills in our lives, she said. Convince yourself of the great impact and enthusiasm she's spreading with "Let's live".
Tiffani Brar is a tough woman, who knows what she wants and is going to go for it. Todays talk is really encouraging and uplifting. A delight. Tiffany Brar. An Indian community service worker who has been blind since childhood. A social activist and trainer, working to create awareness on disability. She is the founder of the Jyothirgamaya Foundation, a non-profit organization whose stated mission is to help blind people in all spheres of life to gain the skills needed for a successful and smooth existence. An Eye to the blind in the podcast to restore your faith in Humanity
Taking into account what my guest today, Lawrence Afere shared, According to UN projections, the population of Africa is going to increase to around 2.5 billion in 2050. All key sustainability challenges, social as well as environmental, will be on full display in Africa in the decades to come, and the most vulnerable people are likely to suffer the brunt of negative future impacts. At the same time, Africa has the youngest population of any continent on Earth, with an amazing amount of entrepreneurial energy and hope for the future. With One Million African Leaders or OMLA, Lawrence Afere and his team hope to make a lasting impact on the continental entrepreneurial landscape.
kanthari alumni Anja Pfaffenzeller started 2013 the Project "Bats in Action" in Sobral, a town in the north-east of Brazil. She realised how much blind people in Brazil are excluded from education and decided to get involved. She wanted the brasilian blind kids to fly like bats, to manage their own way. In todays podcast Anja tells us in a very honest, yet reflected way about her experience of realising a project for blind children in Brazil. At the same time, we’re talking about what challenges to face back in Germany when it comes down to building a life and also trying to realise ideas. Which hurdles to face, be it in Brazil, be it in Germany.
While studying, Lorena already was very active trying to make the world a better place, volunteering for different organisations whenever she could. But there was one turning point, when she decided, she couldn’t just go on like that but really had to get engaged, change something and fight for the rights of all disabled persons. Let’s try to change our mindsets – delve in and don’t miss out on todays talk with Lorena from Argentina. "Accessibility is necessary for some, but it is useful for everyone" says the Co-Founder of Comparlante, Fundación Comparlante a non-profit organization that promotes the development and inclusion of persons with disabilities in Latin America.
“Equity in health means access to healthcare, regardless of who you are, regardless of what you do. I’m convinced health is everyone's right...” Harriet Kamashanyu in today's Podcast. As it is the case almost all over the world, women in Africa, including Uganda, are an economically disadvantaged group. The lack of economic power of these communities, especially among young women, is a major obstacle to long-term development in Uganda. Harriet is the Founder and Executive Director of Rhythm of Life Kampala, an organization set out to provide health care services to sex-workers in the red-light district in Kampala and to educate their daughters in a variety of programmes. This is an episode about women empowerment, transformation and the Rhythms of Life.
The Coronavirus disease pandemic has been rapidly spreading globally and has caused worldwide social and economic disruption. As scientists race to develop a vaccine for Covid-19, China has been championing Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) as a way to treat the disease. Todays podcast is a Special. We want to enrich the Media world with some really enlightening information on how TCM was used in China to prevent and treat COVID 19, in order to get severe cases under control, or not even get to that point. Be it by giving hospital staff certain nutrition advice to prevent infections with COVID 19, or treating the vast population when an outbreak threatened to get the tight hospital facilities for so many people overloaded. In either case, the results are impressive and one wonders - why is hardly anybody talking about these studies and results? There are quite a large number of people, who have actually been treated that way. Luckily, when talking to Angela about our every day experience with COVID 19, she was very happy to join our podcast and let more people know about what information she's getting, when digging a bit more into what TCM can contribute to deal with the worldwide pandemic. Convince yourself and join todays podcast - I promise you, it is very entertaining!
My guest today is Limbi Blessing Tata, a trained Botanist/Conservationist, who has been working in the field of forest conservation over a decade. After graduating from kanthari in 2018, she started the organisation Eco Balance which is valuing forests as a deposit of natural wealth accumulated over generations. Eco Balance is combining education and participation with active restoration efforts, thus helping to bring the benefits and value of Cameroon’s forest back into the everyday life of the people.
kanthari alumni Aparna Gopan and Ruangtup Kaeokamechun (Ruang) do an amazing job in questioning taboos – talking about the things we’re taught not to talk about and therefore giving, especially children, an important tool to get information. Aparnas “Elephant in the room” in India and Ruangs “Little Firefly” in Thailand are dealing with taboos in their societies. In our very touching conversation they talk about their personal motivation and experiences regarding taboos and the achievements they can see within their societies. It’s very encouraging to listen to these two fearless women, who go on fighting for the rights of the marginalized and speaking out loud about harmful taboos.
Thousands of farmers, especially from Punjab and Haryana, are staging a sit-in protest along Delhi borders. The farmers are demanding a complete rollback of the new farm reform laws and a guarantee on the Minimum Support Price system being retained. In today´s Podcast Giraffe Hero Dilip Simeon is giving us a thorough evaluation on the farmer’s protest in New Dehli. The movement, which is ongoing for almost three months already, had being going on peacefully since November 2020. The one incident of 26th it is not what the bulk of the farmers wants, he said. The movement has created great solidarity among the society. Dilip also gives some insight on what are the crucial things that should change socially and politically in India, but also globally.
Yoshimi connects books to people and people to books. After the kanthari scholarship, she started “Always Reading Caravan”, a unique nonprofit that brings books, fun, and hope to rural communities in Northern Thailand. A mobile library for children and adults, both with, and without disabilities in rural Thailand, founded by a Japanese woman who happens to be blind. For Yoshimi, books are important, but more important are the people reading these books. She sees reading as a tool to connect people and also to connect people to society.
People with albinism have been persecuted, killed and dismembered, and graves of albinos dug up and desecrated in some eastafrican countries. At the same time, people with albinism have also been ostracised and even killed for exactly the opposite reason, because they are also presumed to be cursed and bring bad luck. In today's Podcast I'm talking with Jane Waithera about her experience with albinism in Kenya and her path to found Positive Exposure Kenya. With her organisation she is fighting to challenge the stigma that is being projected on people with Albinism, not only in her country. She has a very clear vision on how to change the current situation towards more diversity, a clear mission on how to improve the lives of people with albinism and change public vision and also the values they pursue. How exactly is her approach? Listen to our podcast and check her website at: positiveexposure-kenya.org
Sristi Foundation was founded by Karthikeyan, known as Karthik, a psychologist born and raised in Pondicherry generally known as 'Pondy' situated on the East Coast of India. Karthik, a 2012 kanthari graduate spent 15 years in an inclusive orphanage where disabled and non-disabled children lived and grew up together. The projects Kartik has founded with Sristi Villiage are absolutely admirable. Listen to his very personal story on how he ended up finding his path in devoting his life to improve the conditions for people with intellectual disability. With the projects he started in 2015, he supports plenty of people to lead an independent life, be part of the community and have an individual perspective.
Social Changemaker and kanthari alumni Faruk Musema explains us his concept of reverse inclusion. As an inclusive sports coach for children with disabilities at the Gulu Disabled Persons Union, Faruk is a passionate sports man and social change maker in his community in Northern Uganda. He is also passionate about sports and has set himself a goal: Ability Sports Africa (ASA) empower children and youth by running adaptive sports and literacy programs. They empower students and children with disabilities to stay in their schools. The idea is to see the abilities of the children, create activities in schools to engage their bias in different games. To reach that comprehension in the community, he found a way to create other bias, adaptive games that brings up all different kind of abilities. That’s how they encourage children without disabilities for example to sit in a wheelchair as well to play wheelchair basketball and thus understand what it actually means, to sit in a wheelchair.
Kanthari alumni Kapila Rasnayaka promotes a genderless society. Not sure, what’s that about? Kapila explains: “Genderless means just representing yourself as you, without masculinities and feminities – it means you’re free to fly, anywhere…” A great joy talking to Kapila, who gives us a 360° insight of his vision and engagement to promote gender equality and create a genderless society. Join Kapila on his journey to the Genderless Jungle and Voices of Humans in Sri Lanka. Get to know how you can free your world of gender constructs through workshops, through activities, through being an example. Kapila wants to encourage people to see opportunities, to create love.
Human rights activist and commended Giraffe Hero Jaz O’Hara founded „The Worldwide Tribe“ in a bid to highlight the humanity behind world issues and inspire positive social change. She is uplifting refugee voices and celebrating human differences. Founded in 2015, the Worlwidetribe has grown into an organisation and online community which raises awareness about the refugee crisis whilst also supporting those caught up in it in a sustainable way.
Ojok Simon is from Uganda. The 2012 kanthari graduate, is a beekeeper, an environmentalist, a human rights activist and also almost blind. At age thirteen, Ojok survived an armed attack to his village that led to his blindness. But also made Hive Uganda possible.
Enjoy listening about Ojoks activities and how he has managed to create a sustainable enterprise with wild beekeeping for the blind people in Uganda. We want and need to ask you for a little extra patience today. Internet connection and technical equipment in rural areas is not always as stable and up to the standard as we need it and are used to – but we’re sure – if you just slow down a little and let your mind travel with todays’ podcast, your conscience will overcome its rather poor audio quality and capture Ojoks message: “I want to leave a legacy, a history on how to change things and move on”.
Trevor Molife, founder of the organization Purple Hand Africa is giving us a broad insight about how life might be for someone forming part of the LGTBQI community in Zimbabwe. Note, that this topic comes with traumatic stories – which makes it not less important to listen to his, on the contrary, one should raise attention and get engaged. To embrace each and everyone, no matter their gender or sexuality and see the actual human being. We learn about Purple Hand Africa, how they create a safe space for the community and offer especially mental help, strengthening individuals and reducing the suicidal rate of members of the community. We also learn about Trevors personal journey, impressive, persistant, sad and yet so powerful – a great person to get in touch with! In this Podcast we use about 20 seconds of the original audio of Trevor´s dream speech at kanthari.
With Sristi KC, founder of Blind Rocks! in Nepal one can really feel the vibe and what she wants to transmit with her organisation. One of her most important statements: There should be more of us all around the world dancing, more blind people who rock the world, so people can see us and realise that we're just as able to do so instead of making us feel disabled and marginalised. Sristi is a dancer, a public speaker, an actress, an adventurer, a motivator, an initiator and also completely blind. Blind Rocks! uses interpersonal skills training, dance, fashion and adventure sports to rock the blind and the society's attitude towards them.
We have great respect for today's giraffe - someone who literally stuck his neck out when being imprisoned, without having done nothing. We know these things happen - yet it seems so incredible at the same time. In today's talk we get an insight on what it's like to bear this destiny and at the same time, what lessons it can teach. Since it is a very complex story, we talked several times and for Mohammed's personal safety we had to leave certain details out, as well as his whereabouts today. Fighting to build a 'normal' life, not being able to release his true identity, trying to avoid to be stigmatized and persecuted, as it happened several times after he was finally granted "freedom" from Guantánamo…..
The story of Mohammed EL-Gharani was turned into a graphic novel together with Jerome Tubiana and Alexandre Franc. The Book was endorsed by Amnesty International. The black and white illustrations by Franc convey the harsh reality of torture, constant acts of racism and xenophobia in a bold, graphic style.
Foto: El-Gharani in Morocco a few years back
Tony Joy is doing impressive work in Nigeria. With her organisation Durian, she's helping out the most marginalized people in rural areas, transforming the image and comprehension of rural equals poor and marginalized towards rural is creative and cool. How she's managing to do this, she explains in a very straight forward, precise way in today’s podcast. Tony Joy is showing women a way to succeed, break standards, showing up and doing the right thing. She also talks how they coped with COVID-19 and the space she created to help out while things were getting complicated and more difficult than usually. She's fighting for community development, women empowerment and much more - what a great person!
In todays Podcast Abhijit Sinha is making a clear point: coming from a high education system doesn't automatically mean that it's teaching you how to make the right choices, regarding humanity. The kanthari alumni is introducing us to Project DEFY. Project DEFY is helping communities in India to create their own schools, using Nooks, learning spaces to enable the participants to look themselves on what they want to do and how they want to approach the topic rather then how it's been done in most educational systems. Besides that, he's also telling us about several of his other inventions - inshallah one coud pursue everything...
A kanthari is a plant that grows wild in every backyard of Kerala, a small but very spicy chili with a number of medicinal values. A kanthari is also a symbol for those who have the guts to challenge harmful traditions and the status quo, who have fire in their belly and a lot of innovative ideas to make a positive difference. In today’s Podcast I´m talking to Giraffe Hero Sabriye Tenberken. In 1998, she started the first school for blind people in Tibet and the foundation „Braille Without Borders“. After her experience in Tibet, together with Giraffe Hero Paul Kronenberg, she went to Kerala in the South of India and founded Kanthari. Kanthari offers a 12 months leadership program for visionaries who have overcome adversity and who are keen to drive ethical social change.
“If we manage to get a stable ocean, there won’t be so many drastic climate changes and we will all look at a brighter future”. Giraffe Hero Aki Allagholi put up an organisation: coralive.org, a small NGO doing everything to protect, manage and restore coral reefs. How he got to that point, what it takes to restore a coral reef and how to become part of it, he explains in a very detailed, yet easy to follow manner for anybody, familiar or not to the topic. Aki finds some very honest and personal words on how to stop feeding the system but get inspired instead and see what’s the right path for everyone deep inside.
Today's episode is sort of a special, since you get to listen personally to the one who started with the whole idea of nominating people sticking their necks out almost forty years ago. With Ann Medlock the Giraffe Heroes Project was born. Ann talks in this Episode about COVID-19, the situation in the United States shortly before elections take place and of course about the Giraffe Heroes Project. As you can convince yourself in the great talk we had, she’s not at all getting tired of telling stories – stories that blow your mind and leave this feeling behind, that storytelling makes a difference, that it’s important to take action…each and everyone of us.
Cosco, the artist, explorer and social activist. When he landed himself in the Alpujarras well over a decade ago, among others he learnt about natural horse keeping. And soon he learnt about the bees and the problems with pesticides down in the low-lands; and that they recovered in the natural highlands where no industrial planting had reached yet. From there it was only one further step for him to plan a Natural Bee Reserve in the Alpujarra – for which he set out to research and design a ‘Mediterranean Stone Hive’, as antique as it is innovative...
We are proud to share every week inspirational stories from remarkable individuals. Stories that come from many different places. Each Giraffe's story is unique with the underlying theme of overcoming challenges present in all. Take a look at each individual experience, and although each person is different, they all have one thing in common: Heroism. We want to hear your stories, too. If you'd like to tell us about your front-line hero, visit us at giraffe-heroes.eu. You´ll find the Giraffe Heroes Stories every Tuesday on Spotify, iTunes, our Homepage and every other place, where you hear your podcasts Join us again next week!
If you want to join us and help our Giraffes please go to: https://wemakeit.com/projects/climate-adaptation
The Giraffe we want to introduce you to today is Dimi. Dimi is a filmmaker who has produced several documentaries on shoestring budgets. About his most recent one, which is still in the making Not your bee, he will give some fascinating insights in this talk. He’s asking the right questions, like who do insects belong to and what might be the consequence of this possessive idea men tend to have about bees – about the environment in general. Other than that he’s revealing very moving stories about his other activities, be it as a filmmaker doing guerrilla actions to demonstrate the consequence of the refugee politics, or be it as a social worker trying to reunify families and help depressed young people. He’s explaining us how the open heart circles he organizes help make people talk, how rituals and candle light can help – to talk with each other and open up hearts instead of shielding off the most beloved ones around you.
Chris is an educator and researcher in sustainability issues with a special interest in how today’s separation of people from nature is affecting their ability to cope with conflict, this especially with a view to younger generations. And he has developed methods to remedy this situation by reengaging us with nature. With the help of our ongoing crowd-financing campaign Giraffes fighting for Climate Adaptation, Chris would like to prepare a series of online lectures so as to share his knowledge and experience with a wider audience thus attracting them to actually engage practically for positive change. Furthermore, Chris has profound knowledge about growing and protecting trees, something which will help greatly with the creation of our Bee and Wild Bee Reserve, which is planned to be created high up at the National Park Sierra Nevada.
Todays podcast is taken our look to a green desert– meaning an area without diversified culture – meaning no food for insects to survive. Hendrik Haers, my guest today, is living in the centre of a village built in such a green desert – where there’s hardly any ground left that the village autorities don’t sell for building. Therefore Henrik decided to gather all his power to plant as much trees as possible and create an awareness. He’s also sharing his story of how he learned to become a classic beekeeper and how he change from traditional to natural beekeeping. After that, the number of beehives increased surprisingly “without doing anything”.
Did you know you can train a dog as a beekeeper? Did you know that the bees need your help? What is the connection between the Bees and COVID-19? In today’s Episode Tom Amatt is talking with André Wermelinger, founder and leader of the NGO Free the Bees, Fribourg, Switzerland. He’s also a Giraffe Hero and will be talking among other things, about what could be a solution regarding todays bee keepings problems and how he fights to save the bees. Also, how can the bees be treated in a way that they’re still able to adapt to the climate change, as they have adapted to the evolution in the last 45 million years. This Episode it’s all about humans. About working for the bees and the trees and a society getting healthy again.
This podcast reveals the story about the origin of the Giraffe Heroes Foundation. What’s the organisations goal – who are those Heroes, the so called “Giraffes”? Listen to the pilot of our new podcast series “Stick your neck out!” The weekly podcast of the Giraffe Heroes Foundation. In this Episode you get insights from the Founder Tom Amatt and get to know the particular vision this NGO has. We walk you through the process how to find and nominate people that stick their neck out and create a network among all of those, fighting for the common good, to make a difference. In our podcast, commended Giraffes are talking with us about the issues that count most for them and which drive them “To Stick their Necks Out” for our common good.