Putting your life on the Fire Line

In South Africa, as  in so many other countries, wild fires can be devastating.
Patrick Ryan was on the scene of the fire on Table Mountain National Park on the 18th of April which destroyed parts of the University of Cape Town (UCT), causing the evacuation of thousands of students.

His passion for photographing wild fires and his work as a volunteer fire fighter has culminated in a mission to improve how we manage wild fires in this country.

His company was formed to create a better understanding of the wildfire environment. It is ever changing and the systems which aim to prevent and react to wildfire are becoming more complex in the face of increasingly aggressive wild fires.

Patrick believes there are many challenges which need to be solved in South Africa.

He and his team work on analysing all the variables that affect fire management such as weather, topography and vegetation to find workable solutions. 

He also believes that wild fire fighters need to be extremely skilled in order to manage wild fires but this is yet to be recognised and fully appreciated by government and the community. 

Patrick Ryan

 "I am deeply focused on understanding and addressing the low level of wildfire risk recognition and awareness that prevails. I believe that finding the right communication methods and incentivising via the appropriate channels will bring about the change we are driving for.”

To listen to our interview with Patrick you can find our podcast The Story Teller on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon music or Audible or go directly to our platform by clicking here: The Story Teller

To learn more about Patrick Ryan and what he does click here: Vulcan Wildfire Management 
 

Let's have cake and tea and talk about Death

A Death Cafe is a group directed discussion of death with no agenda, objectives or themes. It is a discussion group rather than a grief support or counselling session.

Death Cafes are always offered:

- On a not for profit basis

- In an accessible, respectful and confidential space

- With no intention of leading people to any conclusion, product or course of action

- Alongside refreshing drinks and nourishing food – and cake!

In 2010 Jon Underwood from the UK decided to develop projects related to the subject of death,  one of which was to focus on talking about death. In November Jon read about the work of Bernard Crettaz in the Independent newspaper. Inspired by Bernard's work, Jon immediately decided to use similar model for his own project, and Death Cafe was born.

The first Death Cafe in the UK was offered in Jon's house in Hackney, East London in September 2011. It was facilitated by pychotherapist Sue Barsky Reid, Jon's mum. They went on to offer Death Cafes in a range of places including funky cafes, people's houses, cemeteries, a yurt and the Royal Festival Hall.

Jon and Sue Barsky Reid produced a guide to running a Death Cafe, based around the methodology Sue developed. Subsequently hundreds of people have adopted the idea to provide Death Cafes across the globe including South Africa. In this podcast episode "Let's have coffee and talk about Death" we talk to a facilitator at the Cape Town Death Cafe, Gill Faris. Listen here:The Story Teller 

This chapter of the Death Cafe can be found on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/letstalkaboutdeathcpt.

You can also find more information at Death Cafe

Are you 50 plus and asking what now?

 Many of us are going to be living far longer that our parents and grandparents. 

At the same time many people who are 50 plus are retiring, being retrenched or jobless. 

The future stretches ahead where many of us may be living until 90 and we do not know what to do.

How will we survive financially ? What is the reason and purpose of our lives in this new season of life?

Lynda Smith

Lynda Smith is a South African social entrepreneur who has developed expertise in this area over the past fifteen years. She has been looking closely at the major trends that are impacting the 50 plus generation and their future. 

In this episode  of The Story Teller podcast, Lynda talks about the impact of longevity and technology as well as Covid-19. For those of us at a cross roads, what she has to say, is very valuable. 

Click here to listen:The Story Teller

Lynda is the founder of Refirement Network and 50 Plus-Skills and is involved with many similar international organisations. To learn more go to 50plus-skills.

A man with a passion for protecting the ocean

Listen to our podcast with Jean Tresfon a man who volunteers his time to conserving the creatures and health of the ocean. Click here:  The Story Teller

  

Jean Tresfon is passionate about the ocean and its creatures. He has spent 30 years of his life sharing what he sees with the public through his underwater and aerial photographs around the southern tip of Africa. 

He talks about why it took him a while to find his passion, how he learned to fly a gyrocopter so he could fly above the ocean for a very different perspective, how he does not fear holding those in power accountable for their actions and how lockdown had a surprising impact on him.

He feels enormously privileged to have had experiences that most of us will never have and that is why he feels he has a duty to share his stories.

If you want to see Jean's photographs and stories follow him on Facebook at Jean Tresfon 

Humanise your brand! 

The National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) is a non profit volunteer organisation. It relies on support from the public for funding. 

It also relies heavily on the good will and dedication of individuals who volunteer their time to ensure the NSRI is able to operate. These are people who spend hours in training in all aspects of sea rescue and who often risk their lives to help others who are in trouble. 

This is the story of one volunteer, Spencer Oldham who is a family man, business man and yet has voluteered an enormous amount of his time to the organisation. His personal story creates an emotional connection with the audience because we realise the organisation only exists because of hundreds of people like Spencer.

The NSRI becomes humanised when we hear the stories of the people who are prepared to dedicate themselves to a cause out of a belief in altruism.

Click here to listen to Spencer's  story: The Story Teller

In his story Spencer talks about the many hours spent training for all kinds of eventualities, the dangers they face at sea (and on land), the satisfaction of a successful rescue and his continued dedication despite the impact of Covid-19 on sea rescue operations and his personal life. 

Every individual who volunteers for the organisation has a story to tell that creates empathy for the brand. These are the stories worth collecting as part of a marketing strategy to differentiate your brand in a highly competitive market.

 

 

Climb Every Mountain

 

Mountaineering was  a childhood dream for Deshun Deysel which she achieved in 1996.  

She was a member of the first team of South Africans who placed the new SA democratic flag at the top of Mt. Everest. 

The media described Deshun as the first black woman in the world and the youngest South African to set foot on the slopes of Mount Everest.

She grew up in South Africa during the apartheid era in a small township outside of Uitenhage in the Eastern Cape. Her grandmother's recollections of the exploits of Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay who were the first to officially summit Mt. Everest in 1953, stimulated her dreams of becoming an adventurer.

Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary

She has always been naturally sporty enjoying open water swimming, cycling, running, and she played provincial volleyball in high school and college where she studied to be a teacher. 

But mountaineering became her first love. After her participation in the 1996 expedition, Deshun participated in climbing expeditions to five of the seven summits on five continents: Mt. Mckinley in North America, Mt. Elbrus in Europe, Aconcagua in South America, Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa and she attempted to summit Everest in 2003. 

She has successfully guided teams up Mt. Kenya, Mt. Kilimanjaro and smaller South African peaks. She has also summited Mt. Meru (Tanzania), Mt. Blanc (France) and Mt. Kalapathar (Nepal).

She was to be part of an all women South African expedition which planned to climb Everest in 2020 but unfortunately Covid-19 put a halt to their plans. 

Deshun Deysel is CEO of GoPeak International which consults to and coaches clients mainly in the small to medium business space. She is also a motivational speaker. 

In her business Deshun uses metaphors from her 25 years of climbing experience to help clients understand how to climb to the top.

 https://www.gopeak.biz/ 

Deshun lives in Johannesburg with her husband Charles and their two children, Edward and Judith. At the age of 50 she is still highly driven. She plans on growing her business, writing books and climbing more mountains. 

Listen to her podcast "Life Lessons from a Mountaineer" where she talks candidly about her life and career. Click here: The Story Teller

Photo courtesy of Tony van Marken

Humanise brands with great story telling

"great stories and experiences are bigger than products and therefore humanise brands"

The Health Foundation in the UK teamed up with the Empathy Museum to develop a collection of podcast stories from people working in and using health and social care in the UK. 

The project, A Mile in My Shoes, believed that everyone has a story to tell. By sharing thirty five stories it wanted to showcase the contribution that individuals make to the health care industry.

This is the story of an organ donor nurse.

In 2018 A Mile in My Shoes won several DRUM awards, including Best Charity/Not-for-profit campaign, Best social good campaign, Best live or virtual event campaign and Best B2B content marketing campaign, as well as a silver award at the International Content Marketing awards for Best B2B campaign.

Here we get to walk a mile in the shoes of a paramedic working in the UK.

The Health Foundation quotes the Chairwoman of the Branded Content Marketing Association and member of the DRUM awards judging panel, Patricia Weiss. She believes that the greatest challenge of the century is to provoke empathy in people. 

"Content and experiences like that (A Mile in My Shoes) represents the perfect intersection between the brand purpose and what is really relevant to people. 
This is what happens when a brand could represent the society and also be a catalyst of a broader conversation that is more people-oriented and less product-oriented, because great stories and experiences are bigger than products and therefore humanise brands." 

 

     

In our previous blog post we illustrated how The Health Foundation produced videos that told visual stories which humanised their brand. They repeated this principal with podcasts. Their message is not just about a product, it is about the very real and human face of the brand that we can connect to and will remember.

Click here to the link to their podcast stories and here is a link to our own podcast The Story Teller