Dorian Haarhoff
Stories for a New South Africa
Dorian Haarhoff partnered with the Movement for Life Stories to help develop skills as story tellers and hosts for story sharing gatherings. He believes that stories can heal, build communities and create new worlds. He presented a workshop, Once Upon a Life…The Power of Story-Telling, to energise and prepare storytellers and hosts for the first Movement for Life Stories Weekend held on 14-16 Nov 2008. Participants emerged with stories in their hearts and on their lips. Nelson Creek sponsored the venue, so a lack of funds did not prevent anyone from participating

Dorian also put together a resource for people who will be hosting story gatherings in their local community in the future.

Louise van Rhyn, founder, writes about
the Movement for Sharing Life Sories in South Africa:

The vision

South Africans who love, appreciate and understand each other

What we do to facilitate more love and appreciation in our community:

We create opportunities for South Africans to spend time together and listen to each others' stories
We support a community of story-sharing hosts across South Africa
We share news of storytelling events / activities across South Africa
We spread the news about the value of hearing and sharing life stories
We encourage people to actively participate in:
  • The Annual South African weekend for sharing life stories
  • The International day for sharing life stories

The history of this movement

We were inspired by the idea behind the first International Day of Sharing Life Stories. On 16 May 2008 about 50 groups gathered in South Africa, and Freek Robinson (RSG) participated by hosting a 2-hour radio programme. The response confirmed our belief that this needs to become a movement to mobilize people across South Africa.

Stories strengthen relationships. We are concerned about the extent to which South African society in 2008 seems to be more divided than ever before. It is our dream that sharing life stories will lead to more understanding, love and appreciation and that racial, cultural and religious boundaries will dissolve when people meet and discover each other as human beings with unique stories, hopes, dreams and a contribution to make to our wonderful nation.

The first South African Weekend for Sharing Life Stories took place in November 2008.

How you can get involved

•We will be facilitating both the annual South African Weekend for Sharing Life Stories (November) and the International Day of Sharing Life Stories (May) – please plan to host / join a story sharing session!  Contact Louise van Rhyn
•We will be creating a social network around this initiative – if you want to be involved in this or if you want to be kept informed, please send your details to Louise van Rhyn