Storytelling releases stress and emotions. It will help you to become more healthy physically, mentally and spiritually. Mom Yvonne Kgame, our member of the Circle of Wise Women will share her wisdom around story telling this month.

Do you want to share your story?
Send it to: info@femalewaveofchange.com

“The mystery of storytelling is the miracle of a single living seed which can populate whole acres of human minds.”

Ben Okri
Our Stories Live On
Female Wave of Change

The Female Wave of Change invites you to share your own stories.

Stories heal, restore hope and encourage others to tell their own stories.

Every human culture in the world seems to create stories as a way of making sense of the world. African stories draw upon the collective wisdom of our oral tradition, expressing “structures of meaning”, feeling, thought, heritage and thus serve an important and social ethical purpose.

What is the value of telling stories?

There is a lot more to stories than meets the eye. At the core, stories inspire, bring hope, make us laugh and sometimes they make us cry. The greatest thing about stories is that they inspire, revive and energize the soul.

Story telling is a spontaneous calling and an opportunity to make your voice heard – what is critical is how you answer your call.

It is an opportunity to inspire the telling of our own authentic stories – we are authors and artists of our own lives. It is a time for delving deep inside yourself and letting go so the truth heals you. Story telling allows the time to reflect and listen to your inner voice.

When we go through a tapestry of pain, anger, rejection, fear, disillusionment and regrets we discover the hidden pearls of grace, joy, love, peace, happiness understanding, knowledge, power, wisdom and genius.

Sharing stories inspires other souls to have the courage to author their own stories in their own organic voices. It’s an eternal gift and a thought memory that will live beyond your years and live forever – stories never die.

When you tell stories, you discover the peace within yourself which elevates you to a higher consciousness with deeper awareness and an understanding that you are life, light and love! This state is not a state of superiority or elitist, a state of being special nor is it a state of being better than the next person, it does not put you on a pedestal. It is rather a state of awareness of who you are. It is an enabler that aligns you when you go off track.

Opening yourself up unleashes blockages that turns a deaf ear to the inner voice that is humbly pleading be redeemed. Our souls are yearning for freedom.

It is critical that we share our stories broadly. Let us reach out to people who are helpless, defenseless, hopeless and disillusioned. This leads us to these important questions;

  • What are the stories that define us?
  • Who defines which stories need to be told?
  • Who tells our stories to who and why?
  • Who owns the story?
  • How are these stories told?
  • Are these the stories we want others to tell about us?

The healing power of storytelling

Storytelling is about making sense from raw information. This becomes an essential tool when dealing with difficult issues such as HIV/AIDS, mental health, addiction and many others; the stories have the ability to be informative whilst teaching valuable lessons and addressing social
taboos. Storytelling encourages people to give life to their experiences whether through song, written stories or visual communication. The communication connects the knowledge and actions and often simplifies otherwise complex information and situations.

Why do stories matter?

Stories can change lives and impact positively on others. Sharing stories can also have an enormous influence on how well we move forward in changing the world. We learn from hearing stories that strike a chord within us.

How can we tell our stories?

People in all times and places have told stories. In the oral tradition story telling includes the teller and listeners thus cocreating ownership. There are many ways in which we can tell our stories.

In writing // spoken word // in song // through acting //through artistic expression

On which mediums can stories be shared?

Books // Cinema // Radio // Television // Social Media //Artwork // Verbal

Who is eligible to tell stories?

Every one of us. Stories are a divine gift, a universal right and a heritage passed down from generation to generation. The oldest forms of storytelling were oral, told around a fire combined with gesture and expression: Words were spoken from one person to another in an effort to communicate a message or a feeling. Stories are also seen in the artwork scratched onto the walls of caves. With the invention of writing, stories were recorded transcribed and shared over wide regions of the world. As human activities have become more refined and complex, visual stories have been presented in images carved into wood, ivory or stone, painted on canvas, recorded on film and stored electronically as digital images.

So, let me tell my story:

BUSISIWE

A young girl sat under the tree with her Grandmother. The old woman loved to sit under this tree and listen to the Radio. “Gran, what does it mean that children are a blessing from God?” The young girl asked as she sat next to the old wise woman. Her Grandmother smiled. She turned and looked at her beautiful Granddaughter. “It means that children are a special gift, whose lives are already marked and planned before their arrival on earth.”

The little girl frowned. She looked up in the sky as if trying to see children fall down. She turned once again and looked at her Grandmother, what if I want to make my life different? What if I wanted to do something that is not like what was planned before my arrival on earth? Her Grandmother held her little hand and looked her in the eye. She started telling her a story she would never forget.

“When your mother was born, I was very happy. I was happy that I too could hold a baby in my hands. I used to look right into her eyes when she suckled. I was sure that she would do everything I wanted her to do, be the person I wanted her to be and more. I did everything to make sure that she took my teachings, my warning and my advice. For a while I was sure that the only word that mattered to her was my word. She grew up, looked prettier and lovelier. I kept looking at her thinking; indeed, this child is a blessing. She made me laugh from the bottom of my heart. This was a kind of love I never knew I had. My house became a comforting, special place to be in. Whenever I came home, I looked for her and she came with open arms, open smile and kissed me.

She grew up and started locking herself away. I wanted her to speak to me, but she didn’t. It became clear that she now heard other voices, her attention, love and her smile that used to brighten my days were no longer reserved just for me.

Nonetheless, I continued hoping and wishing that my blessing, my daughter would return her affections and cares to me; after all, she was my blessing. She grew older, and suddenly I became the enemy. I was the one standing in the way of her happiness. I did not understand her, she said. She hardly spoke to me at this point.

I wanted to know what was going on in her life. I wanted to know who her friends were; I wanted to know a whole lot more. I wanted to know how my blessing was blessing others. She completely removed herself from me. I realized that all that I had hoped for her was not to be realized as she insisted on doing what she wanted. I sat her down, tried to explain that she was a blessing, a special being who needed to tread very carefully as this world can destroy precious blessings like her, especially when these blessings land themselves in the wrong hands. She did not understand.

She grew much older. I realized I no longer had any form of control, or even influence over this blessing of mine. She made mistakes along the way. Her way led her into places I had never imagined, places I never wished she knew.

It tore my heart. I felt like my blessing had turned into a curse. Every night I cried for her. I prayed for her. One day she came back home, with you. Another blessing. My blessing brought me a blessing! I was reminded that she was a blessing to me.

While she was away, praying for her and worrying about her taught me things I had not known about myself. The situation that felt so bad, unbearable resulted in me knowing myself better. I learned that even though she was my child, I could not dictate what journey she should take in life. I had a better understanding of what a blessing is. So yes. You can choose to do something else, but how do you know what you are doing is not in fact what was planned for you anyway? The little girl smiled. “So, I am a blessing? Whatever I do will result in great lessons and more blessings?” Her Grandmother smiled back.

“As long as you always remember the way back home, no matter how far you go. Never forget your way back home.”

Moral of the story: Never throw away your blessings because they give you challenges; the challenges are there to stretch you and help shape you into a better and wiser person.

“Culture is the product of peoples’ history. It also reflects that history and embodies a whole set of values by which people view themselves and their place in time and space.”

Ngugi wa Thiong’o

So, let us hear your own story

Take action, use this unparalleled opportunity offered by The Female Wave of Change global platform to share your own stories amongst us and to the world. Take authorship and ownership of your own story.

Story writing tips for first timers:

  1. Know your story
  2. Choose the medium in which you wish to communicate your story
  3. Choose the language
  4. Research your selected medium of communication
  5. Practice daily
  6. Share your story with others and be open to constructive feedback
  7. Keep developing your skill

Sharing your story with Female Wave of Change

Your written stories can have a max of 1000 words or less.

When we receive your story it will be uploaded on our website and later this year all stories will be collected in a FWoC Story Book.

By sending in your story, you agree that Female Wave of Change is allowed to use is.

If you have any questions, please let us know!

You can send your stories to: info@femalewaveofchange.com

The month of June is also Youth Month in South Africa

LEND ME YOUR EAR

My Father, My Mother
I might not know how to say it
in the way that you want me to,
But I want to talk to you about life,

I worry about my identity and my place in the world,
I want to be my own person but you insist that
I should follow your rules and statutes,

Mother, Father,
Lend me your ear – share your time with me.
I promise you if you listened carefully to what I want to say,
If you tried to understand the emotions behind my hysteria
I know you could help me,

Allow me the space to make my own mistakes
and judge me not when I come crashing at your feet.
I need your guidance not law enforcement,
I need your wisdom not an affirmation of my shortcomings.
Mother, Father, lend me your ear – share your time with me.

My Daughter, My Son
Hear me and hear me well,
I cannot stand and watch you
make the same mistakes I’ve made.

I want you to do far better than me.
I want you to understand though –
life is no one’s friend.
I tell you from experience,
I teach you from what I have learned.

My Daughter, My Son
Hear me and hear me well.
These are life principles that will never change;
respect life, respect yourself respect authority.

I wish I could tell you something different but
I can’t because this is all I have learned:
There is time for everything, use your time wisely,
that’s one thing you can never get back.
My Daughter, My Son pay attention, life is no one’s friend.

SiBusisiwe – And we grow (Poetry booklet)

A poem from: SiBusisiwe – And we grow (Poetry booklet)

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