NAIROBI, KENYA We Don't Tell Our Stories

Women's Leadership Conference

Nairobi, Kenya April 2012
(1 of 2 posts)

It was a year ago...that Lori Duncan came over to my studio to learn how to make a story rope.

I messaged her weeks before on FaceBook that I would be happy to teach her how to make a story rope before she left for Nairobi.

She contacted a day or two before departure, thinking it was probably too late.  But no it was not too late! In fact I even had leftover story rope - making materials from a recent to Africa that I would happy to give to her to use.

Lori came and we went over how to make a story rope. I told her that the secret was for those teaching to be transparent when sharing their own stories. Women in the west are perceived to have it all together-no issues, problems, struggles. Life is good.  She responded that each of them were ready to be transparent with their own stories.

When Lori and her friends arrived in Kenya, they shared what they were planning to do with the story rope.  The reaction was. “We don’t do that here. We don’t tell our stories.”

As you can see, they did make their stories ropes! Then what?  

To be continued.