The State of Affairs – Why Civil Courage is Important
by Karl Amadé
Giraffe Heroes Foundation Europe and kanthari
The world has come to a point where it has clearly shown us that the ever-growing population, paired with a hunger of consumption have caused a multitude of challenges. Additionally, there is a constant increase of the gap between the few that ‘have’, and the majority that ‘have not’. Those in power rule over those without, and in several places, personal interests stand in the way of what would be in the interest of the masses. Along the way the environment is ruined by unsustainable exploitation without end and wars are perpetuated for the sake of private profits.
The extent of the disaster still varies from country to country – the trend is universal.
To counter this development a different kind of community is needed; one in which people have the courage to stand up and say, “No. I’m NOT going this way!”, and are devoting their lives to work for change in the right direction. These people do exist; and as long as they do there is hope. However, their voices need to be heard more often, their activities need support and a movement needs to be created which has the power to change the trend…
So, we are incredibly happy to have found kanthari, Sabriye and Paul, whom we commended as Giraffe-Heroes just recently. They are an outstanding example of visionary, courageous personalities, who have managed to create an organization beyond the beaten tracks, which performs daily, weekly, monthly, yearly work as an Incubator for Change Makers, working for the Common Good. In helping young and often disadvantaged people with the will and courage to make a difference for the better within their local societies, Sabriye and Paul equip and coach these future generation leaders with the tools and know-how it takes to recognize the potential and power of the ideas that drive them, so they can transform a vague feeling and wish into a mission and plan for concrete change.
In what they are doing the kantharis are the perfect example of and perfect match for the Giraffe-Heroes Project itself and we are looking forward to a growing and ever more fruitful cooperation for our common goals!
The Giraffe Heroes Project (GHP) has been started some 40 years ago by Ann Medlock and John Graham in New York and is today still operated by them from Whidbey Island, WA. (www.giraffe.org) Ann Medlock, a passionate journalist and writer, is convinced that the best way to inspire people to do the right thing is to find those who already did so with bravura and TELL THEIR STORIES. In this way the GHP has by now commended almost 1500 Giraffe-Heroes and told their stories. One special highlight was when Mikhail Gorbachew took the initiative to invite Ann and John to Moscow after the fall of the iron curtain. Since a majority of people in the former Soviet Union had lost sense for the meaning of Civil Courage and the Standing Tall for the Common Good in a democracy worthwhile protecting, the father of Perestroika deemed the GHP’s work a precious tool of changing that status quo. So, Ann and John took nominations from the Russian citizenry and aired their stories directly via Radio Moscow. John Graham himself is a true Giraffe. The story told in “Sit Down Young Stranger (On the Edge)”, the autobiography of his first life as an adventurer and American Civil Service Officer in many a spot of the troubled world of the late fifties and sixties, shows a personality trying to come to grips with the contradictions between his responsibilities as a leading government official and diplomat and his inner moral instincts and search for meaning in a life worth living. After many a breathtaking experience he was ultimately led to turn his back on a brilliant career and start from scratch again – shortly after which he met Ann Medlock. He literally fell in love with her and her project and ever since Ann is telling the stories and John spreads the word around the world.
As for myself and the Giraffe Heroes Foundation, set up in Basel three years ago: when I accidently came across John’s autobiography and read it, the story struck me as so powerful that I got in touch with the author. To make the long story short, I translated Young Stranger (On the Edge) into German and over many visits to Whidbey Island became a close friend of John and Ann’s, actually our whole family became. Of course it meant that I got a close up of the Giraffe Project which led me to feel that there must lay hidden but valuable potential in connecting all these wonderful personalities and help them to come together in a synergetic way, thus amplifying their activities for the Common Good. As there was not much of a GHP work going on in Europe I decided to establish the Giraffe Heroes Foundation with the purpose to not only expand the Project more directly into Europe but also, and perhaps even more so, to network as many Giraffes as possible and thus facilitate synergies among them and increasing the overall impact of the Project. Since then, almost all personalities commended by us in Basel have been invited here for events in support of their work. Last fall we organized a successful crowd-funding campaign for one of them, Dimi Dumortier and his documentary Not Your Bee. This year we just finished a campaign Giraffe for Climate Adaptation – the bee and tree initiative – coordinating the efforts of five outstanding people in Spain, Belgium and Switzerland.
Basel, November 2020
Karl Amadé
Read and listen more at:
http://www.giraffe-heroes.eu/en/giraffe_heroes/sabriye-tenberken-and-paul-kronenberg/
Listen to an interview with Sabriye on:
http://www.giraffe-heroes.eu/en/kanthari-empowering-the-marginalised/