The art of Storytelling

The main goal of my site is to use story telling as a means to share and interpret experiences.

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Why story telling?

Storytelling is a means of sharing and interpreting experiences. Therefore, by telling a story from real life experiences, or even fictional events, resonation is inherent. The sequence of evens, or the actual event itself would resonate with the reader and would show the reader that in as much as we are individual people our experiences are intertwined. Stories have always been part of us as a people, in the Shona tradition we call them ‘ngano’ which is basically folklore. Folklore comprised of fictional stories from which lifelong lessons could be derived.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaAVByGaON0

I remember stories from my childhood which my mother used to share with us. Notably, I remember the stories of people she knew who had made decisions that led them into unfortunate circumstances. These stories stuck with me because obviously I never wanted to be like those people. She also told me stories of people who had made decisions that led them into the most magical and fortunate circumstances. These stories resonated with me because I wanted to follow the same footsteps. I may not remember the nitty gritty details of each story, but all I remember from my mother’s stories is the power of choice. She didn’t have to sit me down and give me endless odes and tips on how powerful choices are- all she had to do was share the stories in the way she did and unconsciously- she gave me one of the best life lessons through story telling.

Stories are influential, as they can be used to give insight without directly stating it. For example, if I tell five people the same story at once, they would probably give me five different, yet connected interpretations. That is what I find intriguing about stories. Stories allow us to give different interpretations to life, yet keeping us connected in a way. I have drawn inspiration from the stories shared by familiar faces such as my parents, friends and colleagues, to the legendary stories articulated by Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie,  to name a few. As a Christian I read the Bible, I discover that Jesus used stories to illustrate concepts which he wanted his listeners to understand.

For example, when Jesus was quizzed by a certain lawyer on what eternal life is, and whom their neighbour is, He went on to TELL A STORY: the parable of the Good Samaritan- in which He provided a well explained response which settled the quizzing. (Luke 10: 25-37)

Back to the goal of this site, I have many stories to tell which I believe can be beneficial to the reader. These are stories from childhood, university, travel, stories from my own internal conversations and stories I am still trying to finding the meaning of. I would also feature guests on this blog, as they step in to share their stories with us. There are some stories to teach while there are still some stories I am learning from myself.

Many stories matter, and here are the stories I have to tell.