The Life Righting Collective runs courses to encourage self-exploration through life writing, raises funds for course fees and brings people together to share their stories and grow community.
Our Annual General Party (yes we know an AGM is a formal event, and we also like to take every opportunity to celebrate the fact that the LRC has turned 6!) was held on the 26th June. It was a delightful day enjoyed by all. The theme was YELLOW: sunshine, sunflowers, bright yellow accessories and jerseys, with 'songs-of-yellow-and-sunshine’ soundtrack to match… 💛
…and a lovely yellow poem from Heather Young:
“The rains have come The road stretches ahead, long and winding The rivers have burst their banks Nestled in corners are patches of bright yellow daisies insisting on being noticed. The drought has lifted Hours of driving.
Senses pricked and alert to movement, colour and the singing of the earth Yellow is prolific in Nature Yellow assaults my eyes with its vivid colour set against a rocky, sandy desert. Winter rape fields, a celebration of yellow stretching as far as the eye can see to the very ends of the land Cones of yellow Crassula, bold and brash, standing tall and proud embraced by fleshy green succulent leaves Yellow and orange daisies dancing and swaying on the dry, gritty banks of the tarred road, almost blown flat as cars fly past in a blur of speed
The land rejoices ...”
We began the event with a really fun ice-breaker getting into pairs and then introducing each other to the whole group –much laughter involved! This way, we could all ‘arrive’ in the room and discover who our companions for the day were.
Once the formal presentations of our CEO, Annual and financial reports were done - admirably facilitated by our MC of the day, Giles Griffin - the fun of the day began! 🌞
Part of our AGM/P always includes a talk by a local writer and this year was no different.
Local author and academic @joy_ann_watson gave us an entertaining, informative and wise talk about story-telling and creativity.
Her first novel - recently short-listed by the Sunday Times - “The Other Me” was published by @karavanpress in 2022 and has been well-received.
Congratulations Joy!🥳
Our AGM/P was held at a great venue in Muizenberg, called @muiz_kitchen
Not only were they able to offer us a spacious room in which to hold the event and help us with the set up (Kenneth and Devlin, you are remembered well! 😊) they put on a delicious vegetarian lunch for us! (coconut ice-cream with roasted bananas anyone?) 💛 A big thank you to Muizenberg Kitchen for helping to make our event run so smoothly.🙏
What happens when groups are asked to collaboratively create together and produce a work in just 15 minutes?
Our day concluded with a game led by LRC board member Jen Radloff that was huge fun and had us all applauding and laughing. 🌞
Four groups were challenged to produce a short collective piece of writing – and, in one case, dancing - incorporating the colour yellow (which just happens to be the LRC’s main brand colour) and its association with sunshine and joyfulness.
Nancye Homer spoke directly and movingly of the support she has received and benefited from the LRC and our CEO in particular.
All in all, it was a successful day with thanks to all who attended and in particular Giles Griffin and Jen Radloff who meticulously planned and facilitated the whole event.💛
These striking features of the LRC’s work have been articulated:
✅Bringing change – to individuals and communities, via self-discovery, self-care and self-recovery, as well as communal story-sharing
✅Accessibility – both in terms of physical accessibility for people living with disability and cultural and economic access as well
✅Inclusivity and respect – building diversity and belonging.
✅Community-building – linked to all of the above
Special thanks to our chair of the board, Philippa Namutebi Kabali-Kagwa for her summing up. She noted that radical cultural and other changes in the world had bought about a widespread sense of insecurity, and that the support and resilience provided by the work of the LRC were more needed than ever. She also pointed out that the LRC not only promoted the development of a sense of community in its courses but had become a supportive community in its own right.🙏
In the final words of LRC member, Nathan Festus:
“A very inspiring day of fun, of refocusing vision, of resetting goals and the pioneering of uncharted grounds, culminating in lunch and pudding, a vibrant collaboration of creative writing expressed in its rawness, thru an impromptu of uncensored prose and poetry…” 🌞
The Life Righting Collective runs courses to encourage self-exploration through life writing, raises funds for course fees and brings people together to share their stories and grow community.
