Qilin-Giraffes – The Podcast to Restore your Faith in Humanity

Qilin-Giraffes – The Podcast to Restore your Faith in Humanity

By Dimi DumortierSociety & CultureDocumentaryBusinessPersonal JournalsNon-Profit
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Qilin-Giraffes – The Podcast to Restore your Faith in Humanity episodes

  • Beyond sight: Blind rocks!
    Sristi KC: enthusiastic and empowering

    With Sristi KC, founder of Blind Rocks! in Nepal one can really feel the vibe and what she wants to transmit with her organisation. One of her most important statements: "There should be more of us all around the world dancing, more blind people who rock the world, so people can see us and realise that we're just as able to do so instead of making us feel disabled and marginalised". Sristi is a dancer, a public speaker, an actress, an adventurer, a motivator, an initiator and also completely blind. Blind Rocks! uses interpersonal skills training, dance, fashion and adventure sports to rock the blind and the society's attitude towards them.

    26 min
  • After Guantánamo...
    Giraffe Hero Mohammed El-Gharani

    We have great respect for today's giraffe - someone who literally stuck his neck out when being imprisoned, without having done nothing. We know these things happen - yet it seems so incredible at the same time. In today's talk we get an insight on what it's like to bear this destiny and at the same time, what lessons it can teach. Since it is a very complex story, we talked several times and for Mohammed's personal safety we had to leave certain details out, as well as his whereabouts today. Fighting to build a 'normal' life, not being able to release his true identity, trying to avoid to be stigmatized and persecuted, as it happened several times after he was finally granted "freedom" from Guantánamo…..

    The story of Mohammed EL-Gharani was turned into a graphic novel together with Jerome Tubiana and Alexandre Franc. The Book was endorsed by Amnesty International. The black and white illustrations by Franc convey the harsh reality of torture, constant acts of racism and xenophobia in a bold, graphic style.

    Foto: El-Gharani in Morocco a few years back

    58 min
  • Waste is the future
    Tony Joy, founder of Durian in Nigeria

    Tony Joy is doing impressive work in Nigeria. With her organisation Durian, she's helping out the most marginalized people in rural areas, transforming the image and comprehension of rural equals poor and marginalized towards rural is creative and cool. How she's managing to do this, she explains in a very straight forward, precise way in today’s podcast. Tony Joy is showing women a way to succeed, break standards, showing up and doing the right thing. She also talks how they coped with COVID-19 and the space she created to help out while things were getting complicated and more difficult than usually. She's fighting for community development, women empowerment and much more - what a great person!

    We are proud to share every week inspirational stories from remarkable individuals. From now on, we should not only be talking to commended Giraffes Heroes, but we are also going to present you many of the kanthari alumni, People who are also sticking their necks out and changing their communities from within. We want to hear your stories, too. If you’d like to tell us about your front-line hero, visit us at giraffe-heroes.eu.
    You´ll find the Giraffe Heroes Stories every Tuesday on Spotify, iTunes, our Homepage and every other place, where you hear your podcasts
    Join us again next week!

    22 min
  • Learning naturally
    DEFY: challenging conventional mainstream education

    In todays Podcast Abhijit Sinha is making a clear point: coming from a high education system doesn't automatically mean that it's teaching you how to make the right choices, regarding humanity. The kanthari alumni is introducing us to Project DEFY. Project DEFY is helping communities in India to create their own schools, using Nooks, learning spaces to enable the participants to look themselves on what they want to do and how they want to approach the topic rather then how it's been done in most educational systems. Besides that, he's also telling us about several of his other inventions - inshallah one could pursue everything....

    **Keywords:**

    „Classrooms did not exist 400 years ago. They will not exist a 100 years from now.’ I’m quoting my guest today, Abhijit Sinha. After a small, inspiring break, we’re back with our weekly Podcast and I’m very happy you’re listening to us today, since we have some, we believe, very good news. After our last episode with Sabriye, one of the Kanthari.org founders, we received a lot of encouraging feedback from our listeners – thank you so much! Listening to the podcast, the GHF Team and kanthari Founders together decided that from now on, we should not only be talking to commended Giraffes Heroes, but we are also going to present you many of the kanthari alumni, People who are also sticking their necks out and changing their communities from within. Welcome to the Podcast to restore your faith in Humanity, welcome to Stick your neck out! The Story of people sticking their necks out for the common good, The Story of Social change makers. Abhijit is a young social innovator, and the founder of Project DEFY. He has designed many social innovations in India and in several African countries, and we´re are going to be talking about all this today
    You graduated from kanthari, a 12-month leadership program for visionaries who have overcome adversity and who are keen to drive ethical social change. At the end, you graduate as a social change maker. Would you like to explain our listeners what is a Social Change maker?
    Project DEFY is a non-profit which has worked with over 15 communities in India and south east Africa, to help create their own self-learning spaces. DEFY is a game of words – what does defy means?
    How can I picture the nook (you were talking about,) could you explain that a little more?)
    So we´re openly talking about schools without teachers, how does this Idea of self-education work?
    What is the ideal learning environment from your point of view?
    So what´s the Impact of DEFY? How is the resonance? Could you tell us a few experiences, participants you had and where they ended up after visiting defy?
    So the Project DEFY creates “schools without teachers”, as an alternative to the Indian educational system. Is it that bad, the Indian educational system?
    SO do I understand it right, the system just teaches you to Follow orders, not ask questions – right?
    SO in your dream speech, the one you use to graduate at kanthari, you talked about the school of the future. Is DEFY your ideal of future schooling? __ So How can people understand what the school of the future needs?
    In this same dream speech you said: “If your motivation is strong enough you can break all barriers – “ how did you come to this conclusion?
    Adhijid you are obviously? an innovative guy, Let’s talk about your top 3 innovation, starting with the boda-boda. To our listeners Boda-Bodas are bicycle and motorcycle taxis commonly found in East Africa. (Why everywhere I found something written about this Bodacart ,it is said a 500 bucks Ambulance for Africa?)
    You also were involved in the creation of some sort of Waterless urinal?
    Last but not least, of this Top three, the third invention is an accident app, that uses the vibration the phone receives when the car is in an accident, right? Can you please go a bit more into detail on how that works exactly?
    It was when education was taking you away from exercising your curiosity and challenging things around you, that you came around to create Project DEFY and the concept of Nook as a low-cost, self-learning space. People now use the term “Social Entrepreneur” and “Social Innovator” to describe you, but you don’t think this terms are correct. What are you then?
    Thank you Adhijid for being my guest today and share all these inspirational, innovative stories, it really makes one wanting to know more about DEFY. So dear listeners:
    If you want to support or just know more about Adhijid and the Project DEFY, visit their Homepage: projectdefy.org/
    Next week in Stick your neck Out! The Podcast to restore your faith in Humanity. I´m
    going to be talking to Tony Joy, the woman who made Durian possible. Durian aims to empower rural communities in Nigeria to be self-sufficient through transforming their local waste into a means of livelihood.
    Links
    http://kanthari.org/
    https://projectdefy.org/
    http://www.durian.org.ng/

    We are proud to share every week inspirational stories from remarkable individuals. From now on, we should not only be talking to commended Giraffes Heroes, but we are also going to present you many of the kanthari alumni, People who are also sticking their necks out and changing their communities from within. We want to hear your stories, too. If you'd like to tell us about your front-line hero, visit us at giraffe-heroes.eu.

    You´ll find the Giraffe Heroes Stories every Tuesday on Spotify, iTunes, our Homepage and every other place, where you hear your podcasts
    Join us again next week!

    53 min
  • kanthari: Empowering the marginalised
    Giraffe Hero Sabriye Tenberken

    A kanthari is a plant that grows wild in every backyard of Kerala, a small but very spicy chili with a number of medicinal values. A kanthari is also a symbol for those who have the guts to challenge harmful traditions and the status quo, who have fire in their belly and a lot of innovative ideas to make a positive difference. In today’s Podcast I´m talking to Giraffe Hero Sabriye Tenberken. In 1998, she started the first school for blind people in Tibet and the foundation „Braille Without Borders“. After her experience in Tibet, together with Giraffe Hero Paul Kronenberg, she went to Kerala in the South of India and founded Kanthari. Kanthari offers a 12 months leadership program for visionaries who have overcome adversity and who are keen to drive ethical social change.

    We are proud to share every week inspirational stories from remarkable individuals. Stories that come from many different places. Each Giraffe's story is unique with the underlying theme of overcoming challenges present in all. Take a look at each individual experience, and although each person is different, they all have one thing in common: Heroism. We want to hear your stories, too. If you'd like to tell us about your front-line hero, visit us at giraffe-heroes.eu. You´ll find the Giraffe Heroes Stories every Tuesday on Spotify, iTunes, our Homepage and every other place, where you hear your podcasts Join us again next week!

    40 min
  • A new hope for corals
    Restoring reefs: Giraffe Hero Aki Allagholi

    “If we manage to get a stable ocean, there won’t be so many drastic climate changes and we will all look at a brighter future”. Giraffe Hero Aki Allagholi put up an organisation: coralive.org, a small NGO doing everything to protect, manage and restore coral reefs. How he got to that point, what it takes to restore a coral reef and how to become part of it, he explains in a very detailed, yet easy to follow manner for anybody, familiar or not to the topic. Aki finds some very honest and personal words on how to stop feeding the system but get inspired instead and see what’s the right path for everyone deep inside.

    **Keywords:**

    https://freethebees.ch/en/
    Climate change
    Aki allagholi – former ibm and bank worker following a comfortable lifestyle, today is doing everything to protect and restore coral reefs
    Realised that it was not fulfilling anymore. I lost touch with my inner self, with myself to nature. So change will anyways come in your life so you might as well embrace it.
    So when I started to travel this change really started. I knew – anyways, in case it doesn’t work, I could always go back and find a new job.
    But you know, once you’re out there, you’re never going to go back…to this chains. So I went travelling for a few years and I realised also the privilege we have as Westerners – so I realized I needed some purpose to my travelling. So I found the reefdoctors where I could volunteer. Later I did my masters in Mexico and then I worked again for an NGO in the Philippines. And that is when I realised I had to do it on my own, and its when I started the coralive organisation. So one project led to another…some are bigger, linked to other partners, who are also paying for it. The corals are so important to the ocean.
    If there was a storm that took off all the coral reefs – the outcome is usually a rubble(?) field. A flat ocean floor with lose calcium pieces – so nothing can grow there for 25-30 years. So what can help is to place three dimensional structures. The way we do it is to make these structures made out of steel – so we use these corals of opportunities, make smaller fragments and put it to these structures. It will be overgrown quickly and will become part of the coral reef. The inside will remain hollow and that is where fish, octopus etc. can be safe from bigger fish.
    If we would plant out a coral fragment in that area it would at least take 25-50 years to be similar. Within 5 years we can have a decent result to have at least decentralised microcosmos with fish around it that then can be left by itself. So to be honest, the only thing I do is to initiate this process and give nature a hand to jumpstart this process.
    There are several sources of income, inflows I mean. People who donate on the internet, find us. Another way is through a project. For example in hotels as a guest experience or to have a reef for the hotel as a guest adventure and then it’s basically a job for a private financer and then obviously the money that comes in the NGO stays there and can be used to do other projects like a fishing community in the Philippines, costs are not so high there, so we can sponsor money for a project like that -money stays in the NGO and flows back to the ocean again.
    Climate change – heating of the ocean – not an exactly good thing for the corals. Every seven years there used to be a heat wave, used to be, so nowadays its almost every year which makes it different. So any temperature over 30 degrees for three months is mortal to corals and if it happens all the years its hard to adapt for them. And also there wont be any offspring, because they are stressed and there wont be any sexual reproduction.
    There are plenty of reasons why corals are so important. Annual value of 30 billion us dollar. Its not something that you directly get. But nobody gets a direct return of investment, that’s why its difficult to find sponsors. And even though if it wasn’t there anymore, you have losses in the billions. Hotels, tourism etc. will collapse. So these investments would totally make sense, but since us humans we are shortsighted, it’s not being seen – even though it doesn’t take so much to protect them.
    I need to make sure, if I get the opportunity to talk to big donors, to make clear to them, that even though we are small, we have an impact and really make things work. The survival rate is 90%, it does really work.
    If you want to join, you can create a profile on our website. There you have to get through a questionnaire. Obviously if you bring certain skills, study marine biology or have diving experience, definitively it’s a plus. So if we have projects and no budget we make sure to reach out to them. Unlike other NGOs, we’re not making money out of that. So the only thing we expect is, you have to get there, we take care of everything else. So volunteering is one way to be part of that. The other way is to be a donor, sponsor a reef, sponsor what you want. The money that we receive from donors, 90% will end up directly to the ocean, the overhead costs, servers and all will be the remaining.
    If theres no blue there is no green. So if you don’t take care of the oceans, you won’t have…
    (If you manage to get a stable ocean, there won’t be so many drastic climate changes and we will all look at a brighter future…
    Finds some very honest and personal words to everybody how to stop feeding the system but get inspired and see what’s the right path for everyone deep inside.)
    Bees. beekeeping, bee colonies, Corals, coral reef, malediven, seychelles, fregata, greece, thailand, coral restauration, nursery
    The Giraffe we want to introduce you to today is Dimi. Dimi is a filmmaker who has produced several documentaries on shoestring budgets. About his most recent one, which is still in the making Not your bee, he will give some fascinating insights in this talk. He’s asking the right questions, like who do insects belong to and what might be the consequence of this possessive idea men tend to have about bees – about the environment in general.
    Other than that he’s revealing very moving stories about his other activities, be it as a filmmaker doing guerrilla actions to demonstrate the consequence of the refugee politics, or be it as a social worker trying to reunify families and help depressed young people. He’s explaining us how the open heart circles he organizes help make people talk, how rituals and candle light can help – to talk with each other and open up hearts instead of shielding off the most beloved ones around you.
    Varroa mite: Varroa destructor is an external parasitic mite that attacks and feeds on the honey bees Apis cerana and Apis mellifera. The disease caused by the mites is called varroosis. The Varroa mite can reproduce only in a honey bee colony. It attaches to the body of the bee and weakens the bee by sucking fat bodies.
    https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/07/breeders-toughen-bees-resist-deadly-mites
    Your opinion on bee dying André?
    -several factors from the outside, as pesticide, but also beekeeper is responsible. Bee production – prevention from swarming. Treatment, organic acids. Bees can’t adapt to their nature under this condition.
    Comparison between bees and cows or any other husbandry Animal
    Aren’t cows and so on not in the same way affected?
    Yes, we’re doing the same, but with honey bees it’s even a lot more, having also lost biodiversity (resources in the nature) at the same time. And also, cows are not as important for the ecosystem as bees. Exploiting bees has quadrupled, cows only doubled
    Isn’t the bee only a semi- husbandry Animal?
    On one way yes -, but it’s kept as a husbandry though they are wild animals
    Is this the key argument from the organization free the bees?
    Yes, because they are linked to natural selection. And even though natural selection can be a horrible thing it’s very important for them because they have to adapt, otherwise they won’t survive the climate change etc.
    So are they able to survive the Varroa mite? Link to COVID-19?
    Yes, there is indeed. There are processes and behaviors, that the bees are able to protect themselves/immune system. We know, that they can coexist, we know it in a scientific and practical manner. But we also know if we try treating them then they won’t learn to adapt to live with them. The Varroa mite is only one problem today so we have to find another way to deal with it.
    That is a really fascinating. Our subject is climate adaptation, or climate change. So if I remember correctly, bees have a history of some 45, or scientifically at least 30 million years. This proves they are very adaptive and have survived many extinctions. So it’s interesting, that they are now threatened by human species and civilization.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bee
    Yes, that’s true, bees can cope with many things and in the last 100 years we have cut the natural evolution through beekeeping who feed and treat and prevent from swarming, so under this condition they don’t adapt to new conditions. So these are the solutions we’re looking for at free the bees
    You as a participant of our crowdfunding, you and your organization are offering some very interesting rewards. There seem to be even bee dogs or things, that are able to deal with these problems or explain please what a Klotzbeute is?
    https://wemakeit.com/projects/climate-adaptation
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beehive#Bee_gums
    https://www.bienenjournal.de/imkerpraxis/fachberichte/imkern-in-klotzbeute-und-zeidelbaeumen/
    By the way you can call it log hive in English – just a hollow peace of a tree. So their most important thing is their habitat – and since bees always lived in trees, and we know their natural habitat have some very interesting parameters and factors of humidity etc., so we try to reproduce these with hollow trees and went down to learn how in the middle age the beekeepers kept the bees in a more natural manner.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_age#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20Oxford%20English,age%20from%2055%20to%2065.
    Now we went a step further to understand the tree cavity and helped us to produce a lot of them to give the bees back their habitat and all the rest is done by nature
    That’s fascinating, that means I can go to free the bees and they can show me how to do it and I can take it back to the garden?
    That is right yes, we give courses how to produce honey in a more natural way, so if you really want to know we can show you in two days, needs some muscles and sweating. So if you would like to give a habitat but don’t have time to build it, you just order it and we send it. You hang it and hope they will come
    Sounds very good, I invite everybody to order one. What is a swiss tree?
    Yes, that’S right. So instead of doing all this work of carving out a tree we have a swiss tree, which is much easier to produce
    It’s the monitored, natural environment
    Yes, we have different Swiss tree lines -some have their focus on the habitat where you can open and have a look. Others where you can even act as a beekeeper and even produce a little honey.
    Now the most fascinating reward – you offer a beedog which can do the work much faster.
    https://dogtime.com/dog-health/general/19713-meet-bazz-the-canine-beekeeper
    Yes, there is the illness, American Foulbrood, you can tell from smelling – but only when it’s too late. So we decided to train dogs, so they can detect it in a very early stage. It’s a very interesting project because in the first time we can. Check beehives without opening them and stress the bees and especially tell if they are ill or not
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2Aa56jut7Y
    Well that sounds like a real breakthrough so you apply the sensitive noses of the dogs to detect if they are healthy.
    Yes, it’s like an innovation in beekeeping
    sustainability
    Natural bee swarm. A word about trees?
    Bees are dependent on old trees. Also on a variety of trees, otherwise you have a lack of food.
    Next Podcast about trees.
    Vision to the crowd?
    Great you’re back on board. The Giraffe we want to introduce you to today is Dimi. Dimi is a filmmaker who has produced several documentaries on shoestring budgets. About his most recent one, which is still in the making Not your bee, he will give some fascinating insights in this talk. He’s asking the right questions, like who do insects belong to and what might be the consequence of this possessive idea men tend to have about bees – about the environment in general.
    Other than that he’s revealing very moving stories about his other activities, be it as a filmmaker doing guerrilla actions to demonstrate the consequence of the refugee politics, or be it as a social worker trying to reunify families and help depressed young people. He’s explaining us how the open heart circles he organizes help make people talk, how rituals and candle light can help – to talk with each other and open up hearts instead of shielding off the most beloved ones around you.
    Please join us to listen to todays…..
    His approach is the one he has experienced on his travel in Asia - cooperating with bees rather than keeping them and trying to “bring the wild bees” back to Europe. Showing the way, men are taking too much space. About bees, trees, and giving them their space.
    Dimi Dumortier, activist, artist, actor, film maker….. Dimi will be able to document the work of this nascent movement «GECA: Giraffes for Ecology and Climate Adaptation» and promote his documentary «Not Your Bee»
    This is an animal, that is essential to the survival of the world basically. We are going to make races that don’t resist new preditors etc…
    Part of the campaign
    Everything is part of the system. If you take one thing out, it’s not going to work anymore.
    Social work: my background was very healthy, no problems etc., caring parents, no financial issues. When I came to know all those people in Belgium, the young pple suffering in a rich country like Belgium….
    We’Re trying to bring families together, people together. Create an atmosphere to be in the moment, live the moment. Try to talk, open. Ask questions. It’s called the open heart circles. We’re not able to stop every child to have suicidal thoughts – but a lot of these thoughts if you share these dark topics and manage to not shield off the rest of the family, disappear. And we try to take this off, being in family, is the right place to take it off, once you talk about it…
    For me the first thing that comes in life is music, singing, people, social relationships. Only then comes the climate and so on.
    https://www.facebook.com/NOT-YOUR-BEE-108212613874933
    https://freethebees.ch/en/
    https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10841-013-9609-1
    http://www.bee-careful.com/bee-life/bee-community/
    We’re facing challenges which we can only find solutions in the whole civilisation. We try to look for solutions but everybody really has to think for themselves and hope everybody can try to help and bring themselves in.```

    We are proud to share every week inspirational stories from remarkable individuals. Stories that come from many different places. Each Giraffe's story is unique with the underlying theme of overcoming challenges present in all. Take a look at each individual experience, and although each person is different, they all have one thing in common: Heroism. We want to hear your stories, too. If you'd like to tell us about your front-line hero, visit us at giraffe-heroes.eu.

    You´ll find the Giraffe Heroes Stories every Tuesday on Spotify, iTunes, our Homepage and every other place, where you hear your podcasts
    Join us again next week!

    If you want to join us and help our Giraffes please go to: https://wemakeit.com/projects/climate-adaptation

    44 min
  • Challenging an unkind world
    Ann Medlock - Founder of the Giraffe Heroes Project

    Today's episode is sort of a special, since you get to listen personally to the one who started with the whole idea of nominating people sticking their necks out almost forty years ago. With Ann Medlock the Giraffe Heroes Project was born. Ann talks in this Episode about COVID-19, the situation in the United States shortly before elections take place and of course about the Giraffe Heroes Project. As you can convince yourself in the great talk we had, she’s not at all getting tired of telling stories – stories that blow your mind and leave this feeling behind, that storytelling makes a difference, that it’s important to take action…each and everyone of us.

    We are proud to share every week inspirational stories from remarkable individuals. Stories that come from many different places. Each Giraffe's story is unique with the underlying theme of overcoming challenges present in all. Take a look at each individual experience, and although each person is different, they all have one thing in common: Heroism. We want to hear your stories, too. If you'd like to tell us about your front-line hero, visit us at giraffe-heroes.eu. You´ll find the Giraffe Heroes Stories every Tuesday on Spotify, iTunes, our Homepage and every other place, where you hear your podcasts Join us again next week!

    If you want to join us and help our Giraffes please go to: https://wemakeit.com/projects/climate-adaptation

    **Keywords:**

    37 min
  • The first bee reserve in Europe
    Giraffe Hero Louis de Cordier - Cosco

    Cosco, the artist, explorer and social activist. When he landed himself in the Alpujarras well over a decade ago, among others he learnt about natural horse keeping. And soon he learnt about the bees and the problems with pesticides down in the low-lands; and that they recovered in the natural highlands where no industrial planting had reached yet. From there it was only one further step for him to plan a Natural Bee Reserve in the Alpujarra – for which he set out to research and design a ‘Mediterranean Stone Hive’, as antique as it is innovative…

    We are proud to share every week inspirational stories from remarkable individuals. Stories that come from many different places. Each Giraffe's story is unique with the underlying theme of overcoming challenges present in all. Take a look at each individual experience, and although each person is different, they all have one thing in common: Heroism. We want to hear your stories, too. If you'd like to tell us about your front-line hero, visit us at giraffe-heroes.eu. You´ll find the Giraffe Heroes Stories every Tuesday on Spotify, iTunes, our Homepage and every other place, where you hear your podcasts Join us again next week!

    If you want to join us and help our Giraffes please go to: https://wemakeit.com/projects/climate-adaptation

    23 min
  • Imaginal Cells
    Giraffe Hero Chris Malins

    Chris is an educator and researcher in sustainability issues with a special interest in how today’s separation of people from nature is affecting their ability to cope with conflict, this especially with a view to younger generations. And he has developed methods to remedy this situation by reengaging us with nature. With the help of our ongoing crowd-financing campaign Giraffes fighting for Climate Adaptation, Chris would like to prepare a series of online lectures so as to share his knowledge and experience with a wider audience thus attracting them to actually engage practically for positive change. Furthermore, Chris has profound knowledge about growing and protecting trees, something which will help greatly with the creation of our Bee and Wild Bee Reserve, which is planned to be created high up at the National Park Sierra Nevada.

    **Keywords:**

    Climate change, Trees Caterpillar , Holistic Education, Imaginal Cells
    Education, Kids, students, nature
    Bees. beekeeping, bee colonies
    “Giraffes fighting for Climate Adaptation”
    Giraffes for Ecology and Climate Adaptation
    Bees & Trees Initiative
    2020 – Resilience against Viruses and Similar Hazards
    The Giraffe Heroes Project is soon to become 40 years old. Its mission is to commend and support personalities sticking their necks out and fighting for the social issues that matter: justice, freedom and our environment.
    For two years the Giraffe Heroes Foundation (GHF), devoted to European and Swiss Giraffes who stick their necks out for the common good, has been active from Basel.
    Together with the crowd funding platform wemakeit and the Impact Fund 2020/Climate, we are presenting our newest Initiative
    Giraffes Fighting for Climate Adaptation
    Bees and Tres Initiative. Giraffe Heroes Foundation
    Basel 2020
    Featuring and supporting the Work of Five Heroes
    Environment. Bees, Trees
    Spain, Belgium, Switzerland
    Education, Activism
    People, Network
    A concrete way to make a difference
    Using Film to Inspire and Secure support for Climate action
    Reforesting
    Bringing the power of nature to reduce Global warming
    Join us, be part of it - Working, learning and contributing wherever you are
    Who are these Heroes?
    Louis de Cordier (COSCO),
    La Alpujarra, Spain
    Cosco has rediscovered the believed lost Labyrinth of Egypt and realized the unbelievable project Biblioteca del Sol, high in the Sierra Nevada Mountains where knowledge is to be stored for a future full of uncertainties. Now he is working to transform that area into a refugium for bees and humans alike. Giraffe Heroes Europe wants to help him with his work for the establishment of the first European Bee Conservatory which will create a refuge for endangered bees as well as for humans working with them.
    André Wermelinger,
    Fribourg, Switzerland
    The conventional way of keeping bees deprives the bees completely of their ability to adapt to environmental changes. As a result, very few natural populations exist anymore. André Wermelinger saw this problem, recognized its global implications, and set up a plan to solve the bee mortality crisis at its roots. Conventional bee-keepers wanted to have nothing of this and tried to ostracize André and his work. That has not stopped him. With his expertise, Cosco will be able to realise his vision for the European Bee Conservatory which will set new standards for healthy bee keeping and demonstrate its efficiency.
    Hendrik Haers,
    Bassevelde, Belgium
    In a team with Cosco and André, Hendrik will give strategy workshops to reach out to the population at large. He has given up his career as a veterinarian doctor to study bees and trees. Subsequently, he started on an activist planting spree to help create healthy environments for bees and humans alike. While transforming the village where he lives he gained substantial professional experience and is now engaging in community education. We are looking forward to have him talking to you, with the goal to empower people across Europe to follow his example.
    Chris Malins,
    La Alpujarra, Spain.
    Chris has developed educational perspectives on current conventional global practices that affect bees and address the wider questions of Human Sustainability. His goal is to establish an online platform for his ‘Green Transitions Programm’ to bring his experience and knowledge to all of us. He has chosen to devote his life to work and fight for Human Sustainability through the development and practices of ‘Nature-Based Holistic Education’. Chris participated in the founding and improvement of local schools. Also he has proven, as an academic researcher, that kids who have lost touch with nature will naturally encounter increasing psychological stress.
    Dimi Dumortier,
    Rotselaar, Belgium
    Artist, Social Worker, Activist…Dimi is a genius in his own right amongst our Giraffe Heroes and for sure one of the most lovable persons you might come to know. He uses his talents, guts and courage for people as well as for bees and the climate crisis. Last year we ran a successful campaign for his movie-in-the-making Not Your Bee. Now we are asking you to help us to make it possible for him to support our campaign as an expert documentarist and more than that, a loving partner in our work at large.
    While these Five are struggling for their causes where they are right now, the Giraffes Fighting for Climate Adaptation Initiative will create a joint platform to amplify their reach providing each of us the opportunity to become part of their efforts. Our focus is on Bees, Trees and our Environment and all five have something unique to offer. You can be part of it.
    You should be part of it.
    You have to be part of it
    Giraffes Fighting for Climate Adaptation
    An initiave of the Giraffe Heroes Foundation.
    Fight with our Heroes, fight with us
    THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING US
    WE ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO JOIN HANDS!!
    Varroa mite: Varroa destructor is an external parasitic mite that attacks and feeds on the honey bees Apis cerana and Apis mellifera. The disease caused by the mites is called varroosis. The Varroa mite can reproduce only in a honey bee colony. It attaches to the body of the bee and weakens the bee by sucking fat bodies.
    https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/07/breeders-toughen-bees-resist-deadly-mites
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bee
    https://wemakeit.com/projects/climate-adaptation
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beehive#Bee_gums
    https://www.bienenjournal.de/imkerpraxis/fachberichte/imkern-in-klotzbeute-und-zeidelbaeumen/
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_age#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20Oxford%20English,age%20from%2055%20to%2065.
    https://dogtime.com/dog-health/general/19713-meet-bazz-the-canine-beekeeper
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2Aa56jut7Y
    The ways we can solve that are techniques of agroforestry and include nature in the farming process. Something you as an individual are not able to change. But together with a working group they’re trying to convince people to change this, to plant more trees, to plant more flowers.
    “Yes we can” was an organization called the “moss group”, a group planting forests. Through this group I got active as a guerrilla gardener.
    Our big garden in the center of Bassevelde is a kind of oasis within the green desert – so our goal is to increase our garden to the surroundings and increase the amount of food.
    The problem is bees fly up to three km so you have to create an awareness with the people of the village – that they help to provide more food. We try also to create awareness. Then also to convince people to plant trees in their gardens. So people can help if they only plant one tree in their garden.
    There’s an educational component to it also. We try to teach children, go to schools and create a conscience, how important nature is and that a bee is not something dangerous that stings you but something important for everyone. Usually children from inside don’t have this fear – it’s because we tell them so.
    Big beehive on the tree – we invite the bees – difference to classic beekeeping
    Especially in a green desert like this the idea is to leave the honey to them – to create a home for them, because there’s not enough for them. Bees like to live in hollow trees -but there are none anymore…So idea of the hängekorb is to invite the bee swarms. The only thing we do is to see if there’s honey to know if we have to feed them – otherwise they would die. But we don’t treat them again deseases nothing – and they manage to survive these – as long as we feed them, because there’s not enough plants.
    How comes the fascination with bees?
    First learned about the beekeeping and all the treatment and started to have beehives. Then got a bit disappointed but then learned about natural beehives and realized there is a way not to have so much loss and that it works without treating so then I liked it.
    Now I have too many hives for this green desert. So I have to think about if I should stop feeding them so by natural selection the ones who are more resilient to an area with less food will survive.
    What is your hope, what do you want to achieve if this campaign goes through?
    Overall awareness. By putting the hives, showing the people how it works. That’s what we want to use the money for – to increase the awareness inside the village counselors and also to fight against vandalism. Then the politics argue well, look, they don’t want trees, they take them away. We have to ask the people.
    The one thing I would change immediately if I could is reorganize the green department who’s there to supposingly organize the green areas etc. – and also invest in this green areas – not only do spots for building, but really create green spots and so on. As a village council buy all the green spots and plant things there.
    Message to the crowd: plant plant plant
    Guerrilla gardeners tend to work wherever a natural presence is needed. Sometimes they work outside of the legal system. Guerrilla gardening is a global ecological movement that focusses on caring for neglected public space. Welcome to Stick your Neck Out! The Podcast to restore your faith in Humanity. Every Tuesday you´re going to get the chance to get to know one of the Giraffe Heroes, who they are and what they fight for. We are going to present you Inspiring Stories of People Saving Our World, making it better. My name is Yampier Aguiar Duranona and my guest today is Giraffe Hero Hendrik Haers. A veterinarian who became a Tree and Bee activist. Greeting Hendrik Haers you gave up your doctor carrier to engage yourself in the struggle to sustain bees and trees, first and foremost in your local community. You are fighting in Bassevelde, a small rural municipality in the north-west of Belgium, to make an all-inclusive habitat for people, bees and trees alike by all possible means. Hendrik is a green activist, a guerrilla gardner. Frage….2 in der Aufnahme
    Thank you, Hendrik, for your visit.
    Next week Tom Amat is going to be talking to Chris Malins, a Giraffe hero who is a teacher and researcher and has been developing holistic nature-based educational ideas for teachers and children for over a decade. He also has a special interest in tree morphology and overall his educational work focuses on the importance of experiential interactions with nature for kids and adults alike. They are also going to be talking about Chris´s Green transitioning Program.
    Dear listeners, our Nature is at risk – through exploitation and climate change. Therefore The Giraffe heroes Foundation is fighting for climate adaptation and the regeneration of a healthy environment: we start at community level and with practical skills, naturalizing villages with trees and plants, reinvigorating the bees, teaching the crafts and the arts necessary in our times. With YOUR HELP we can give this work a greater impact and make it the start of a paradigm change. We are inviting you to come on board, be part of this struggle for the common goal, to keep the planet a human affair. If you want to be part of it, go to wemakeit.com, look for our Project: Climate Adaptation: the bees and tree initiative and have a look at the great rewards you can get while supporting us.
    That’s it for today. You were listening Stick your neck Out! The Podcast to restore your faith in Humanity. I´m Yampier Aguiar Durañona.
    We are proud to share every week inspirational stories from remarkable individuals. Stories that come from many different places. We want to hear your stories, too. If you'd like to tell us about your front-line hero, visit us at giraffe-heroes.eu.
    You´ll find the Giraffe Heroes Stories every Tuesday on Spotify, iTunes, our Homepage and every other place, where you hear your podcasts. Join us on our Social Media, We´re on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
    Join us again next week!
    Welcome to the Podcast to Restore your faith in Humanity. Welcome to Stickyour neck out! This week i´m your Host, Yampier Aguiar Duranona. The Giraffe Heroes Foundation has engaged for climate adaptation and the regeneration of a healthy environment. We have started a Crowdfunding Campaing. This campaign shall be the first in a series of events through which a wider audience shall be brought into the fold of a growing movement for a healthier, more resilient environment. Six personalities from Switzerland, Belgium and Spain join hands for a common cause: ecology and climate adaptation. With YOU, we want to support their fight and amplify their impact.

    We are proud to share every week inspirational stories from remarkable individuals. Stories that come from many different places. Each Giraffe's story is unique with the underlying theme of overcoming challenges present in all. Take a look at each individual experience, and although each person is different, they all have one thing in common: Heroism. We want to hear your stories, too. If you'd like to tell us about your front-line hero, visit us at giraffe-heroes.eu.
    You´ll find the Giraffe Heroes Stories every Tuesday on Spotify, iTunes, our Homepage and every other place, where you hear your podcasts
    Join us again next week!

    If you want to join us and help our Giraffes please go to: https://wemakeit.com/projects/climate-adaptation

    32 min
  • Don´t stop till you drop
    Giraffe Hero Hendrik Haers

    Todays podcast is taken our look to a green desert– meaning an area without diversified culture – meaning no food for insects to survive. Hendrik Haers, my guest today, is living in the centre of a village built in such a green desert – where there’s hardly any ground left that the village autorities don’t sell for building. Therefore Henrik decided to gather all his power to plant as much trees as possible and create an awareness. He’s also sharing his story of how he learned to become a classic beekeeper and how he change from traditional to natural beekeeping. After that, the number of beehives increased surprisingly “without doing anything”.

    **Keywords:**

    Climate change
    Bees. beekeeping, bee colonies
    Varroa mite: Varroa destructor is an external parasitic mite that attacks and feeds on the honey bees Apis cerana and Apis mellifera. The disease caused by the mites is called varroosis. The Varroa mite can reproduce only in a honey bee colony. It attaches to the body of the bee and weakens the bee by sucking fat bodies.
    https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/07/breeders-toughen-bees-resist-deadly-mites
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bee
    https://wemakeit.com/projects/climate-adaptation
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beehive#Bee_gums
    https://www.bienenjournal.de/imkerpraxis/fachberichte/imkern-in-klotzbeute-und-zeidelbaeumen/
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_age#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20Oxford%20English,age%20from%2055%20to%2065.
    https://dogtime.com/dog-health/general/19713-meet-bazz-the-canine-beekeeper
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2Aa56jut7Y
    The ways we can solve that are techniques of agroforestry and include nature in the farming process. Something you as an individual are not able to change. But together with a working group they’re trying to convince people to change this, to plant more trees, to plant more flowers.
    “Yes we can” was an organization called the “moss group”, a group planting forests. Through this group I got active as a guerrilla gardener.
    Our big garden in the center of Bassevelde is a kind of oasis within the green desert – so our goal is to increase our garden to the surroundings and increase the amount of food.
    The problem is bees fly up to three km so you have to create an awareness with the people of the village – that they help to provide more food. We try also to create awareness. Then also to convince people to plant trees in their gardens. So people can help if they only plant one tree in their garden.
    There’s an educational component to it also. We try to teach children, go to schools and create a conscience, how important nature is and that a bee is not something dangerous that stings you but something important for everyone. Usually children from inside don’t have this fear – it’s because we tell them so.
    Big beehive on the tree – we invite the bees – difference to classic beekeeping
    Especially in a green desert like this the idea is to leave the honey to them – to create a home for them, because there’s not enough for them. Bees like to live in hollow trees -but there are none anymore…So idea of the hängekorb is to invite the bee swarms. The only thing we do is to see if there’s honey to know if we have to feed them – otherwise they would die. But we don’t treat them again deseases nothing – and they manage to survive these – as long as we feed them, because there’s not enough plants.
    How comes the fascination with bees?
    First learned about the beekeeping and all the treatment and started to have beehives. Then got a bit disappointed but then learned about natural beehives and realized there is a way not to have so much loss and that it works without treating so then I liked it.
    Now I have too many hives for this green desert. So I have to think about if I should stop feeding them so by natural selection the ones who are more resilient to an area with less food will survive.
    What is your hope, what do you want to achieve if this campaign goes through?
    Overall awareness. By putting the hives, showing the people how it works. That’s what we want to use the money for – to increase the awareness inside the village counselors and also to fight against vandalism. Then the politics argue well, look, they don’t want trees, they take them away. We have to ask the people.
    The one thing I would change immediately if I could is reorganize the green department who’s there to supposingly organize the green areas etc. – and also invest in this green areas – not only do spots for building, but really create green spots and so on. As a village council buy all the green spots and plant things there.
    Message to the crowd: plant plant plant
    Guerrilla gardeners tend to work wherever a natural presence is needed. Sometimes they work outside of the legal system. Guerrilla gardening is a global ecological movement that focusses on caring for neglected public space. Welcome to Stick your Neck Out! The Podcast to restore your faith in Humanity. Every Tuesday you´re going to get the chance to get to know one of the Giraffe Heroes, who they are and what they fight for. We are going to present you Inspiring Stories of People Saving Our World, making it better. My name is Yampier Aguiar Duranona and my guest today is Giraffe Hero Hendrik Haers. A veterinarian who became a Tree and Bee activist. Greeting Hendrik Haers you gave up your doctor carrier to engage yourself in the struggle to sustain bees and trees, first and foremost in your local community. You are fighting in Bassevelde, a small rural municipality in the north-west of Belgium, to make an all-inclusive habitat for people, bees and trees alike by all possible means. Hendrik is a green activist, a guerrilla gardner. Frage….2 in der Aufnahme
    Thank you, Hendrik, for your visit.
    Next week Tom Amat is going to be talking to Chris Malins, a Giraffe hero who is a teacher and researcher and has been developing holistic nature-based educational ideas for teachers and children for over a decade. He also has a special interest in tree morphology and overall his educational work focuses on the importance of experiential interactions with nature for kids and adults alike. They are also going to be talking about Chris´s Green transitioning Program.
    Dear listeners, our Nature is at risk – through exploitation and climate change. Therefore The Giraffe heroes Foundation is fighting for climate adaptation and the regeneration of a healthy environment: we start at community level and with practical skills, naturalizing villages with trees and plants, reinvigorating the bees, teaching the crafts and the arts necessary in our times. With YOUR HELP we can give this work a greater impact and make it the start of a paradigm change. We are inviting you to come on board, be part of this struggle for the common goal, to keep the planet a human affair. If you want to be part of it, go to wemakeit.com, look for our Project: Climate Adaptation: the bees and tree initiative and have a look at the great rewards you can get while supporting us.
    That’s it for today. You were listening Stick your neck Out! The Podcast to restore your faith in Humanity. I´m Yampier Aguiar Durañona.
    We are proud to share every week inspirational stories from remarkable individuals. Stories that come from many different places. We want to hear your stories, too. If you'd like to tell us about your front-line hero, visit us at giraffe-heroes.eu.
    You´ll find the Giraffe Heroes Stories every Tuesday on Spotify, iTunes, our Homepage and every other place, where you hear your podcasts. Join us on our Social Media, We´re on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
    Join us again next week!
    Welcome to the Podcast to Restore your faith in Humanity. Welcome to Stickyour neck out! This week i´m your Host, Yampier Aguiar Duranona. The Giraffe Heroes Foundation has engaged for climate adaptation and the regeneration of a healthy environment. We have started a Crowdfunding Campaing. This campaign shall be the first in a series of events through which a wider audience shall be brought into the fold of a growing movement for a healthier, more resilient environment. Six personalities from Switzerland, Belgium and Spain join hands for a common cause: ecology and climate adaptation. With YOU, we want to support their fight and amplify their impact.

    We are proud to share every week inspirational stories from remarkable individuals. Stories that come from many different places. Each Giraffe's story is unique with the underlying theme of overcoming challenges present in all. Take a look at each individual experience, and although each person is different, they all have one thing in common: Heroism. We want to hear your stories, too. If you'd like to tell us about your front-line hero, visit us at giraffe-heroes.eu.

    You´ll find the Giraffe Heroes Stories every Tuesday on Spotify, iTunes, our Homepage and every other place, where you hear your podcasts
    Join us again next week!

    35 min

About Qilin-Giraffes – The Podcast to Restore your Faith in Humanity

From the publisher's feed

With this podcast we give our community the opportunity to get to know the Giraffe Heroes behind the foundation better by gaining deeper insight into their work. Thus you will have an opportunity of a direct encounter with these personalities sticking their necks out for the common good, fighting for the social issues that matter: justice, freedom, our environment. In our podcast, commended Giraffes are talking with us about the issues that count most for them and which drive them “To Stick their Necks Out” for our common good. We offer you a direct and often very personal "look" behind the scenes of their day to day activities. What made them start fighting for their local communities? How did they manage to cope with and overcome resistance? And yes, what concerns them and which dangers do they perceive as threatening the success of their struggle? Be inspired and have fun!