Truth and Independence

Paul Kronenberg: A small chili making a HUGE difference

„Life is what you’re happy for getting up for.“ - if not, there is something wrong in your life”. Giraffe Hero Paul Kronenberg is cofounder of the kanthari program for social change makers in Kerala. About a year ago, we had the pleasure to listen to his partner Sabriye Tenberken on this podcast. Today we have Paul sharing his vast experiences and getting to know his attitude towards life. It's a delight to listen to his very practical advice, entertaining anecdotes and certainly - I'm sure we can also try to take it in as an enhancer to overcome our comfort zones and start doing something, while starting to look. He uses wit and humor to mirror the true shape of the world that makes one think and reflect about what can or maybe must be done differently to become part of solutions.

Paul Kronenberg and Sabriye Tenberken encourage social visionaries especially from developing countries, people living on the margins of society. They are to become ethical entrepreneurs. You have met some of them in this podcast, kanthari alumni. People who have overcome adversity: be it discrimination for belonging to a minority like LGBTQI+, visual impaired, or having suffered sexual abuse, being an albino, to mention only a few. These social change makers are baked at the kanthari leadership program for visionaries in Kerala, India. The program is a final stop before starting an own organization / venture /NGO or social enterprise. but before that, there is the kanthari talks, the dream speech of the participants. Inspirational quotes - Motivational Words: Kanthari talks - culmination of social change program Social change makers - „Good stories start with „once upon a time“ - one story can change your entire life Stories and adversities they have overcome - and put it into perspective on how many people live - you can see the strength and what people are capable of 4:24 „we are not afraid, we are born fearless“ - danger is a concept put into us 5:12 „as long you are not going to die, why don’t you try“ The programme is trying to help people failing in a safe environment - preparation for real life - higher chance to be successful 7:26 over the years we learned a lot - we already had 10 years of experience. Help people to safe 2-3 years and start immediately their organization the right way. 9:02 „change from within“ - where has change been sustainable? When there is an external factor - it has not been sustainable 11:40 intrinsic drive - motivation is crucial to achieve your goals. If you have a task, you have a value. You are respected, and you have dignity. And therefore self confidence. To become a social change maker, the most important part is, „what do you want?“ 13:40 dream factory. What is it, what you want? As long as you know what it is that you want, you’re going to get it. „Life is what you’re happy for getting up for.“ - if not, there is something wrong in your life. 16:16 we have a wide diversity of topics what we can work with. Run campaigns, schools - any kind of social venture - you need to have an organization. A lot of people miss out of that. What do you need, to run an organization? You need to be organized. Learning about responsibilities. Policies in place. Financial system in place, accounting. NGOs - people basically outsource their wish. Other people have money but not the time to realize what they’d like to see. Many parts are equal for everyone - be it running a commercial project or an NGO. So that’s one part. 19:27 There is nothing bad about good fights. If you’re willing to fight for something that is ethical - that’s fine. So we create a code of conduct. To some level, everyone is egoistic. Only when you’re feeling well, you can do something well to other people. 20:43 everything that we do here is trying to make everyone feel in charge. We define together how to work on a daily basis. Intercultural dialogue - common ground - code of conduct, it’s build like that: kanthari is a place where we respect through: …….it’s signed physically - everyone is the owner, agreed and therefore responsible This way, we’ve never had really bad conflicts. 24:28 „we learned that silence is gold“, avoiding conflicts. When I knew Sabriye, I learned how to fight about something essential. Then we move on, life is too important to get stuck. 25:25 encyclopedia „spice box - spread the spice“ - an online collection of lots of tools and skills 27:30 we’re trying to make it available for some revenue, since we depend on funding. We’re still figuring how to do that. 32:00 common demoniator in a kanthari - change maker - motivation —> personal history. When they go back and work with people like them, the first thing that is needed, is trust, from their future beneficiaries. The connection is very strong, and it’s very important. Join the livestream to listen to inspiring solutions for global and local problems. By the end of this week Friday the 17th and Saturday the 18th of December. The kanthari TALKS are the culmination of the intensive, hands on, seven month social leadership program. Their projects cover the areas of protecting the environment, human rights, alternative learning and empowering the marginalized. In this Podcast Paul tells us, among other things, what is expecting us this week on Friday the 17th and Saturday the 18th of December. Streaming link: www.kantharitalks.org/ The new kantharis are about to finish this year's training. These Change makers from 8 countries are going to present their captivating life stories of resilience and hope.