Aimed at raising money for charity, St Francis Bay photographer and life coach, Sandy Coffey, began #Storyslam to allow locals to share their interesting life stories at St Francis Brewery and has seen the monthly initiative now being marked as a ‘need to book’ event by community members.
Coffey, who established the storytelling platform one year ago, said the ‘little’ event has brought the community together in a fun and entertaining manner by allowing five people to share an interesting non-fictional story about their lives, based on a specific topic.
She said that during each event, which is hosted on the third Thursday of each month, five individuals get five minutes to tell their story.
“This storytelling platform aims to entertain, inspire, and share personal stories,” said Coffey.
“Each month there is a different theme, and five brave storytellers get up and share their stories. It’s half an hour of dedication to the art of storytelling and at times it has been so interesting that one can hear a pin drop in the room.”
By asking for a voluntary donation at each event, Coffey said that they choose one charity each month to raise funds for. Since the initiative began, they have been able to raise funds for St Francis Football Club, the Animal Welfare and environmental group, FOSTER.
She said the charity aspect of the event was at the heart of #StorySlam.
Coffey said she was motivated to bring this platform to St Francis Bay after she was asked to tell a story in Cape Town at a story telling event titled ‘Southern Rights and Wrongs’, initiated by Alon Stern, who then gave her permission and his endorsement to run her own event.
“Stories are fundamental to our human nature. It is how we have always been communicating and sharing. It is how we learn and understand our lives because stories are universal and it is through our words that we make sense of our world,” said Coffey.
A few previous themes at the #Storyslam event have been ‘A Step too far’, ‘When I look back’, ‘My disastrous date’, ‘My pivotal moment’ and ‘Well, that was surprising’.
Coffey said the stories range from hilarious, to poignant and tearful.
She further said that there are no rules regarding content; however, participants have to share stories that are true and all stories have to be about an experience that the story teller has had.
Despite seeing an increase in visitors to the monthly event, Coffey said that they have often found it difficult to find storytellers, as it required a great deal of vulnerability and rawness to tell a story in five minutes.
“Fortunately, with some practice and a healthy dose of courage, everyone has a good story to share,” said Coffey.
Local Cape St Francis resident, Toni Gennrich, who has been brave enough to share her story, said, “Although it was so daunting to begin with, the audience was so warm and accepting.”
Gennrich has received the esteemed title of being the very first speaker at the first storytelling event in St Francis Bay.
David Combes, who had the audience belly laughing beyond control, with his hilarious Scottish accent, loved sharing his story.
“It was so exhilarating and engaging and was over far too quickly,” said Combes.
Rain Murray, who had the audience spellbound with his very honest reflection of his life, received a standing ovation.
“I love how my piece was held by everyone,” said Murray.
As part of her work as a life coach, Coffey recently began #StorySlam sessions in the corporate environment where she offers workshops on how to tell a great story, in preparation for the #StorySlam session which is held a few days after the workshop.
“It’s a way for peers to hear something new about each other, and this then leads to more understanding, tolerance and acceptance of their differences. This is so fundamental to corporate culture, especially after COVID-19,” said Coffey.
To further expand the #StorySlam, she said that in January next year, she plans to host the initiative monthly in Gqeberha in aid of charity.
Coffey is, however, still searching for a restaurant in the area to host the sessions once a month.
