Q & A with Janet Grace Riehl on “The Culture of African Story” Part 2

I first met Janet Grace Riehl, of Riehl Life, when we both took part in the Lieurance-King Article Challenge in August/September.

Janet is an award-winning author, artist, performer, and creativity coach. Her poems, stories, and essays have been widely published in national literary magazines such as “Harvard Review” and the anthologies “Stories to Live By: Wisdom to Help You Make the Most of Every Day” and “Hot Flashes 2″. Read more about Janet on the first part of my interview with her here.

Janet, what do you love about Africa and its stories?

I feel Africa is truly the Mother of humankind, and certainly archeological findings bear this out. In Africa I felt embraced by that Mothering energy.

Never in my life have I been so enfolded, nurtured, watched over, looked after, cared for…and just flat out enjoyed for being who I am. Africa is a continent, not a country, of course, but I felt this no matter where I went.

Stories ease difficult and painful situations. In Botswana I remember storytelling told around a campfire under a sky full of piercing stars a night our truck broke down in the bush between Francestown and Maun.

In Ghana I remember stories told in crammed to the brim Mammy Wagons that might plunge us into an accident around the next corner. But, in either of these situations if we would have come into danger, we would have faced it as friends, not as strangers, and this would have been through the power and grace of story.

Story is also the thread of celebration and the thread of knowing. During Peace Corps training I went to a village no outsiders had ever lived in. We were mutually curious about one another and expressed this through Story. I collected their stories and they created stories and song commemorating my visit.

Why are stories worth telling to our children?

Stories in any language and culture are always worth passing on. Africa has a strong oral history, of course, and you could probably speak to the impact of technology on her oral history tradition.

Because, by definition Story requires time, and time together, as well as the willingness to pass on a tradition and use our imagination. It’s good to have stories of your family and your people to provide a sense of continuity between generations…a thread of time and life moving across place.

I have a shelf filled with books from and about Africa. Prominent among them are books of African folktales, which carry wisdom from the ancestors into the modern day.

What are your feelings about the popular stories told about Africa (“It’s dark, exotic, and war torn”) versus the stories you took home after you lived and worked here?

I am troubled by the popular perception in the USA of Africa as this place (only) of war-poverty-famine-tribal strife-AIDS crisis. Granted African nations and the African continent have huge difficulties and problems to continue resolving, but to balance all that I so want people to understand the warm beating heart of Africa which for me felt like the essence of being human…not primitive at all, but highly civilized and humane.

I am currently working on a longer piece of writing in which I hope to reveal some of what was born within me through the grace of my time in Africa.

Check out Janet Grace Riehl's "Sightlines - A Poet's Diary."

Q & A with Janet Grace Riehl on “The Culture of African Story” – Part 1

I first met Janet Grace Riehl, of Riehl Life, when we both took part in the Lieurance-King Article Challenge in August/September.

It turned out Janet, who is American, spent some time in Africa, including Botswana, and has a section on her blog dedicated to Africa.

I was honoured when she asked me as a guest blogger.

Janet is an award-winning author, artist, performer, and creativity coach. Her poems, stories, and essays have been widely published in national literary magazines such as “Harvard Review” and the anthologies “Stories to Live By: Wisdom to Help You Make the Most of Every Day” and “Hot Flashes 2″.


Janet, you spent five years living and working in Africa in the 1970s in both Botswana and Ghana. You also travelled throughout Western, Eastern, and Southern Africa. What impressions of the culture of the storytelling in Africa did you gather?

Story in Africa is sacred (thus my capitalization), and Story is interwoven in the daily fabric of life. Story is not just words in Africa; Story is told through baskets, fabric, dance, ritual, and relationship. A slight gesture of a body might reveal entire Story Worlds. I experienced an enormous depth and subtly in communication in every country I visited. Quite ordinary interactions became extraordinary. I recall a woman in the Accra market in Ghana breaking into a spontaneous dance with me as part of our Story Time together.

Initially, you taught English as a Second Language (ESL) and Literature in Secondary Schools through Peace Corps. What do you recall about how your students chose to tell their stories?

My Botswana students made beautiful drawings to go with stories they wrote to include in the school newspaper. They drew Story with ease and confidence because this was part of their early training at home.

Can you tell us a bit about the curriculum you taught and how you used storytelling as a teaching tool?

The curriculum I taught was a mix of English classics such as Shakespeare, Milton, and Chaucer combined with marvelous African books like China Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart” and “The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born.”

I prepared students for two sets of examinations that pretty much determined their futures: “O” Levels, or Ordinary Levels (roughly the equivalent of late middle school in the USA) and “A” Levels or Advanced Levels (roughly the equivalent of a high school diploma or even first year of community college in the USA). My students did rather well.

In Botswana one of the books we studied was “Lambs Tales from Shakespeare.” I set my students the task of writing scripts for each of these tales and acting them out.

When one does this kind of analysis, the commonality between classic European literature and World Story comes into sharper relief.

I understand you went to Botswana as an independent volunteer after your Peace Corps tour ended in secondary schools and became involved in three projects.

With the villagers in Gabane you set up Tshwaragano Craft Center, became Puppetry Consultant for a Popular Culture Team, and wrote stories and lesson plans of a literacy curriculum. What did you learn about Story through working on these projects?

Story is the life force that moves brain, heart, and limbs forward. I became Puppetry Consultant simply because I picked up a puppet in the back of a pick-up truck, started wiggling its arms around and giving it a voice and lines to speak. In the Popular Theater work we built on the Brazilian educator Paulo Freire's Critical Theory.

Community Development workers brainstormed critical issues and then we built stories around these, performed in drama, dance, song, and puppetry. We stopped at the high point of the action to ask the audience: “What would you do now?” these discussions led to common work projects in the village. We did something similar in the literacy curriculum we designed and had illustrated.

I was so impressed by the results I’d seen in the other two projects that I started using puppetry performances at Tshwaragano to work out critical incidents and stimulate discussion of tricky situations any new venture encounters, like “Whose turn is it to sweep the floor today?”

How to build your platform & promote yourself as an expert & speaker: Q & A with Ramon Thomas, MD of Netucation (Part 2)

In the second part of my interview with Ramon Thomas, MD of Netucation, he shares some of the strategies he used to build his platform as an expert on how technology affects relationships and as a speaker.

Just yesterday, Ramon was interviewed on CNBC Africa. He has also been interviewed on 3Talk (South African Broadcasting Corporation prime time talk show), Carte Blanche (MNET prime time show), etv, SAFM, 702, Cape Talk, Business Day, The Mail & Guardian, The Sunday Times, The Sunday Independent, Cosmopolitan, Men’s Health and Style.

Ramon is also a strong advocate for children's safety while online, and has written a Parent's Guide to Mxit (a popular mobile phone platform).

Q and A

What did you do at the beginning of your career to build your profile?

I learned from my mentor, Arthur Goldstuck [MD of World Wide Worx], the following formula:

- Find an area where there is no research.
- Conduct the research through interviews and surveys.
- Produce a written report and send it to the media.

You have to know how to write a press release which summarises your findings and you have to build a media database. I was very fortunate that Arthur shared his media database with me. And I've since expanded it to over 600 producers, radio DJs, editors, publishers and journalists from online, magazines, newspapers to radio and television.

What did you do to get major media outlets to be interested in you and to use you as a source?

My very first project was conducting original research into the local online dating industry. The interviews were pivotal in introducing me to the people running the online dating websites. This allowed me to build relationships with them I would not otherwise be able to do.

The online dating industry is both a controversial and something which people are endlessly curious about. So it was the perfect project to position me as an expert. I am also very fortunate to have an easygoing and relaxed way about me so I was very comfortable in front of the camera.

One other thing which helped me was that I worked with the producers to find guests. So by helping them do what they do best I built very good credibility with them. This is one of the secrets i.e. to have good relationships with the people behind the scenes.

How does your media profile help drive your cause of teaching people about emerging Internet trends?

My media profile has not had a huge impact in positioning me as a trainer and speaker. That is changing now that I have those services available for people.

In the past I only offered consulting services which is often a hard sell. With speaking and training I have something to offer to a wider audience. I have found radio interviews, especially on talk radio like 702, Cape Talk and SAFM, to be the best way to promote events like training or speaking gigs.

You mentioned during our initial email conversation that you were going to Durban to speak at 4 / 5 schools. When did you first start doing school tours?

I started speaking at schools in January 2007. This came about from my Parents Guide to MXit ebook. Again I did the work upfront, my own time and resources. This guide as you know is freely available and I used it to sell myself as a speaker.

I also joined Toastmasters late last year. This has helped accelerate my career as a speaker. I now do about 2-3 in a busy week up from 2-3 per month.

How many schools have you addressed since the beginning of the year?

I've not tracked the actual number but it's about 30-40 schools. These schools have mostly been private schools. My fee is R1000 but I don't think it's the fees that restrict my scope to private schools. It's a lack of awareness from public schools. So this is where you can see the digital divide playing a role to limit people’s access to information.

How do you arrange the school tours? Do you have a sponsor or are the trips paid for the by schools? Who coordinates the tours for you?

As mentioned my fee is R1000 for a 40 minute presentation with 20 minutes of Q&A. When I travel outside of Johannesburg there is a small surcharge to cover my travel, car rental and accommodation. This is done directly with me and I'm now getting to a point where I need a full time Personal Assistant.

There is a need to gain a sponsor who could cover my costs to speak to more public schools especially in townships like Soweto and any other previously disadvantaged areas.

These talks can help raise awareness in all areas because MXit and cellphones are certainly having an impact across racial, cultural and income groups.

I know you’re a very busy man as MD of Netucation. I understand you’re also as director of the Computer Society, studying for your Masters, doing research and planning to update your “Parents Guide to MXit” ebook. How do you structure and manage your day so you can get as much done as possible?

I follow the time management system developed by Dan Sullivan, Founder of The Strategic Coach (www.strategiccoach.com), a lifetime coaching program for entrepreneurs.

One of the core concepts is the difference between the time and effort economy vs the results economy. Entertainers and sports stars are excellent examples of professionals who operate in the results economy.

Basically when you use their time system you split your time in free days, focus days and buffer days.

A free day is a 24-hour period where you do not read any books, magazines related to work have discussion about work or take any work related phone calls.

On focus days you do what is defined your unique ability - for me this has turned out to be public speaking for you it would be your writing.

A buffer day is where you do all the planning and admin required to make things possible. So what you want is to continually increase free days and focus days. The more focus days you have the more your income and the more support systems you can buy which frees more time.


What are the three self-promotion tips you’d like to give authors and small business owners?

1) Find your niche and narrow your focus. When you narrow your focus you operate in a place where you can claim leadership. This positions you as an expert.

2) Share your expertise by contributing to your industry's online communities through LinkedIn, MySpace and other online forums.

3) Find your unique ability.
Take time out to do some personality tests like Meyers-Briggs, which will help you understand your strengths and weaknesses.
Study your personality type.
Focus on improving your strengths and delegating your weaknesses (to people for whom it's a strength).

Anything else you’d like to add about self-promotion?

- Study your role models.
- Try to meet them and ask them questions. At the very least you can email them.
- Never shy away from promoting yourself. You must first believe in the product you are selling, which is YOU.