DESIGN THINKING FOR INNOVATION

Reflection – Storytelling

Challenges & Selection

My passion is working with orphans and the vulnerable in our society. My country being one of the highest  hit by HIV/AIDS epidemic, found herself in a state where orphans outnumbered those with parents.  HIV/AIDS has claimed more lives than any other causes of deaths. Having grown up without parents as  well, I always felt that my experience and what used to be pain, can bring them hope. It is difficult to deal  with these people especially if you have not been there yourself. These people feel lonely, have low self- esteem, and have a lot of anger towards life in general. For these reasons I always use Storytelling tool.  This tool prove to be useful because it connects with their emotions and in turn brings healing. From those  that I have worked with, one thing that instantly come out is, it is not easy for them to open up. They need  something to trigger them to respond and that thing is something that relates to their current state. I  often use their response to have an insight of their behavioral patterns and also develop ways and  strategize on how well I can address and bring them to new life.

Application

Recently someone I know very well lost his mother. Naturally, he wanted to give his mother a dignified  burial and the only way to do so, according to him was to bury her on a weekend, something that his  uncles didn’t agree with. This became a tussle until I stepped in. Everyone was looking at the expenses of  having to keep the corpse at the mortuary for that long and he was looking at something completely  different, “all friends, family and well-wishers should be there for his mother’s funeral, not just a few since  not everyone cannot make it during the week”.

I asked everyone to keep quiet and told them the nephew was the “main character” in this situation  therefore we should first listen to his reasoning and digest it before countering it. The whole purpose was  to bring empathy to the uncles as well as bring the nephew to a calm state. I told them that I lost a mother  and I know how painful it is, and the only thing that is going through their nephew’s mind is, the only  person who loved him and brought him to life is gone, so nobody can act out of love towards him. It caught  all of their attention.

Insight & Approach

As he was sobbing, he managed to catch his breath and spoke, this time not from the defensive side but  with trust that there was somebody who understood him. The uncles were also attentive. When he  finished everyone in the room could see from his point of view. The issue of finances still remained, the  difference this time was everyone worked collectively to work out the budget. Then they all agreed that  the burial will be on a weekend. This is one of the many of the stories that I have used storytelling tool  and from this, I founded ‘Relo Abarrane Books’, a bookshop with a small reading area offering services to  school going children who have no support at home.

With parent and teacher involvement that is always emphasized in bringing up children and encouraging  good performance at schools, orphans and vulnerable children are always disadvantaged. So that is where  ‘Relo Abarrane Books’ steps in. We have around 10 students aged 7-13 that we help daily with their school  work for an hour. The whole idea is to provide a conducive environment for them to focus and also  motivate them. We believe that with time as the business grows, the number of children will also increase.

This course has really broadened my perspective. I had no design thinking background and never thought  of myself as an innovator. My story stirred a passion in me, ended up with a bookshop with purpose and  now with the design tools I have learnt in this course, nothing stops me from growing to greatness.

