The Journey so far
i have worked with the non-profit organisation Heartlines since 2015 i think it was. And it has been an incredible journey that has taken me to some incredible spaces and connected me to so many amazing people who are doing country-changing things.
When i began, the main focus was on a programme called ‘What’s Your Story?’ with the tagline: You know my name, but do you know my story? We still do a lot of this, and i incorporate it in so many other spaces in my life because it is just so good in terms of teamwork, connection, bridge-building, race work and so much more. i always use the phrase, “I Love this so much because while story-telling is not rocket science, it has the effects of rocket science.” It really is so simple, but can have deep profound world-shifting consequences.
Money Values
The second programme we had was called Money and Values and we recently rebranded it as Money Values. Money is one of those things we all have some kind of – often problematic – relationship with but we very rarely, if ever talk about it.
The purpose of Money Values is to look at five different aspects of how we handle money – Earning, Spending, Borrowing, Saving, Giving – and connecting each one to a different Value and then exploring what that might mean in how we relate to money.
So:
Honesty in Earning
Responsibility in Spending
Wisdom in Borrowing
Self-Control in Saving
Generosity in Giving
The purpose, as with all of Heartlines programmes, is to get people talking about and then acting on, new ways of thinking about and handling money. You can read some more about that over here.
And then we have Fathers Matter…
Fathers Matter
Most recently, we added Fathers Matter to the mix. And in the last year or so we have actually moved all of our focus to this programme, with aspects of What’s Your Story and Money Values often falling under it as well.
And with Fathers Matter we talk about seeking ‘the Positive Active Presence of Men in the Lives of Children.’
Now when we say Fathers Matter are we suggesting that Mothers don’t matter? Absolutely not. that feels like something that goes without saying, but because of the problematic nature [and especially shown up in absence of different kinds] of fathers in South Africa in particular [although this is a huge problem around the world] we have to declare and work towards the idea that Fathers really do matter.
We initially created six powerful short movies of around 25 minutes each, and recently added Playing Dad, a seventh movie, to the mix. Each different movie speaks to a different question around fathering, so Family Portrait challenges the notion that the dad is simply an ATM that must provide money and then job done, and if he can’t then he should not get access to the child. In Time speaks to how a father can be present in his child’s life even if practical circumstances [like having to work on the other side of the country] may hinder that. Manskap talks to the idea of what we at Heartlines call Social Fathers [people like me who don’t have their own biological children but are uncles or youth leaders or mentors, coaches, or even grandfathers, who can fill the role of a positive role model to the children in and around our lives]. And we also have Everything a Boy Could Want, Melodi, Airwalker, and the newly added Playing Dad which speaks to the importance of fathers spending time with their children and being physically present.
One of the best parts of the work i do, which is running workshops, facilitating trainings, or doing screenings of the movies with discussion around the relevance of the topic, is that it is all FREE to the public. You provide a group of people [and when we run a workshop we include women as well as these conversations need to be had with everyone in the room!] and we will come in with our projector and sound and do the things. All of our resources are free online as well so you can head to Heartlines.org.za and take a look around.
[We have reps in pretty much all of the provinces in the country, so if you stumbled upon this but are from somewhere else drop me a message on brett@heartlines.org.za and i can connect you to them!]
And then another fun and brilliant resource which has well over ten thousand users now, is the Fathers Matter Coach…
Help us make Fathers Matter
If you are part of a church or any kind of community that might be open to a Fathers Matter workshop or movie screening, please don’t hesitate to contact me on brett@heartlines.org.za. Please share this blog post and the Fathers Matter Coach number [all your friends who are dads should be on it – the responses have been overwhelmingly positive!] and maybe watch one or two [or seven!] of the movies so you can see just how powerful they are.
In South Africa the stats are closing on 70% of children growing up without a biological father present and so there is so much work to do. Please be a part of it by hosting a meeting or sharing the information or tagging people you know who are passionate about this kind of thing but maybe don’t have the resources.
The work towards the Positive Active Presence of Men in the Lives of Children will continue and we hope you will become an active part of it.
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