A very strange call.
It was a very strange call.
My brother’s friend Tom asked me if I wanted to teach D&D.
To explain how weird it was, I spent years of my adolescence avoiding my brother and his geeky friends, scared someone might connect between us and I won’t be considered cool anymore.
Yes, I was 16. I knew it all back then.
A few years later, after many books, after I discovered Neil Gaiman, I reread Narnia and all of the five books by the Dark Sun , but more to it, I read the Hobbit again after spending years in London, made me laugh out loud, I read it in a British accent. Also, Lord of the rings movie came out and everyone wanted to be elves. The magical world finally grasped me.
Back to my story, there I was thinking of this game I never played, that I used to taunt my brother and his friends for playing.
The creative explorer and the unfulfilled actress/teacher said: hmmm, try something new… what I said was: ”Sure lets!”.
I dived into this vast world of magical creatures. I read so much my eyes watered I wrote stories. Many many stories about my character, her name was Kiri-neth (in Elvish) OMG don’t I sound like the geeks I always been terrified of been seen with?!
The project “New World” was going on in a few cities. The concept, teach underprivileged kids D&D. Role playing gave them a new tool box of: creativity, imagination, planning, negotiation and working together to solve problems. It’s all part of the game. Can you imagine I held 10 kids at the ages of 9–11 on the edge, fully alert, for an hour and a half with nothing but a pencil and a set of dice?
These kids had to consider all the skills each one of their characters had in order to move forward.
A tiny girl played a Half Ork (huge and scary) Barbarian: tons of muscles not too clever, she had to protect a wizard played by another kid, while he was trying to find his tools to create magic. It was 8 years ago, some of them are already reaching their 20’s and they still play.
Understanding the problem you are facing, considering your options, with the tools you have going for you. That’s a big thing.
Realizing you don’t have all the tools you need to move forward, knowing what it is that is missing and reaching out to get the help you need.
That; that makes the world richer, richer in: Ideas, projects and products.
It’s all just like with those kids I used to teach.
What is it you want to do?
What do you have going for you?
What is it that you are missing?
How can you find what it is you are missing?
Work together to move forward.
So in a nut shell, it was the beginning of an idea, a platform that would help you with last four and much more.
When Tom called again, this time telling me about this concept I said yes immediately.
The core of what now is JUGUMI was set.
It would take us time, traveling abroad and gaining amazing people on the way to join us, but we are almost there.
It is not the end, not even the beginning of the end but it is the end of the beginning of our journey.
I promise to share more of this journey next week.
Till then,
Check your tool box! Is there anything missing?
Another note about me: In the Picture, The first fantasy book I read, the Amber Enchantress, I did judge a book by its cover, It had this beautiful strong woman in the front, how bad can it be? I was 14 and took it from the library at school, making sure no one saw.
Later on in life, It grew on me. What can I say. I’m a huge fan.
Hey, I’m even “cooler” now (said the 38 years old, Settlers of Catan lover mother of two)
Inbal
