Gun Free SA

Stories for Learning

Every day 23 people are killed with a gun in South Africa. We have a major problem with gun violence.

Gun Free SA has been fighting gun violence for 25 years, mostly focussing on ensuring safer gun laws. In 2019, in partnership with Vanessa Thomas-Lowndes from The T Room, I started working with them to broaden their strategy and mobilise youth to support gun safety in their communities.

Graphic Design & Illustration by Paul Christopher Daniels

THE HERO'S JOURNEY AS A LEARNING EXPERIENCE

For a young person to decide to become a Gun Safety Activist takes a lot of courage! These young people face real danger in their communities and being associated with an anti-gun movement in itself can add an element of risk.

It’s therefore no exaggeration to say that they’re Hero’s.

To encourage this identity among the youth I designed a learning experience that mirrored The Hero’s Journey. I used Christopher Vogler’s adaptation as a starting point and remixed it to suit a learning experience that takes the learner on a journey of self-improvement and discovery.

Along with the idea of a clear Journey they are going on, I also made Story central to the process by teaching them how to use storytelling to support their activism.

Good activists need to be able to tell the story of the problem they want to solve, as well as the story of the solution they are promoting. I therefore included many storytelling tools in the curriculum - all still aligned with the theme of The Hero’s Journey.

If you’d like to explore how storytelling can support your learning design work, set up a short call with me using the link below.