Video Story-Telling for The Waikato Wellbeing Project

The concept of ‘lots of little fires’ captures the idea that there are many small ‘fires’ of passionate people ‘burning bright’ across the Waikato. In the night sky, from above, we can see them all and it is a beautiful sight, but often at the ground level all we see is the fire in front of us and we feel the constant heat. When we rise above and look down from the sky, we can see there are so many others fueling their own fires of passion not that far away from our own.

The stories we share can help provide a bird’s eye view of the many stories and then an invitation to swoop down and learn about the individual fires in more depth. Knowing passionate people are not alone can give us the energy and hope we all need to keep placing more fuel on our fires to keep our lights burning bright and improving the well-being of our communities. It also allows the opportunity for people with access to support and privilege to connect with each fire and to build a relationship where they can help keep the fires burning and breathing warmth and hope for our collective future.

We embarked on a series of short stories sharing the lives, perspectives and projects of inspiring people living across the Waikato. Shot in a short documentary style the videos dig a bit deeper into the lives of passionate people who are making positive change in their communities. We learn about what wellbeing means to them and how who they are and what they do impacts the wellbeing of those around them. The WWP provides a platform and a medium that can share their stories and perspectives across multiple sectors, connecting them with like-minded change-makers and advocates across all sectors of society. They focus on the people’s perspective on the reality of how things are and how they adjust, pivot, adapt and forge ahead to make their communities a better place regardless of the barriers they may face. This project aims to be a powerful communicator speaking to the hearts and minds of a wider audience that may provide insights and perspectives to two different audiences; those who may feel a direct connection and shared experience and/or those who may have never seen, heard or understood their perspectives.

The sharing of perspectives through story has always been a powerful way to communicate when it functions through an empathy-led approach. In the greater picture of addressing systems change and the redistribution of power, we believe that with the power of the storytelling from the people whose voices often don’t get heard, we can help provide an opportunity to impact change through the amplification of the people in our communities who are forging ahead in the betterment of our collective wellbeing.

These videos can be accessed here