Workshops

We offer a range of lived experience storytelling workshops for adults and children. Email us to enquire

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Workshop facilitators

Adelle prides herself as the Kookoo story.She comes from a long lineage of storytellers.Women,who have also worked for many generations as kookoo farmers in her home country Ghana.She describes her grandmother Akosua Otenewaa Onyamaka; a griot as the one woman ensemble on whose tongue lived oracy and literacy. As a mother to a young family and the primary carer of a child with additional needs she is acquainted with the feeling of being tired and often asking; WHO CARES FOR THE CARER? As a social entrepreneur she's also familiar with the tough challenges of running and managing a team driven by a social cause which can sometimes be stressful. As a passionate human lived experience Storyteller she tells her stories with such grace and poise, using the power of stories as a tool for social change and social justice. Inspired by her lived experience with cocoa,she gathered and curated living experience stories from cocoa growing communities for the CHOCOLATE HAS A NAME exhibition which has now evolved into a project.This project seeks to introduce cocoa processing into the everyday learning of children in Cocoa growing communities, enabling them adapt to the ever changing climate. Presently, she continues to explore the magical world of kookoo as the Cocoa Artist. "It's a busy life being a woman with many dreams and responsibilities, but Cocoa mindfulness has a way of making me feel cared for and getting some of the issues out of my tissues"

 

Nana-Essi is a Creative Expression for Wellness Practitioner with several years’ experience in her field of work. She uses a gamut of creative modalities to aid personal growth. Nana-Essi is of Ghanaian heritage and is inspired by the Kookoo lived experience narratives. As a child, she had the privilege of visiting her maternal grandmother’s Kookoo farm which she declares was a breathtaking arboretum of mystical, charmed botanical flora haven. It is in this space that she obtained her first lesson in the Zen benefits of mindfulness, which has become a part of her everyday life as a person living with Chronic illness including Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. She has first-hand experience through her workshops and her own life in the therapeutic effects of stories and Kookoo mindfulness.Now she cleverly weaves these two magical portals together, guiding participants to a place where they feel cared for and valued. As a facilitator, Nana Esi is passionate, open to new learnings, humourous, compassionate and gracious. As an advocate for an improved livelihood for all persons, especially cocoa farmers, she is passionate to share this wonderful experience with many. Using her passion to connect them through an open mind and gentle curiosity to the heart of their much- loved chocolate. "There are some days when I desperately long for a new body and while that may not be possible now, through the magic of Kookoo mindfulness and a good story,I find the much needed peace to get on with life