Tellers without Borders

Is a human­i­tar­i­an organ­i­sa­tion which works with sto­ry­telling to bring resilience, hope and joy to peo­ple in cri­sis and need. The ini­tia­tive was found­ed by sto­ry­teller Micaela Sauber in 2015, and she has since been joined by sto­ry­tellers work­ing across bor­ders in Europe and the World to reach lis­ten­ers in need of sto­ries of reas­sur­ance.
 We tell sto­ries to peo­ple in war zones and in peace­ful areas, for com­fort, heal­ing and encour­age­ment of spirit.

Our net­work of sto­ry­tellers are expe­ri­enced in work­ing with the seri­ous­ly ill or in the clos­ing years of life, migrants and refugees, those in prison and deten­tion cen­tres, those with spe­cial needs, includ­ing demen­tia, phys­i­cal dis­abil­i­ties and men­tal health needs. Tellers With­out Bor­ders reach­es out to chil­dren, young peo­ple and adults alike.

Many times, we see that tra­di­tion­al folk­tales and sto­ries told by one human to anoth­er can be a key to reach­ing peo­ple who have retreat­ed from their trau­mat­ic experiences.

Sto­ries give com­fort, sup­port, won­der and recall an inner sense of self. Lis­ten­ing to, and telling sto­ries strength­ens our imag­i­na­tion, builds bridges between peo­ple and cul­tures, and can help us devel­op­ing an inner home. One main task of the ini­tia­tive is to offer expert train­ing and to pro­vide oppor­tu­ni­ties for net­work­ing and exchange.

To build a cho­rus from many voic­es, the expe­ri­ences of Tellers with­out Bor­ders’ sto­ry­tellers are gath­ered into guid­ing ideas as a resource for the renew­al of a human­is­tic and eth­i­cal under­stand­ing of storytelling.