The Talking Traveller

My 4^th speech at Toastmasters. To really appreciate this, take a look at the photo in "My Face" photo album.

                                         My Broken Lip

Yes, it is true, it is real, it is there. Right there. I'm not going to try to hide it. I can't, my mustache won't grow fast enough. And no, it is not a squashed tick, or a tattoo of little red spider. It is battle scar. Inflicted on me during my karate grading saterday, by a girl. We were mock fighting, it is called randori. It is simulation of a fighting scenario, were we are suppose to control our punches, stopping an inch before we hit the other person. The girl got excited and lost control, twice, first on my nose, then on my lip. What can I say? I mean, Girls come near me, they get excited and lose control of themselves, story of my life. Of course the ultimate gentleman that I am I didn't get mad, I kept my cool, and did not seek revenge like a wounded buffalo, even though I had a broken lip, and a broken ego. I didn't hit her back to hurt her, I put in a few kicks though.

So my lip is broken, but it will heal, and my ego as well, definitely. My lip has actually been broken in another way as well. For a big part of my life I had a broken lip in the form of a chronic stutter. Most of you are informed of my situation, so I won't go into the soppy details again. You can put away the tissues. I don't want you to feel sorry for me. Be happy for me! Because that broken lip is also healing, and I am going to devote myself to take care of it, I am going to be my own personal doctor, maybe a assisting nurse in the future, but for now, it's mano a mano. Tonight is actually my farewell speech. I am leaving Monday, on a jet plane, and I actually don't know when I'll be back again. Point of interest,Bruce Willis also had a stutter before he started acting. He played in the movie Armageddon, where the song features......leaving on a jetplane he went on a impossible mission to save the world, and succeeded! I often see myself as a Die Hard Bruce Willis type, except that I wont die at the end of my mission. I am leaving on a jetplane Monday to travel the world, to speak 100 000 people. This is  a summary of my Mission Statement:     

For 17 years my life was lived as a chronic stutterer. Blessed with wonderful parents, a brother and sister, who will love me no matter what I do, where I go, or how I speak, my life wasn't all a nightmare, sometimes even a daydream.

However, because I stutter I feel that I have always had to hold back, hold back thoughts, opinions, emotions, and wisecracks. I feel that I have not fully developed certain skills that I desire to be better at, skills that I feel that I am supposed to have. I've constantly lived in a certain kind of fear, fear of getting stuck on or not being able to say certain words. This has led to humiliation in many hurtful situations.

10 months ago I became part of a speaking program for stutterers that have shown me the road to freedom. A technique that can give me total control if correctly applied and frequently practiced as a sport.I have finally been able to translate my thoughts, Ideas and emotions FULLY to other people without fear or struggle for the first time in my life.

My progress has been TREMENDOUS since I've joined this program and I've had plenty of enjoyable speaking situations, 5 dates and 3 and a half toastmaster speeches.

Unfortunately, I still have situations where I hold back, where I avoid, where I stutter uncontrollably and experience the fear I hate. I not am willing to accept this anymore ladies and gentlemen, I refuse to regress to the way I used to speak and have the same experiences. My current living status does not allow me enough speaking situations to improve myself as a speaker, therefore I declare the following.......

I hereby declare war on uncontrolled stuttering.

I declare that I am going to devote a certain amount of time (and a lot of money) in my life to improve my speaking skills. I am going to travel the world, with the focus on improving my verbal communication skills, and become a smooth talker.

I declare that I am going to do the following.......

- To let go of my current living status, quit my job, car is sold (sniff sniff).

• - To attend as many of the McGuire courses and support groups as possible, place is reserved so far, for Bloemfontein, New Zealand, Australia and Scotland.
• - To speak to as many people as possible and make friends worldwide, (and kiss a girl in every country) who said that !?
• - To always practice controlled eloquent speaking,
• - To enter situations I have always feared, to deliberately use words that haunt me, to overcome my fear.
• - To try and help other stutterers on their way to eloquent speaking,
• - To learn as much from other people and experiences, the good and bad, and very good, using that to help and inspire.
• - To see the world, grow as person and enjoy my life journey.

I feel that this is an opportunity, necessity and life adventure that I now am able to do and should grab hold of. I believe that by doing this I will conquer my fear of speaking, my fear of people, fear of myself, because that fear will prohibit my survival ......and I WILL survive!

My broken lip will heal, and it may even leave scar. It may even start to hurt again sometimes. But I will be ready for that, I will know how to treat it, with the help of a nurse maybe? Who knows !? Thank you for the opportunity to be part of Pretoria East Toastmasters, I am going to wear my label with pride worldwide, and not hide. Thank you for all the support and encouragement you have given me, so say farewell to the broken lip. ......bye.

My 3rd Toastmaster Speech.....I was a bit nervous, so my speech control was very challenging, but effective nonetheless. Enjoy

                                   Confuzing Words

In my project at work I used a USB Host Controller IC implemented with a 8051 Microcontroller to gain full access to the FAT File System of a USB Mass Storage Device.

I just studied your reaction from what I just said. I see reactions of confusion, nervous smiles, and frowns. I didn’t see one acknowledgement or signs of further interested, which would have been maybe nodding of the head or tilting of the head sideways or pucking of the lips with rubbing of the chin. The reason for the reaction that I got from and didn’t get from you is because of one concept.

Have you ever found that, when you read something, especially a subject that you are not to familiar with. That you come to the end of page and you realize that you can’t remember what you just read. You have lost your focus and concentration somewhere in the middle and now you have to re-read everything. The reason for that is that you have read a word that you don’t understand. If you read a word that you don’t understand and go past it, you get confused. Any other info that you read after you have read the misunderstood word you may find difficult to grasp. It is therefore important that if you want to understand a certain subject or topic, and especially while studying, that you have a clear definition of every word used in the subject. I believe that the difference between a smart person, and a not so smart person, is the amount of words that he/or she understands. And even normal words that you don’t understand in the correct context, may make feel you stupid.

So, here is a suggestion that I want to give you. This may make you smarter. Use a dictionary.

After that clear the other definitions of that word in making sure that you understand them. Make sure you know the different meaning of the same word.

Another interesting thing to do is to read the derivation of the word. Maybe it is from a French or latin origin. Also a good way to impress someone around the dinner table. Also try to get some idioms of that word.  

It is very important to use this concept while talking to, or teaching children, and adults . Make sure that they understand the words that you use. Read their body language, yawning, frowning, looking away, looking sad, staring intensly, not tilting of the head.

If you see any of these signs, ask them to repeat what you have said, ask them if they understand the meaning of the word. Unfortunately if you ask this question to most adults, especially the educated ones they might think that you are questioning their intelligence. So make sure you do this sincerely and not in a mocking or sarcastic tone of voice. Saying something like, "you like it when you understand the words that people are using, and get irritated when you don’t understand words that people are using, and you don’t want them to feel the same way" can be a nice approach. By using words that other people understand and you yourself understand, communication will be much more effective.

Mister Toastmaster.

This is my second speech I made at toastmasters..... 

Mr ToastMaster

Here is my toast I did at Toastmasters .....

Toastmasters Meeting, 8 February 2006, Toast of Own Choice

I've kept with the theme tonight and asked myself the question :

"What is a real friend?" and "What is friendship ?" which are quite deep questions.

But the New Oxford American Dictionary States that a "friend"  is "a person whom one knows and with whom one has a bond of mutual affection ..... A person who acts as a supporter of a cause or organization by giving help, financially or otherwise."

 Well, we all have certain information each other so we do know each other, and this club bonds us with the mutual feeling that we like to become better communicators, and we like to communicate effectively. By being here we all support this cause, and the Toastmaster organization, financially and otherwise. 

So "your honour" it is proven beyond a reason of doubt that according to the New Oxford American Dictionary, we all are indeed true friends to each other, and to Toastmasters, and I would like to toast that by saying.

There are good ships, there are wood ships,

the ships that sail the sea

But the best ships are friendships,

and may they always be !

Cheers to friendship.

To work on my speech capabilites and challenge myself, I joined Toastmasters.

Toastmasters is a social organization where people learn to do puplic speaches in a supportive environment. You do a series of speeches that teaches you all the goodstuff on how to become a effective communicator. As in anything in life, you only get good at something if you practice, with toastmasters this practice is FUN! It's builds your confidence and leadership capabilities.

For more info visit http://www.toastmasters.org/

I have already made two speeches and one toast. Here's the first one, called The Icebreaker!

ICEBREAKER SPEECH (4 - 6min) - Toastmasters Pretoria East, 25 January 2006

Mr Toastmaster

Beginning (40 seconds)

Ladies and Gentleman .......

[PAUSE]

I am proud to give you what you are about to receive, to give it you without hesitation, to give it to you without thoughts like ‘ I'm going to be hit by tomatoes !' , to give it to you with controlled excitement, to give it to you  the best I can, having the peace of mind of knowing that, you have a choice to accept it or not, and thinking you will.

I you give to a short story of the ME, Hein van der Merwe

Middle(3 min 40 secs)

Birth, Alberton:

It all happened a wee while back in Alberton Johannesburg were I first saw light, 14 October 1981. My mother tells me that it snowed the day that I was born, or at least that it was very cold and strange for October, coincidence ....? Maybe. But interesting enough anyway. My first few years of life was then spend in (mostly sunny) Alberton. Being second to an older brother who had a 20 Month head start, we investigated life in all it's fullness. Trying to find answers to those nagging questions like " Can a pure black spaniel be turned white with enough washing power? " (Poor Arthur....rest his soul) and " Will Dad find the car keys that we hid in the fish pond? " Soon enough answers did present themselves, mostly in the form of a wooden spoon operated by my mother, but with much love. [1min 10 sec]

Child, Farm, School Career  [1 min 20sec]

At the age of five we moved to our Family farm, inherited from the children of Abel Erasmus a little peace of earth called Krugerspost, near Lydenburg in nowadays called "Mpumalanga" the place where the sun rises. It was my father's birthplace, and place of upbringing. I went to primary school at Ohrigstad, which is one those towns you drive into, see the sign, hit the stopstreet and drive out again. But with a school motto like "Be Strong" my primary education was well grounded and taught me good values. My secondary education was completed at Highschool Lydenburg. By that time my stuttering was already well grounded and chronic, being introverted it kept me focused on my academics . Which I think was someone's plan to teach me self-discipline and appreciation, so it's ok.

University, Working young man    [1 min 10sec]

After my 12 years of monotonous school uniform, I was very excited to enter University and study for my degree in Electronic Engineering. I stayed in the Hostel (Olienhout) for 3 years while studying. I enjoyed that immensely with flirtatious activities like serenade and watching fast moving fists on the rugby fields I had a great time. In my third year I went on a outreach to mosambique for two weeks, to live among the locals and help them build a church. The money for that I got from standing in the street with a sign "have food, have clothes, have cellphone, have mother, need donation for mosambique outreach", 5 hours gave me R770 bucks. Thanks Pretoria, I had a life changing experience.

After three years and few too many failed subjects, I moved into a commune and focused to complete my last two years. Women and a small guy with a bow and arrow intervined a bit  and caused some distraction but luckily I started doing some karate as well which teaches to focus no matter what is happening to you, and that helped a bit.

So came the end of my life as a student and my journey started to gain experience in my career. Being able to by my own bread and butter, and have change left, I entered myself in a speaking program namely the McGuire Course for Stutters. It opened a once distant world to me with a new and different approach to speech control. Giving assurance that desired words can be spoken if enough effort and self-discipline is applied, quite possible with the right support and great new partly-bald friends.

End(40 seconds)

So it has been quite a journey to where I am standing tonight. A journey that was driven by the need to breath comfortably, by the need to find out what it life drives me to a exited state, and pulls me out of a slump. To be able to open my eyes and look in the mirror without hesitation and be proud, also humble , because the bigger part of the world still needs to be explored. There still many lessons to be learned, skills to be acquired, knowledge to be gained, and only by giving and accepting, like tonight.

[PAUSE, Step Back]

Mr Toastmaster.