What does safety in the outdoors look like to you?
A question Jojo Das once asked at the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival. He got a lot of confused answers, which created some great conversation and education about why people can be scared and anxious to travel into the great outdoors.
Growing up as an Indian boy and moving 14 times before the age of 11 was both a blessing and a curse, as he wasn’t able to have long term relationships with school friends, and found out how quickly people can pull back when they know you are moving. The blessing was building the social skill of being able to meet and create new relationships over and over. He now shares that skill through his work at Mountain Mentors.
Creating a culture of inclusion and shared knowledge is one of the hardest things you can do in life and as Jojo explains it’s not always deliberate if someone is excluded from an activity; it may be a choice for safety or a skill barrier.
If you want to find out more about Jojo and his story, you can see his film Space For All at VIMFF, and follow him on instagram.
