Latest / The Overland Journal Podcast / Bruce Dorn introduces: The Heroes Network

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Bruce Dorn introduces: The Heroes Network · The Overland Journal Podcast

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  Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to the Overlandoinal Podcast. I am your host,
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  Speaker 1: Scott Brady, and for this week we have a special episode.
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  Speaker 1: This is an extra episode for us and it is
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  Speaker 1: led by our good friend Bruce Dorn. Bruce had a
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  Speaker 1: conversation with Vasilisa Komarova down in Mexico and they talked
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  Speaker 1: about an idea for a new organization, and that organization
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  Speaker 1: is called see Change Global. The first offering, the first
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  Speaker 1: focus for the organization is what's called the Hero's Network.
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  Speaker 1: This is all in its infancy, but this conversation with
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  Speaker 1: Vasilisa and Bruce bring to light the need for this
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  Speaker 1: kind of support for solo travelers to protect them from violence,
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  Speaker 1: hopefully preemptively and then if they do have an encounter,
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  Speaker 1: that they have some support after the fact. For those
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  Speaker 1: that have some sensitivities around those topics, please be aware
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  Speaker 1: that that's going to be part of the discussion. For
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  Speaker 1: more information on the Heroes Network, you can go to
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  Speaker 1: see Change Global dot org. Please enjoy this brief conversation,
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  Speaker 1: but an important conversation with Bruce and vas Lisa. This
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  Speaker 1: content is brought to you by Overland Journal, our premium
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: quality print publication. The magazine was founded in two thousand
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: and six with the goal of providing independent equipment and
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  Speaker 1: vehicle reviews along with the most stunning adventures and photography.
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  Speaker 1: subscribe directly on our website at Overland Journal dot com.
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  Speaker 2: So We're back.
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  Speaker 3: I'm back with Vasa Lisa Komarova, adventure traveler and now
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  Speaker 3: the founder of My thousands Smiles women's discovery.
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  Speaker 4: Group Circle Women's Circle. Yes, I call it as the
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  Speaker 4: Faying Sisterhood.
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  Speaker 2: I love it.
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  Speaker 3: If I got dressed up and if I got in drag,
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  Speaker 3: could I be in the sisterhood for just like the
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  Speaker 3: motorcycle riding part.
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  Speaker 5: Yes, I'm sorry.
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  Speaker 2: Our audience knows.
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  Speaker 4: We'll see in the future maybe there will be you know,
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  Speaker 4: like men also, But for now, I want to really
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  Speaker 4: concentrate just on women and leave it this way absolutely as.
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  Speaker 2: It should be.
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  Speaker 3: Prior to having this concept, I know, and after your
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  Speaker 3: terrible experience with assault, you made yourself available to go
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  Speaker 3: out and speak to women's groups, tried to reach out
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  Speaker 3: to women who had experienced trauma.
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  Speaker 5: Ye, yes, I did it.
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  Speaker 4: I did it mostly in Bolivia because in Blivia at
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  Speaker 4: the level of women, abuses so huge, and obviously there,
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  Speaker 4: you know, there were more publicity to my case, so
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  Speaker 4: you know, a lot of women were reaching me, either
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  Speaker 4: in person sometimes you know, I literally would walk a
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  Speaker 4: street and someone would recognize me and speak to me,
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  Speaker 4: or someone would write media Instagram.
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  Speaker 5: You know.
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  Speaker 4: So I did concentrate on this, but I have to
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  Speaker 4: say that at some point when I was doing it,
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  Speaker 4: I couldn't disconnect yet emotionally from that, so you know,
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  Speaker 4: I was you know, I had too many flashbacks, you know,
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  Speaker 4: and I just needed to close that art for some
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  Speaker 4: time and get back into the beginning what I was doing,
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  Speaker 4: just you know, going and chasing horizon and having the
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  Speaker 4: most beautiful experiences. And now again I feel that I'm
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  Speaker 4: on them, balanced, I'm healed, so I can go back
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  Speaker 4: into it without traumatized, is in myself again and be
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  Speaker 4: real help to others.
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  Speaker 3: It's a process. You you currently work as a trainer,
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  Speaker 3: personal trainer.
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  Speaker 5: I do therapist, I do know, I'm no.
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  Speaker 4: I have some clients for personal training and also I
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  Speaker 4: do therapists.
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  Speaker 5: I work.
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  Speaker 4: So one of my my jobs in London in the
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  Speaker 4: last years, I was a physical therapist for those who
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  Speaker 4: were going through rehabilitation. It's like a sports massage. So
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  Speaker 4: but this this accent on the on the muscle pain
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  Speaker 4: and muscle injuries. So while I was traveling, I would
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  Speaker 4: eat a small personal studio, you know, let's say on
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  Speaker 4: the roof of the house where I would work on Chile,
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  Speaker 4: I was working in a circle, so you know, I
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  Speaker 4: would help some people to train there and giving them therapies.
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  Speaker 4: And here in toom I have my little business of therapy.
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  Speaker 4: But now I work not only with the body. I
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  Speaker 4: also work with traumas. Through some contractions and some nots
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  Speaker 4: in the body, I can also help to release trauma.
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  Speaker 5: So it's more it's physical and energy work.
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  Speaker 2: Great stuff. Great stuff.
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  Speaker 3: It's all coming together, all your experiences and all of
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  Speaker 3: your expertise and all of your mental and physical prowess.
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  Speaker 3: Is coming together in this one moment.
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  Speaker 4: Fantastic, yes, and in my family because my grandma, she
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  Speaker 4: comes from Siberia, so we had healers and our generation
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  Speaker 4: and so. But the thing is that I went through
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  Speaker 4: one dramatic experience. It was actually connected to this decision
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  Speaker 4: why I didn't want to be in the law anymore.
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  Speaker 4: Everything well together. So I went through very dramatic experience
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  Speaker 4: in my life which also did close me from the law.
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  Speaker 4: And I didn't want to know anything about spiritual life.
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  Speaker 4: I couldn't completely ignore it. But let's say I wouldn't
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  Speaker 4: looking for it. And now again when I came back
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  Speaker 4: here and to move my head in the very strong experience,
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  Speaker 4: that opened my eyes and my heart again into this.
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  Speaker 4: So I'm bringing back into all of my generations, you know,
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  Speaker 4: the knowledge of my grandmam, my grandgrands together which in
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  Speaker 4: the physical, mental, heart and the soul together.
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  Speaker 2: Amazing, amazing, amazing.
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  Speaker 3: So I want to I want to go back a
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  Speaker 3: little bit when when you were out there traveling, you
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  Speaker 3: were you were everywhere.
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  Speaker 2: You were Patagonia, you were Chile, you were riding your bike.
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  Speaker 3: There's a million photographs of you in spectacular locations out there,
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  Speaker 3: enjoying things. When you went quiet for a while and
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  Speaker 3: then we reconnected, I learned about what you had gone through,
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  Speaker 3: and for me, one of the hardest things to accept
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  Speaker 3: was how the bureaucracy, how the world mistreated you after
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  Speaker 3: you survived a brutal attack, and it was infuriating. It
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  Speaker 3: was infuriating to see to hear that you had tried
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  Speaker 3: to get help from the local authorities and they would
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  Speaker 3: not provide anything because you couldn't pay for it.
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  Speaker 4: I think in many parts of the world, you know,
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  Speaker 4: certain problems.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, you just went through such misery. I mean
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  Speaker 2: you literally, you.
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  Speaker 3: Know, near death experience and then seeking help there was
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  Speaker 3: none or there was very little, and you fought and
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  Speaker 3: you fought, and you found help, and you found help.
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  Speaker 3: It seemingly took forever.
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  Speaker 4: Well at that time, you know, I didn't have money,
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  Speaker 4: I didn't speak Spanish, so I was now in the
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  Speaker 4: country and there.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, so you know, and it it occurred to me
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  Speaker 3: that there are so many people in the overland community,
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  Speaker 3: the group that i'm that we're speaking to right now,
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  Speaker 3: there are so many good people in that community, and
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  Speaker 3: they're far flung. I can't help but believe that there
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  Speaker 3: was someone or more than a few people in our
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  Speaker 3: community that were not too far away, but there was no.
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  Speaker 2: Way for you to reach.
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  Speaker 4: The thing is, yeah, one thing, you know, I didn't
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  Speaker 4: really knew someone who I could go to.
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  Speaker 5: It's one thing.
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  Speaker 4: And second thing, you know, I was going through the
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  Speaker 4: deep trauma to be honest, you know, like only when
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  Speaker 4: I really won't then I could.
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  Speaker 5: My mom.
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  Speaker 4: She still doesn't know what's what happened to me, you know.
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  Speaker 4: So you know, like when when something of this kind
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  Speaker 4: happens to the woman, it's really difficult to open up,
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  Speaker 4: particularly you know, in that moment. Then all the fingers,
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  Speaker 4: you know, were pointed at me because those guys who
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  Speaker 4: did it to me, they had country behind them, they
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  Speaker 4: had their families, they had more money, you know. So
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  Speaker 4: I just, you know, I felt so small and everything
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  Speaker 4: all here, and you know, men pillian physically, So I
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  Speaker 4: just I wasn't ready to speak to anyone.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I understand, I mean I understand as much as
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  Speaker 3: I can without having I'm not a woman, I'm in
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  Speaker 3: that situation. I've never experienced anything nearly that horrific, but
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  Speaker 3: I experienced a lot of anger, and I feel that
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  Speaker 3: there's something that can be done in the future, that
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  Speaker 3: we can organize good people to be on call and
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  Speaker 3: that they're with the right technologies and the right backing
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  Speaker 3: and the right smart people. We can create some kind
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  Speaker 3: of a network that would be able to be there.
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  Speaker 5: Brotherhood, brotherhood, hero's network, a hero's network, a hero's network exactly.
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  Speaker 2: We call in the cavalry.
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  Speaker 3: You shoot up a flair somehow, you send out a
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  Speaker 3: signal to the not just the universe, but the satellites.
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  Speaker 3: And like in the States we have something called nine
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  Speaker 3: to one one and I don't know if there's something
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  Speaker 3: similar to that in Great Britain. But hopefully you call
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  Speaker 3: for help and help arrives. And that's a flawed system.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, but you know, like sometimes you know, they run
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  Speaker 4: a roads really to get help easily, and when the
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  Speaker 4: system is so crushed, it's difficult.
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  Speaker 3: And in our community we have a lot of travelers
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  Speaker 3: who are out there, like you, men and women who
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  Speaker 3: are out there, sometimes solo and sometimes in groups.
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  Speaker 2: I felt for a while that we could.
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  Speaker 3: Organize so that danger zones could be identified, so that
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  Speaker 3: travelers could make a decision between going this route or
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  Speaker 3: that route. And solo travel is in itself a goal.
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  Speaker 3: You want to have the singular experience. You don't want
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  Speaker 3: to be in a group. If you want to be
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  Speaker 3: in a group, you'd take a tour. I believe there's
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  Speaker 3: legitimate expectation that we could create a network so that
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  Speaker 3: if you were a traveler and you wanted to let
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  Speaker 3: it be known that you just vetted people, just really
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  Speaker 3: make sure it's good people. But if someone was traveling
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  Speaker 3: and explained they were going to go on this route,
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  Speaker 3: you don't have to identify where you are and get
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  Speaker 3: into all that.
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  Speaker 4: At least know that you're there and if you disappear
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  Speaker 4: or to go and look for you.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, yes, maybe advice on where to travel, where not
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  Speaker 3: to travel, maybe opportunities to caravan with a few other
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  Speaker 3: people in danger zones and all that, and try to
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  Speaker 3: find the technology, try to make a platform for it
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  Speaker 3: and make the future safer. I've talked about this and
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  Speaker 3: it's getting traction. It's a foundation is being created. I'm
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  Speaker 3: creating a foundation called It's Emotional Yeah, Heroes Network, and
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  Speaker 3: there are powerful people behind it.
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  Speaker 2: It's going to happen.
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  Speaker 3: It's being formed right now and I'm going to be
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  Speaker 3: the chairman of the board of directors I'm inviting you
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  Speaker 3: to be on the board of.
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  Speaker 2: Directors with me. I'm opened, you're in Okay, great, so
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  Speaker 2: we will talk about that more.
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  Speaker 3: It's something that this conversation may not come out right
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  Speaker 3: away because a lot of work has to be done.
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  Speaker 3: But there are people in the un that are interested
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  Speaker 3: in this. There's an interest internationally in various women's groups
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  Speaker 3: that exist to address the same problem or to make
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  Speaker 3: people aware of this problem. But I guess there's something
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  Speaker 3: unique about the idea that we will be proactive about
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  Speaker 3: this problem.
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  Speaker 4: Because sometimes there are too many wars and known affections.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, yes, yes, Beneath the Heroes Network is a ce change,
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  Speaker 3: a global dot organ and the s E stands for significant,
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  Speaker 3: essential and enduring changes. And we're going to try to
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  Speaker 3: make the activist group activism in trying to address problems,
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  Speaker 3: not just talk about them, but actually address.
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  Speaker 5: Some change eventually.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, yes, so going to push really hard for that change.
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  Speaker 3: I have really powerful partners in this, including Scott, the
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  Speaker 3: publisher of the magazine, and a wonderful woman that works
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  Speaker 3: in a lot of nonprofits, and we're teaming up and
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  Speaker 3: we're going to attack this thing.
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  Speaker 4: Thank you from all the women travelers for that. It
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  Speaker 4: may be great help. It will be.
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  Speaker 3: I'm going to do my best to talk to you
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  Speaker 3: into letting me do a feature film about this story,
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  Speaker 3: because the way the story, the story doesn't end with
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  Speaker 3: you discovering this new outlet, this new good work that
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  Speaker 3: you're doing. I think the story comes to that point
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  Speaker 3: and then we see you active on the board of
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  Speaker 3: this thing, doing what you're doing one on one with
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  Speaker 3: women in very real situations, and then helping me do
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  Speaker 3: this other, bigger thing.
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  Speaker 5: Amazing, let's do it.
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  Speaker 3: So that's Alisa Comoroda