We’re excited to announce the release of Episode 7 of the Blast From My Past podcast! This episode, “Tribal Quest,” veers off the beaten path in more ways than one. While previous episodes explored stories of individuals whose lives were changed by discoveries they made, this one focuses on the experiences of MyHeritage employees participating in the Tribal Quest project to help remote indigenous communities preserve their family history.
When Nitay Elboym, Golan Levi, and Noa Gabbay were hired by MyHeritage, canoeing down a river full of crocodiles in the heart of the Amazon jungle was not in the job description! Listen to the full episode below to follow their adventures, misadventures, and deeply moving experiences working with indigenous tribes:
Tribal Quest is a pro bono initiative to document the family histories and cultural traditions of remote indigenous tribes throughout the globe. This episode follows the most recent trip in the heart of the Amazon rainforest, but our employees have also visited the stark tundras of Siberia, the scorching savannahs of Namibia, and the lush jungles of Papua New Guinea to help remote communities preserve their family stories, legends, and traditions for future generations. As globalization and environmental changes threaten these communities’ traditional way of life, it is more important than ever to ensure that their legacies will not be lost or forgotten.
Our delegation members traveled long distances, leaving their families behind for weeks to work with the people of each community. As a group of hi-tech employees accustomed to the comforts of the developed world, living and working in remote areas presented some challenges: the constant battle with fleas, mosquitoes, and other creepy crawlies, consuming food and drink prepared using methods and hygienic standards they were not used to, and so on. But it was all worth it when they watched intergenerational dialogue develop in the families they were interviewing, learned from the wisdom and spirituality of the tribesmen, and witnessed powerful moments of connection between family members.
Upon their return, we translated what our teams collected from each community into a section of our Tribal Quest website. The purpose of the site is to showcase a small taste of what our teams learned, and to tell the stories of the tribe members through photographs, footage, quotes, and information on their lifestyle, traditions, and beliefs. The website was nominated for a Webby Award in the category of Websites: Corporate Social Responsibility, and selected as a Webby Honoree in the category of Websites: Best Use of Photography.
The site offers a beautifully vivid complement to the podcast episode, filling in the stories and sounds with images, footage, and additional information. We highly recommend visiting it while you listen or afterwards!
If you haven’t followed or subscribed to the podcast yet, be sure to do so now so you don’t miss future episodes! You can find Blast From My Past on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
