Inspiring others by my epilepsy!
By Drikie Snyman, National Marketer and Public Relations Officer
Pieter Walser is not a new friend of Epilepsy South Africa. He always assists the organisation and helped again when we needed people to share their experiences with epilepsy on radio.
During Epilepsy Week (21 – 27 June 2010) we enjoyed radio exposure and arranged interviews. He volunteered for an interview on “Radio Sonder Grense” on National Epilepsy Day (21 June) and touched the Afrikaans speaking audience with his passion.
Pieter shared his challenges and successes since being diagnosed with epilepsy. Surprisingly, Pieter claims that these challenges motivate him to stay “human and grounded”. He said that everone is “a bit strange” if we really think about it and found that sharing his disability made it easy for others to open up to him. He freely shared about things that he found tough, but noted that he refused to give up. This helps him to smile at his personal achievements in the wine industry.
As a winemaker Pieter donated some of his wine to our Epilepsy South Africa Wine Auction in 2009 and also hosted a tasting table. The Parlotones in partnership with Woolworths chose Pieter to make two wines labeled in honour of this South African band with an international following. He has two beautiful kids and a loving wife. Pieter likes the outdoors and is a passionate surfer, although only for fun.
Picture taken and shared with permission of Thys Lombaard.
To view a video clip of Pieter click here.