Poverty and potatoes to paradise and plenty

How the simple spud changed my life, forever!

'Aly's Tribe'?becomes TRIBALLY, but there's so much more to that than a simple reversal of words.

It's true to say that I've lived a life less ordinary. I’ve travelled through over 100 countries of the world, swimming with the fish over the Great Barrier Reef, visiting the Masai Mara tribe when on safari in Kenya, pony-trekking through the snowy Canadian rocky mountains, and singing in a Karaoke bar in Tokyo, to name but a few.? I’ve had everything and done everything I’ve ever wanted, and it has all culminated in my new Business Founder Support Lunch Club, where I will share what I’ve learned and foster the same between our carefully selected, vetted and approved ?members.?

?There was no ‘silver spoon’ for me. In fact no family at all!?Orphaned age 4, no school from the age of 13, married at 16 and 3 babies by 20, so how did I do it? ?And what does any of this have to do with spuds?

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Imagine me as a little girl, very skinny and neglected, and growing up in the Troubles of 1970's Northern Ireland, amidst car bombs, stray bullets, barricades and carjacking, murders galore, 'kneecapping' of wayward children, and neighbour fighting neighbour. It sounds awful but to me it was ‘normal’. ?

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When school was over each day, I needed to find somewhere to go, somewhere I'd feel safe and hopefully warm. So at the age of 9, I got myself a job. Helen and Norman Grigg owned the corner shop and they very kindly offered me 2 hours work each day, sitting in the dark cupboard at the back of the shop, with what seemed like a mountain of potatoes, a pile of plastic bags, and traditional weighing scales. For 'ten bob' (50p) per week, I weighed those spuds and packed them perfectly into those bags, for two hours every day, Monday to Friday. I loved it and they rewarded me each evening with a chocolate biscuit. Toffee Yoyos were my favourite. (Ask your granny about those! ??)?My school friends laughed at me and called me the wee spud girl, but it was there that I developed my work ethic and learned to live by my WIT. To me, that meant ‘Whatever It Takes’.

?Each Saturday, instead I would go to the safety of the library and it was there that I found a story about potatoes that would inspire the way I chose to live the rest of my life - a life, although full of immense challenges, gave me all I ever wanted.

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Do you want to hear how? Let me start by asking you a few questions.

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When was the last time something happened to you that made you wonder about fate and destiny? What was it? What was it connected to? How did it make you feel?

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Well, I’m going to take you back in time with a short history lesson that showed me the UNIVERSE WAS ALWAYS ON MY SIDE … and it all starts with the Potato!

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In the 1840’s, a terrible mold developed in the farmlands of Ireland that decimated the potato crops, and it led to a million people dying from starvation! You see, times were very different back then and the simple potato was used to make everything!??Other than the many ways to cook the thing and the various breads made with it, it was also used for some medicines and was used as a cleaning product. Of course, it was also used to make Irish Moonshine known as Potein! ??And it was the most cost effective crop as when planted back in the earth, it regrew itself plentifold!

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So a million people died ….. and no one came to help.

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THAT IS UNTIL an unexpected donation was received ?from a faraway nation.?That nation had recently gone through their own terrible challenges and were not yet fully recovered. ?But they still found the means and generosity to send all the way to Ireland ?the princely sum of $170.?In today’s money that’s worth only ￡5,000, but they were the ONLY nation?to offer unsolicited support.

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I speak in American dollars, but friends, ?that much needed money did not come from the American government - ??it came from the Native American Choctaw Nation! It was a tribally act of brotherhood and kindness, of giving whatever they could and expecting nothing in return, and it was how, as a little girl, ?I decided I would also live my life.

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So where is the benefit in that, you might ask? 150 years later, Ireland had their first female President named Mary Robinson, and she decided it was time to repay that great deed from the past. Mary visited the Tribes in Oklahoma and they all agreed to commemorate the act with a beautiful sculpture that would be placed in a park in Cork.

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The title image is a photo of that sculpture and you will see that it is made of a circle of feathers.??This is where we drew inspiration from for the new TRIBALLY logo.??The sculpture is named KINDRED SPIRITS and that is exactly what TRIBALLY represents.

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Now a sculpture is really nice but it’s hardly a repayment.??So even though they gave all and expected nothing in return, today, all members of the Choctaw Nation are invited to study at Universities in Ireland for free.?That’s some payback!? And during the pandemic, the people of Ireland were found to have contributed hundreds of thousands of pounds to a crowdfund to help native American Tribes who were suffering terribly from the outbreak, showing how that one act of incredible kindness was never forgotten and forever valued and respected.?

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My accomplishments in life were all created by myself, because of my work ethic and through connections that were opened up to me by giving and expecting nothing in return. So where my former clients referred to themselves as Aly’s Tribe,?and I turned those words around to read TRIBALLY,?little did I think of the amazing connection that MY people have with Native American people, and how my new group name would be so appropriate in every way!

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How’s that for a Pow and a Wow!

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Based on the principles of recognising and promoting your expertise, kindness and high standards of customer service, we select the very best members for TRIBALLY, connecting you to like-minded and experienced people, fostering opportunities to collaborate within a vetted, safe and trusted network, and keeping you up-to-date on funding opportunities, business news, training, business and social events.

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If this sounds like you, and it's just what you’ve been searching for, you only need to register your interest today. Contact us on [email protected]