TrueStory
TrueStory was shaped in the same crucible of life that shaped the Author.
It began among a group of Grey College men from the class of eighty five,
bound together by friendship, hardship and the quiet courage shared between boys who grew up side by side.
Everybody carries a story. Each story is true to the person who lives it.
Yet at times our stories echo each other and in those echoes we find connection.
When we speak honestly about our struggles, something remarkable happens.
Another person hears their own pain in our words and realises they are not alone.
This simple act, the sharing of a human story, has been used for generations to teach, to comfort and to guide.
Background
The spark that became TrueStory was lit by Gerhard Pienaar, a life-long friend and classmate of the Author.
Gerhard grew up in a traditional Afrikaner home with firm expectations, strong values and a clear path laid out before him.
You go to school, you serve your country, you work hard, you keep your head down and you do not ask unnecessary questions.
Honour, faith and duty formed the backbone of his world.
He followed that path to the letter, attending our all-boys school, studying at the University of the Free State and later at Potchefstroom University.
He completed his military service at First Parachute Battalion and the Military School of Intelligence.
Through it all he carried one phrase that was repeated to him often, although rarely challenged.
"Cowboys do not cry in front of their horses."
Going Forward
Fast forward to the present. Our class remains close, even forty years on.
Messages are shared daily, jokes traded back and forth and help offered without hesitation.
Yet despite this closeness, five classmates have taken their own lives.
The most recent loss came only a few months ago.
It was a moment when grief and frustration met.
A moment when a few of the Cape Town Old Boys said, enough, this cannot continue, we must act.
That moment became the birth of TrueStory.
The movement exists to raise awareness around some of the most pressing issues of our time,
issues that affect individuals, families and communities in ways often unseen.
We begin with men’s mental health, a subject wrapped in silence for far too long.
TrueStory has already moved beyond intention into action.
The work is being carried forward through public projects that ask people to witness endurance, generosity, and honest conversation in the open.
Many more campaigns will follow as we grow the movement.
Our purpose is clear.
To create awareness, to offer guidance and to help people find professional support where needed.
We want to remind every person that it is acceptable not to be ok and that asking for help is an act of strength.
TrueStory will walk that road with them, one honest conversation at a time.
Projects In Motion
TrueStory is already on the road. Each project turns endurance into visibility, conversation, and practical support,
with the newest campaign first and the completed South African ride just behind it.
Project 2
Current Campaign
Etape Loch Ness | Sunday 26 April 2026
106 km closed-road ride
Approx. 900 m ascent
Inverness and Loch Ness
On Sunday, 26 April 2026, TrueStory takes on its next public challenge at Etape Loch Ness in Scotland.
The event circles Loch Ness over 66 miles, or 106 kilometres, of closed roads, starting and finishing in Inverness and climbing roughly 900 metres through the Highlands.
For TrueStory, the ride is more than a demanding day on the bike.
The current GoFundMe campaign describes it as the live public challenge powering the next phase of fundraising,
turning real endurance and public action into practical support for men’s mental health outreach, honest conversation, and wider TrueStory projects.
CODR Group is backing the effort as part of its wider social responsibility work, connecting challenge, resilience, and follow-through to people who need support in the real world.
If this mission matters to you, this is the project to get behind right now.
Project 1
Completed
Cape Town To Bloemfontein Scooter Ride
1,000+ km
Cape Town to Bloemfontein
3 days
The first completed TrueStory project unfolded in South Africa during the Grey College reunion period,
where five classmates piloted and supported a Vespa and a Big Boy scooter from Cape Town to Bloemfontein over three days, covering more than 1,000 kilometres.
That ride was created to raise funds for TrueStory and men’s mental health while putting an unmistakable message into the public square:
silence costs too much, and asking for help is a sign of strength.
It gave the movement an early, visible way to say that honest struggle should never be hidden.
Project 1 proved the model.
Friendship, shared hardship, and a public challenge can open doors for real conversation, and that momentum is now carrying forward into the Loch Ness ride and the work still to come.
Where It Meets The Book
The work of TrueStory runs parallel to the themes explored in Piercing the Mirror.
Both call for deeper presence.
Both ask us to understand ourselves with honesty.
Both remind us that strength and vulnerability are not enemies, they are partners.
Fulfilment grows when we allow truth to surface, even when that truth feels uncomfortable.
TrueStory carries these ideas into the real world where stories, shared openly and without shame, become instruments of healing.
This is the heart of the movement, a hand reaching across the gap between people.
A quiet voice saying you are seen and you are not alone.
That is a true story.
