5 minute read
The next generation will turn the ship around
By Daniel Wilke. Photo: Lelle Sparringsjö
Beloved Swedish singer and songwriter Martin Stenmarck’s commitment to wildlife and environmental issues is shaping the next generation of planet heroes around the family’s dinner table. He has been part of The Perfect World team since 2014 as compère for the organization’s wildlife support galas, and is a true role model when it comes to spreading knowledge and awareness for a better world.
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As a father of three, the second oldest of twelve siblings, and a sponsor of eight children in Uganda through UNICEF, Martin Stenmarck is used to helping others. He also regularly receives inquiries from charitable organizations, asking if he wants to participate in and support their work. Martin says that he’s the kind of person who’s happy to help, but it’s also important for him that his contribution really makes a difference. “Instinctively, I want to say yes to everything, but there’s also a danger in doing that. It’s important that it works out and I can really get involved. I don’t just want to be in a photo,” says Martin.
Martin has been an ambassador for The Perfect World Foundation since 2014. It all started with a meeting at a café in Stockholm, Sweden. Over a cup of coffee he met The Perfect World’s founders Ragnhild and Lars Jacobsson for the first time, who wanted to know if he would like to help support the organization’s efforts to save the rhino. “When I was a child, my grandfather worked in Kenya. He brought home drawings and stories of rhinos. It’s an animal I’m especially passionate about,” explains Martin.
Ragnhild and Lars had decided to arrange Scandinavia’s first fundraising gala for wildlife and the environment, and hoped that Martin would agree to compère the event. Martin could feel that their commitment was genuine and was happy to be asked to get involved and inspire others through something he enjoys – entertaining. “Few people understand how much hard work is involved in arranging a charity event. Before the first gala, I don’t think even Ragnhild and Lars knew what they were getting themselves into. But they were willing to work hard for their cause, and I decided to support them as much as I could, there and then,” Martin says.
As always, MARTIN STENMARCK delivers one hundred percent as compère and entertainer during The Perfect World’s charity gala. Here, the audience are hanging on his every word at ‘The Polar Bear Ball’ in 2018, where Sir David Attenborough was the guest of honour.
Since the first charity gala, Martin has assisted the organization as compère at a total of four fundraising events, and by doing so he has helped to raise several million dollars to benefit wildlife and the environment. In 2015, Martin was given the opportunity to visit a rhino breeding project in Zimbabwe, where he had the honour, on behalf of The Perfect World Foundation, of handing over a cheque for 50,000 dollars to support the project’s work. “The money was intended to help keep the project’s rhinos safe from poachers, among other things. It was absolutely fantastic to be there and see what all our hard work had contributed to. And this was the first time I got to meet a rhino, it was absolutely magical! I had no idea they’re so soft,” Martin says.
The visit to Zimbabwe was a new awakening for Martin. He says that when his youngest daughter has turned eight, he plans to take the whole family back to the rhino project in Zimbabwe to share with them what he experienced. Until then, Martin keeps the subject of the plight of wildlife alive at home by talking about it at the dinner table.
Martin thinks that making a difference doesn’t need to be a huge burden – even small things make a difference and create a ripple effect. He gives the example of teaching children that they shouldn’t throw food away, and that everything counts when it comes to reducing our environmental impact. One of these family discussions resulted in one of Martin’s daughters choosing to become vegetarian. And since he himself works with these issues, discussions about wildlife and the environment are right at home around the Stenmarck family’s dinner table. “Continuously talking to our children about the world’s wildlife and the environment is important, but it’s also tough. Our six-year-old once asked us, ‘Will elephants still be alive when I’m big?’ We then talked for a while about how human actions affect our world, and how desperate the future actually looks,” says Martin.
That same daughter has now invented a new game where her and her friends run out into the forest to see how quickly they can fill a bag with rubbish. “It’s sad that it’s come to this, but it’s a very good game”, says Martin and proudly continues to give us examples of his children’s dedication. “This summer, we are holidaying in the south of Europe, and after pressure from one of my daughters, we’ve cancelled our flight… it’s bad for the environment. If people reduce their flying and only ‘have-to-travel’, and plant trees to offset the carbon footprint of these flights, would be a valuable step in the right direction,” Martin says.
Martin Stenmarck is in every way a person who wholeheartedly engages in charity projects, and it’s important to him that his work is genuine and makes a real difference. He’s a fantastic ambassador, and a role model whose commitment is infectious. Finally, I ask him what motivates him and makes him want to get involved. “When it comes to The Perfect World Foundation and the charity galas I’ve been involved with, it’s the people who motivate me. The organization has succeeded in engaging very different people from all over the world, where everyone works towards a common goal – to make a difference. The titles fade and you meet the real person behind them, and that’s really very cool,” says Martin in conclusion.
