Dorothy, 102, fulfills dream of visiting Australia thanks to YouTube’s Yes Theory

Dorothy Smith thought it was a scam when two young men who said she had never met said they would take her to Australia to fulfill her dream.

Dorothy is a resident at The Redwoods senior living community in Mill Valley, California, and had wanted to visit all seven continents of the world before she was unable to. She had visited six: Asia, North America, South America, Antarctica, and Europe.

When YouTube channel Yes Theory’s Staffan Taylor and Ammar Kandil visited a senior living home for the first time, they were told about Dorothy and her one outstanding Bucket List: seeing the seventh continent Australia.

They slipped her a note and told her they’d take her to Australia to fulfil her dream.

“He gave me this little piece of paper that said something about ‘dreams come true’,” Dorothy told the Seven Network. “I showed it to a friend, and they said, ‘look, there is no signature, there is no telephone number, there is no address – it’s fake’”.

However, Staffan and Anmar were true to their word and arranged to fly with Dorothy to Sydney.  

“These two gentlemen have been delightful, and there is a whole crew, and each one is as nice as the other, and they have been around this town very well,” she said.

“It’s just beautiful – I’ve seen things like the zoo and the real animals.”

Dorothy said Australia was as beautiful as she expected, albeit a bit more built-up.

“It is much more metropolitan (than I would have thought), and the people are charming,” she said.

“I was expecting more (wild) plains with grasses growing on it.”

Yes Theory is a YouTube channel with 9.2 million followers that encourages people to say “yes” to discomfort in order to follow their dreams.

Ammar said they wanted to learn more from older people.

“One of the cornerstones of the experiences in our videos is actually whenever we go somewhere, we always try to ask the elders and get a lot of the wisdom out of them from their life experiences,” he said.

“Staffan (and I) had the opportunity to double down and do a full episode on elders, only to meet the most epic one of all (Dorothy) – it doesn’t get better.

“(As soon as we heard) we just went for it, and it was a no-brainer – as soon as she said she hadn’t been to Australia, we thought God bless her soul.

“She is so powerful and still moves, and if anyone can go to Australia at 102 years old, it is Dorothy.”

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A special thanks to our contributors

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Caroline Egan

DCM Media, agedcare101

Caroline has a wealth of experience writing within the retirement and aged care sector and is a contributing journalist for the Villages.com.au and agedcare101 blog and accompanying newsletters.

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Ian Horswill

Journalist

Ian is a journalist, writer and sub-editor for the aged care sector, working at The DCM Group. He writes for The Weekly Source, agedcare101, villages.com.au and the DCM Institute fortnightly newsletter Friday. Ian is in daily contact with CEOs of retirement living, land lease and the aged care operations and makes a new contact every week. He investigates media releases, LinkedIn and Facebook for a good source for ideas for stories.

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Lauren Broomham

Retirement and Aged Care Journalist

Lauren is a journalist for villages.com.au, agedcare101 and The Donaldson Sisters. Growing up in a big family in small town communities, she has always had a love for the written word, joining her local library at the age of six months. With over eight years' experience in writing and editing, she is a keen follower of news and current affairs with a nose for a good story.

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Jill Donaldson

Physiotherapist

Jill has been practicing as a clinical physiotherapist for 30 years. For the last 13 years she has worked solely in the Aged Care sector in more than 50 metropolitan and regional facilities. Jill has also toured care facilities in the US and Africa and is a passionate advocate for both the residents in aged care and the staff who care for them. She researches and writes for DCM Media.

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Chris Baynes

DCM Media, agedcare101

Chris has been a journalist and publisher in the retirement village and aged care sectors for 11 years. He has visited over 250 retirement villages and 50 aged care facilities both within Australia and internationally. Chris is a regular speaker at industry conferences plus is a frequent radio commentator.

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Annie Donaldson

Nurse and Carer

Annie has a long career in both nursing and the media. She has planned and co-ordinated the medical support from both international TV productions and major stadium events. In recent years she has been a primary family carer plus involved in structured carer support.