Growing Hope was born out of the civil and social unrest in Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa in July 2021. Food and community insecurity is a national security risk. Planting food gardens is a peacebuilding initiative and a courageous act.

The aim of Growing Hope is to seed sustainable food gardens all over South Africa, so that children, schools, communities, and families can reconnect with the earth. Education is a key factor in this process of learning self reliance and entrepreneurship skills for sustainability.

This is part of my life's work and legacy.

I have been a student of NVC for some years. I am still and always will be learning, but it was freeing to realize I that am not responsible for the way other people feel, even though I care for them. Learning the steps of observing a situation without assumptions, and then noticing my feelings and how they are connected to my needs both met and unmet, has been very freeing and empowering for me.

I support a European based company, Compassionate Self: a coaching and training business that specializes in teaching NVC and IFS globally, and especially Africa. I also manage the online school Compassion Courses.

I am currently educating myself on alternative currencies and alternative economics. I am a member of the Community Exchange System (CES) and I am supporting my local community to also learn more about this system.

I am currently educating myself on the Blockchain, Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ether as well as other altcoins and the NFT movement.

I do believe this is part of the future of humanity.

I created the website BitcoinForBeginners.co to share resources I have found helpful along my journey, as well as to share my journey with Bitcoin over the past decade.

• I am committed to Upcycling my own waste and work with local The Upcyclers
• I run a local community Freecycling group where we gift and request and share gifts from the community - all FREE!
• I focus on purchasing from local farmers and grocers so as to reduce waste I create and eliminate as much plastic as possible
• I put all my food waste into a special worm farm I created and this is then added to my garden and planter boxes to grow my own herbs, greens and vegetables or I compost.
• I also grow cuttings from food offcuts, and compost to put back into the soil to grow again