pain

There are no words to explain the hurt and pain that lives inside my black body, a body assaulted in so many different ways that when I want to say why it hurts I have to pause, think and think again and then i drop into my intuition to discern the real cause of the pain. 

water and inequality in cape town

the inequality in the city of cape town is playing it's role in how we need to respond to the drought.

Yes there is a drought, yes we cannot afford to waste water, yes we need to live more consciously and move closer to living in harmony with mother earth, nature and each other. The effects of climate change are here, man-made or natural disasters, its happening and much sooner than predicted.

How we understand and respond to this situation requires thought and compassion living in a city where some households as a norm

• do not have easy access to water, they still have to walk to communal taps and backyard dwellers need to pa, often exploitative rates, for the water they use from 'landlords' 
• are on the drip system due to lack of payment of rates, rent, & services (essentially they already have access to limited amount of water per day

This contrasted with households at the other extreme

• who have taps indoors, swimming pools, huge lush and lavish gardens with irrigation systems.

between these extremes we have households who have access to tap water indoors.

The response to the drought is therefore demanding different actions from different people based on their economic standing and access to water.  It does demand of all of us to live consciously. 

indescribable

life's joys are only as uplifting as it's tragedies are low
in the absence of a meal
any food can taste delicious
being thirsty in the desert
elevates the value of water
and 
in the absence of your love
the heart ache is indescribable

Afrikaaps reflections

Yesterday I had the wonderful opportunity to watch the Afrikaaps documentary film, directed by Dylan Valley, and to listen to EmileYX?'s inspiring reflections on the work as well as on his own life's work as part of our Pathways to Free Education event.  

I loved Afrikaaps since i first watched the theatre production at the Baxter.  Afrikaaps is a rich presentation of language as life-giving and culture as ever evolving. It captures the pain of the rewriting of history by the oppressors, the loss of language, the dismissal of a mother tongue as well as the erosion of self-worth. 

A big Thank You to the cast who are also wrote the script of the Afrikaaps theatre production -  BlaqPearl, Bliksemstraal, Jethro Louw, Moenier Adams, Emile YX?, Shane Cooper, Quintin Jitsvinger and Kyle Shepherd. This is such an important work, Afrikaaps takes the task of telling our own stories to higher levels! 

They expose the ridicule and racism that we all face when we speak and our accent, our diction and vocabulary does not measure up to a contrived standard. An accent that marks our roots as black and working class and deems us unacceptable in certain circles - as a learner in the film says we can say a few words and people will judge you as a gangster based on the way you speak.     

The story exposes the myth of Afrikaans / Afrikaaps as a language of the Afrikaner / die Baas / the oppressor as it excavates the hidden story of the development of Afrikaaps from multiple languages, stemming from the earliest spoken word by the first peoples San and Khoe, to Arabic, Dutch and other languages brought to the Cape by the many who came or were brought here. It illustrates the ethnic cleansing of a language, by the Dutch Afrikaner who literally deleted words from the dictionary, many of these words are still used today and considered swearing or simply not proper words. The story explores what it means when our children learn an Afrikaans language at school that we do not speak at home. 

Afrikaaps tells the story using music, drama and film.  It affirms the language, it's speakers and thus elevates our self-worth as oppressed peoples who were literally silenced by the devastation of our language.  

Do yourself a favour and get a copy of this dvd from EmileYX? or Jitsvinger or BlaqPearl ‘none but ourselves can free our minds’ 

grief, grieving

grief

grieving, sudden waves of sadness

surges of pain and trauma escape from my recesses

my eyes resembling a whale's blowhole

forgotten heartache surfacing 

triggered by the present

grief

grieving, no manners, no considerations 

unruly and out of hand or carefree and flowing

in this moment, it clears my mind and redirects it to ache

grief

grieving, arriving all mixed up 

losses so many it's hard to know who one is grieving today

just a flood from the pit inside reaching up, wanting to exit

grief

grieving, it's just there, all of it the sadness, the loss,

the empty heart space, feelings that overwhelm,

feelings that become misplaced and misdirected 

because so much has been lost, the loss, the longing, sadness

dialogue

we cannot sit in a process of dialogue

while militarised vehicles shout shutup! 

we would be making jokes of ourselves

Ain't I a woman - Sojourner Truth

Honouring the memory of Sojourner Truth, who spoke these word in 1851 and then I just had some kind of crazy experience in the cafeteria in 2017 and yes, these words still have validity.  A white man spoke over me while I was being assisted, put in his order. Then when he catches up with me at the coffee station where you have to pour your own filter coffee he wants me to pour his coffee. Just leave that there. 

AIN'T I A WOMAN?

by Sojourner Truth

Delivered 1851 at the Women's Convention in Akron, Ohio

Well, children, where there is so much racket there must be something out of kilter. I think that 'twixt the negroes of the South and the women at the North, all talking about rights, the white men will be in a fix pretty soon. But what's all this here talking about?

That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain't I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain't I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man - when I could get it - and bear the lash as well! And ain't I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain't I a woman?

Then they talk about this thing in the head; what's this they call it? [member of audience whispers, "intellect"] That's it, honey. What's that got to do with women's rights or negroes' rights? If my cup won't hold but a pint, and yours holds a quart, wouldn't you be mean not to let me have my little half measure full?

Then that little man in black there, he says women can't have as much rights as men, 'cause Christ wasn't a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him.

If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back , and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it, the men better let them.

Obliged to you for hearing me, and now old Sojourner ain't got nothing more to say.

found this on http://www.feminist.com/resources/artspeech/genwom/sojour.htm

people are making things happen!

This weekend I was reminded about what is right in South Africa.  Friday night I went to watch Ikhaya at Artscape, I went especially to see 2 of our old Umbon’omhle youth who are now training at Indoni Dance Academy.  I spent most of Saturday as I have, the past 3 Saturdays, attending the Pathways to Free Education Winter School and in the afternoon I went to see the play Krotoa van Vandag, written and directed by Blaqpearl aka Janine Van Rooy-Overmeyer. 

Each of these experiences were inspiring, reflective, offered a message of hope and included the voices of ordinary Africans above all the people performing or engaging were empowered, organising themselves and creating solutions to the problems facing our communities.

The media delivers a message of doom and gloom, spreading fear at every turn, this was nothing like it.  The Indoni Dancers told their story Ikhaya (Home) with their bodies, the struggles that youth face at home of alcoholism and drug abuse, persecution.  They showed the strength and power that they have to overcome and to keep moving forward. 

The next morning in Khayelitsha, we the Pathways collective and a strong contingency of Housing Assembly Young Lions amongst others, discussed the challenges facing us with a focus on water and electricity.  We reflected on the implications of the commodifying of a life-giving source like water, and recognised the importance of building a mass movement across communities.  This discussion was about people, the working class in particular, taking up their own issues and not about looking to government to offer salvation.  The way these sessions take place has been humbling, always respectful, filled with trust and appreciation of each other’s humanity - as we learn and share we are building friendships across all kinds of barriers.

Then I went on to watch the Blaqpearl Foundation production in Mitchells Plain.  Before the production we were addressed by local women, who spoke about the work they are doing.  The women were mothers who lost their children through gang violence, they shared their pain and courage with us in song and dance.  In their short presentation, they brought me to tears they have initiated a number of projects to serve the community – healing themselves through loving service.  

Krotoa van Vandag, with a stunning cast including Blaqpearl and Bliksemstraal brought home the painful reality that the struggle of Krotoa, a young Khoi woman in the 1600s was still alive in the struggles facing young black women in the 21^st century.  If you have the opportunity to go and watch the show, do yourself a favour. 

All of these events inspired me – people are making things happen!

“Tell me what are you working for, who are we living for, take a look in the mirror and see what you are worth” – A peoples worth by Blaqpearl 

Mid-year reflection Day 1

Today, I spent some time in mid-year reflection, a process that will continue for the week and will inform my programme for the rest of the year.

Some reflective insights:
To save money - I need to change behaviour
Given that I am studying this year, finances have become more important and as I look at how do I reduce my budget, one of the obvious ways is to reduce expenditure.  It occurred to me instantly that cutting down on expenses demands behaviour change, like no more buying coffee from the vending machine, managing my resources more carefully and prioritising where I put my time - because time is money. I will have to be doing some focused exercises to support these choices.

I need to value my money
I am reminded again that my money is my reward for my labour, it is my income derived by selling my labour.  Let me not squander it, let me value it, however great or small.

Creating balance
Indeed I am a social being as I mapped out my life, I see so much activity that includes people. I have recently learnt through the ancient Indian medicine practice of Ayurveda that I have dual opposing doshas (types) and so I am also very happy being a quiet person and this too is reflected in the ways that I practice self-care. I can see that I am getting better balancing these 2 aspects of my being.  In the past I would get lost in the one aspect and then the other. I guess I am getting better at being me - thank goodness, after all I am not getting any younger :)

Gratitudes for this day:
I am grateful for my capacity to forgive
I am grateful for Faroek, who celebrates his birthday today and is a wonderful father to my grandchildren and husband to my daughter, Layla and really has become my son. A beautiful, joyful, smiling, ultra marathon athlete, sporty and talented young man - a great example to other young men. 

WE WON

If you know me, you also know that I am not the joker in the group, I am the serious sometimes boring one. So last night when I was elected as UCT's President of Convocation and my first speech was more funny than serious.  It got me wondering why? And where was my Amandla! and my Ilizwe lethu!

In short I was surprised and so I was still processing - again, if you know me....

I was super optimistic that as a united front of alumni, students, staff and black academics we could garner support and at least, win this convocation battle. I never set out to be in this role, I agreed because we needed someone everyone was willing to support. It is my honour to serve in this way. I am truly humbled by the faith people have in me. Being me, I had no victory speech nor did I even consider what I may say should we win. Now I know the value of having a prepared victory speech :) Though I still prefer my way, no expectations.

Then our win became so personal on social media with congratulations to me, and that is so uncool. Asseblief mense, WE won, please, enkosi, siyabulela! The protest space is expanding at UCT and we all need to own it and we all need to own the gains we make! The decolonial road is long and winding it is only through unity that we will get there!

And then some more best days in India

Saw that  this was never posted so I am retrying. from my trip to India.

In my last blog I said that that day would probably be the best day of this trip. I now know that there is no day that can be called the best. So many wonderful things have happened! I actually got to meet Dadi Janki as she slowly invited all the participants to meet her in small groups.  Dadi Janki is 101 years old and a Yogi who is clear of mind and thought, humourous, arms are still strong, though the legs struggle I was fascinated to note that she does not have much wrinkles on her arms and feet as can be seen on so many people when they are in their seventies. 

A day of highs!

Meeting Dadi Janki, visiting Jain Temples and Sound Spa with Brother David - what a blessed day it was yesterday! No doubt it will be one of the most memorable days of this trip.

Dadi Janki is 101 years old, she is one of the two Yogis who lead the Brahma Kumaris - a woman-led organisation. She gave us a class in the morning and the night before had led us in meditation. Dadi walked into the hall and one could clearly feel the energetic vibration increase, noting that there were already over 200 of us present! One cannot help but have great respect for this remarkable soul who is an example of the power of honouring one's spiritual being in this physical world.

The ancient Jain Temples are in the middle of Mount Abu town's hustle and bustle and still has daily worshipers, as it contains altars to many deities. Exquisitely and intricately carved marble is all over, the ceilings and pillars and walls - unfortunately no cameras are allowed inside. Built from the 11th to the 13th century it is breathtaking and I cannot imagine what was used to achieve such beauty and accuracy.  The temples are monumental works of art, the energy in the place is just wow!  Tourists are permitted in the afternoon and so it was a much quicker visit than I hoped with all the people flowing through the temples.

Our day ended with a Sound Spa, with Brother David who played many instruments for us - wooden flute, didgeridoo, various indigenous instruments from different parts of the world and singing bowls. Oh the singing bowls - i could feel my body vibrating and wanting to fly away. What a fantastic way to end our day. I will be checking if I can take a cd home.  

Gyan Sarovar

Gyan Sarovar, the venue, has the most beautiful  gardens and is a beautiful sight to behold as you arrive after an arduous journey. It is a big complex with a number of buildings all looking well kept and immaculate.

I posted this 2 days ago, however wifi connectivity is limited and the programme busy - so here it is after a failed effort. 

The rooms are small and modest. I am sharing with 2 other South Africans. The bed is hard and the bathroom is different to what we are used to. In India the bathrooms can surprise in different ways.

There is an amazing team of people preparing  and serving the food because there are hundreds of people on the property. All meals are simple and wholesome - vegetarian  with no onion and no garlic, these do not from part of the BK diet.

Saturday we had a tour of the property. Everything is simple and humble. The focus is on spiritual service. 

The solar power used by the Brahma Kumaris, (BKs) is phenomenal, using 3 different systems of solar heating, one providing a source for the kitchens another for back up when the lights go out and another provides power to some of the operations.

We also went to the town and did some shopping. Notably mostly out of towners were in the shops. The many fabrics and clothes are produced locally in this area. There is a lot of poverty in this place based on the condition of the homes I saw. The BKs and the Jain Temples in the area bring tourists and help to keep the economy on the go.

Most guests arrived Saturday and we had a beautiful  welcome session which ended with each person receiving  a shawl, blessing and a toli (sweet treat). Brother Charlie led us in a powerful meditation.

The welcome  included Dr Partap of the Global Hospital - a BK project, he spoke about the science of spirituality. The hospital is located in the town and serves the community. The doctors are not paid, they volunteer and practice meditation. We will have a visit to the Hospital in the week, I  looking forward  to it.

The blessing I received last night: By living your life in peace, you contribute to a peaceful world.

I am holding this in my consciousness today

Getting from Cape Town to India

It was easy enough to decide to leave the city of Cape Town to take a journey that I have dreamed for a few years now. 

When the invitation came to attend the Peace of Mind Retreat in Mount Abu - where the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual  University  head quarters are, I did not hesitate to accept it. This was the 3rd opportunity I  had to go to India. In this case, the 2nd invitation  to the Peace of Mind Retreat. I did not want to pass it up.

The last time I had to pull out due to lack of funds. This time the money came the same week I received the invite. It was also the same week we got our kitten, Flower and the same week I was knocked out by the flu or something for 8 days. This germ continued to boomerang 3 or 4 times since.

So preparing for this trip was not as easy as saying YES to it.  I could afford the trip because I have had quite a few projects to work on. The workload was a challenge to manage with the recurring illness. Today I sat in the plane to Johannesburg thinking it's a miracle I managed  to organise myself to make this happen. The time within which to get everything together was short and I did it all in small chunks. Window shopping for luggage bags, then later going to buy it.

Carving out an hour of my day to book flights or do another errand. Somehow I pulled it all off.

The real achievement  here is that I was able to put my own self care needs above work demands. This trip is about taking care of my spiritual needs. This is a real growth point, especially  since i did this with a full workload.

It was still a challenge to stop working to let go of projects that are underway and to trust that they will be okay and still be there when I get back.

So saying yes was easy. Making it happen was challenging and I persevered. Now, it is happening. I was not always this woman, today I am thankful  I  am woman who can make her dreams come true.

Peace

Let's create the world our children deserve

SJC organised a great programme called Healing Wounds for the families of some 11 sisters who were killed in gender-based violence. Today I was honoured and humbled to share a simple self healing tool with these families who were mostly women.

In the afternoon I found myself listening to #DivasUnitedSA. We were enthralled by an all female Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra and women with the most wonderful singing voices including Thembeka Mnguni who was hands down the hot favourite of the crowd! There were Young Divas who wowed the crowd. Then the winner of Young Divas 2016, Dirja Lekas sang a solo - Believe by Cher, It was so heartfelt, this 12 year old girl with an amazing voice brought me to tears.

I cried, because those young women who lost their lives too had hope in their hearts, promise and potential and are now gone. I cried because I cannot be sure that this young girl with the voice of an angel will grow to be a successful women singer, that she will not be violated by this world. I cried because I was reminded that us adults, the mature of our society need to do better, need to pack away our egos and create the world our children deserve!
Are you with me?

Orlando Shooting

50 People were killed on Sunday 12 June in Pulse, a gay club in Orlando USA. 

Most of the people at the club & most of the dead are people of colour, most identified as LGBTIQ. Killed due to the homophobia of the gunman, Omar Mateen who himself frequented the club. 

I cannot help but notice how this great tragedy is not seen as a tragedy by many. Yet, when 12 people were killed in France starting with staff of the Charlie Hebdo magazine in January 2015, the world seemed to pause. Media covered the story from endless angles, including all the outpourings of support, marches etc.  So many people argued that anyone who did not say I am Charlie or Je suis Charlie (french) were being insensitive and uncaring.  Profile pics were changed, french flags were virtually-flown. A public display of solidarity and or compassion became the most important action to be taken. So much passion, all in the name of compassion and caring. 

Now, I am wondering did all the Charlie's loose their compassion and caring? Is that even possible? If this includes you, Please Do Try To Care. 

Homophobia killed the 50 and homophobia prevents feelings of compassion and care. Try to look beyond your fears, see the people whose lives have been lost, the pain and agony their families are feeling.  

I have many friends who are LGBTIQ. I cannot begin to speak on their behalf, but my heart knows that I need to speak, through listening to their stories I have some awareness of the hurt and rejection people suffer sometimes a whole lifetime.  Some having to live completely rejected by family, others slowly gaining acceptance in families and often even then not being able to reveal themselves fully to their families. We have communities where it is acceptable to sexually assault black lesbians.  All of this happens because homophobia is not challenged because the lives of LGBTIQ persons are not fully valued.  

Stop the violence of making people invisible and into what is comfortable for you. Please pay attention to the Orlando 50, pay attention to people around you, in your family and community that are LGBTIQ - look at them, see them for who they are and accept them unconditionally. Love unconditionally, that is our true nature. 

LGBTIQ - Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transexual/Intersex/Queer.

let's tell our daughters that we love them and keep them safe

Millions of young women in South Africa, and around the world, have been feeling devalued for a long time. They are often denied a proper education or livelihood as they are easily told to stay home from school or not to work to assist the family by attending to very important family needs like caring for babies, elderly or disabled relatives.  Young girls who meet this fate are in fact engaged in unpaid carework. This burden of care is one that follows most women throughout their lives, always having to squeeze in their dreams while our male counterparts, brothers, husbands, sons are free to pursue their dreams through school and work - yes even when the work is hard labour. Many young women become wives, caring for their own parents and the parents of their partners including at times other elderly uncles and aunts. The opportunity to engage in the world and to discover oneself, and ones passion has too often escaped women and as we can see this begins at an early age.

The message is that women have particular functions and roles in society and these do not include the pursuit of excellence in arts, industry, community leadership or intellect. Boys can go to school, boys can go out in the world and make their mark, boys can sow wild oats.  Women are often undervalued as unpaid caregivers and for the purposes of sexual reproduction and as prey for sexual predators. In the process of this devaluing of girls and women, the voices of girls and women are silenced.

In more recent years, some of us have been able to escape this path although, we often find ourselves proceeding against the odds and when we excel, we may be damned for it. Remember when our beloved sister Caster Semenya performed so well, some saw fit to declare that she is not a woman, the arrogance of that situation deserves 1000 blogs.

One of the most significant implications of the gendered nature of society is that it gives men, even the hard labourer man, some economic independence and many women economic dependence. Our girls and young women witness and live this experience of patriarchy. They see that mothers stay with abusive husbands or partners because they do not have any money of their own. They see mothers who look the other way when their boyfriends are sleeping with their daughters because they "take care of us". Our young women, when found busy with sugar daddies are strongly criticised, ostracised and made to feel small yet we fail to understand what has led them to see this as an option to economic independence. They see their future reflected in the lives of their mothers and wonder is that my future too? They are trying to avoid that future and sadly, they are repeating the cycle.

Daily little girls, young women, mature women are being raped, trafficked, sexually exploited and murdered in our country and as a society we continue to uphold the values of a patriarchal society. We support institutions that continue to uphold the colonialist notions that some people are superior to others, and consider that white, male, heterosexual, european standard as supreme and right. So as I find myself being neither white, nor male, nor european, I guess I am wrong and less important on 3 strikes? Of course not, yet the world is telling us this. Our higher education institutions hardly reflect the rightness of all humanity whether black/pink/green, female/queer/homo/trans/a/sexual, african/indigenous.  Our higher education institutions continue to reinforce the gendered nature of society as it produces the captains of industry, advisers to political leaders and knowledgeable elite who do very little to change the lived experience of women and so continue to perpetuate a problem, whereas one expects higher education to be about finding solutions to the challenges faced by society.

We need to ask what it is that we do to contribute to the idea that girls and women do matter?

Let's start to raise our sons and daughters differently, let's check white privilege when it raises it's head, let's invite queer-homo-hetero-trans-sexuality into our homes and embrace it  all, let's accept our child, sister, brother for who they are.  Let's shine our Africanness, let's share the carework and let's tell and show our daughters that we love them and keep them safe! Then we will start to change the world!

Kuruman reflections

I am out in Kuruman, John Toale Gaetsewe District in the Northern Cape.  Yesterday was All Pay for child support grants. The payment of social grants in South Africa is commonly called All Pay.

It was evidenced by many people pushing trolleys up and down the street. Trolleys filled with large bags of sugar, maize, flour, cooking oil and rice.  Some peoples trolleys included some more items than that.  I was struck by the thought that this food possibly consumed all the money that people have and would not last a month; after all R330 is paid for one child.  This is very little and children have other needs.  A friend from this area told me that some of the young mothers waste this money on card gambling games on the streets, drinking and buying themselves nice things.  

This situation is not very different from one part of the country to the next. I wonder what will become of our future as a nation when we have so many people reliant on social grants, an ever increasing unemployment rate and limited development opportunities.  We are more preoccupied by media circus events, than by the need to alleviate poverty in our country.

It is these moments that return me to clarity of purpose, to recommit myself to the work of helping people to reconnect with themselves and rediscover their power and beauty.

This is not what we fought for!

“It was the best of times it was the worst of times” these words best describe 21 Oct 2015 for me. On this day I had the privilege, and I mean privilege, of being with the protesting students #rhodesmustfall outside the South African parliament. They were amazing, very organised, using technology to the max (many businesses could be so much more efficient if they spent some time with them) and tremendously sharp clear thinking and light.

They were also very disciplined it was interesting to watch how, in spite of hours of provocation by police, trying to get them to respond violently they did not.  At one point 4 SAPS vans drove through the group of 200 students.  As one student said, the most ‘violent’ they were was throwing water and empty plastic water bottles at the parliament. It did not last long either. This is an intelligent and not militant crowd.  Clearly they understand what it means to work smarter not harder!  When later the students felt threatened by SAPS just before they were shot at, some wanted to run and others urged for calm simply using arm gestures and the crowd calmed down. 

There is no one leader, they are a collective leadership model using good judgement, trust and clear communication. I saw lots of quick consulting as decisions were made.  The spirit of tolerance and inclusivity in the group is phenomenal and what we dreamt of back in the day – LGBTI, straight, white, black all working together in unison and making things work! These children are amazing and I have one just like them too, she is born in 1992, with similar qualities.  Their focus is solid and there is no room for hijackers, they were open and warm because we were there to support them. I felt like I was seeing a different variety of human being!  They are inspiring, though fat cats gripped in fear do not agree with me.

The assault shown in the media, took place as the students and the rest of us were moving toward busses and the train station. They had blocked Plein Street which was the shortest route to the station.  So we all moved along the route the police designed by blocking off roads and thus ushering us into Roeland Street and the rush hour traffic. We had left the riot police behind us, standing in front of parliament.  Suddenly they were at the intersection at Buitekant Street and pushed the crowd further along Roeland then announced you have “60 seconds to walk away”. A statement that made no sense when we were actually busy walking away!  The students were now standing with hands in the air facing the police. They then shot and attacked students in the full view of the rush traffic.  Students were beaten and shot at and some arrested.  Rights were further violated when the SAPS decided to keep them in the Hippos and not take them to the police station.  I assisted one student via telephone who was having a panic attack in the van.  When they were released around midnight to cheers and singing one was crying uncontrollably another, shook uncontrollably. 

If you think this is poorly written it’s because I am still reeling 2 days later.  After a few minutes after hearing the first gunshot, I felt like crying and I thought, I have seen this before, this is 1985 all over again, this is not what we fought for!  

#rhodesmustfall #feesmustfall #nationalshutdown

Do no harm

Today I met with an associate to explore possibilities of working together.  He mentioned that people often have blockages and hesitate to work with certain groups or people and the limitations of such thinking. I considered the question and realised that I am willing to work with anyone as long as we do no harm. 

These 3 simple words have guided me in many things. I am a vegetarian as a result of the harm being done to animals and I let this principle inform my actions daily and endeavour to help instead.

A key value for how HOUSTON INITIATIVES does business: do no harm