Lions have long held a special place in human minds. Around the world they’ve appeared in mythical and cultural lore reaching right back through the ages. From ancient Egypt and Turkey to Greece, Rome and India they are closely aligned with the Sun, and therefore are an archetypal symbol of light.
Lion King - Guardian of People
A miracle is happening in the settlement of Groenfontein, in the southern Cape of South Africa. Set against the backdrop of the forbidding Swartberg range, the courage of this small community is literally, and figuratively, climbing mountains.
Eleven years ago the Calitz family arrived with the intention of raising their young family in rural freshness. They soon realised that the reality of life for the people of the valley was completely out of synch with this dream. “Maid, Spade or Fade,” is how Erika Calitz describes the opportunities available for locals. Combined with the emotional legacy of apartheid these limitations rendered feelings of futility and inadequacy among the inhabitants. Dysfunctional behaviour flourished.
It all began with a boy named Alfonso.
Once in lock down, the inscrutable Diamond Coast is now open to tourism. What was hidden behind razor wire and security patrols it is now accessible to ordinary citizens. And what treasure it reveals!
Situated in a narrow strip known as the Strandveld, the Diamond Coast is host to many of the Succulent Karoo plant species – a global biodiversity hotspot.
The Succulent Karoo comprises 6,356 different plants, of which 40% are endemic. This in a harsh, arid environment, where one sheep requires 5,000 hectares of land to support it. The diversity is so extraordinary that you’ll find one species endemic to a small 100 square metre patch of earth.
The adaptations that all forms of life have made to survive in this harsh landscape are revelationary. The surprises take your breath away. For example, Euphorbia morantanica is a deciduous evergreen. Yes, that’s right it goes both ways! Losing its leaves in summer to reduce transpiration and retaining chlorophyll in its stem to continue photosynthesis. Or how about the Namaqua Dwarf Adder, the world’s smallest viper, that collects the fog rolling off the Atlantic Ocean on its scales to drink?
Sjoe, it sure was a buzz. This year’s Freewheeling Festival was completely different to last year’s. Or maybe it was just me, having moved on from the initial “Wow, this is so cool,” phase, to “Right, what can we do about it?”
The organisers confirm that the feedback this year was about more do, less listen. The youth groups put it well: “We’ve got the energy, you (oldies!) have the wisdom. Let’s work together to make the world a better place to live.” It gave me goosebumps to hear that.
And while creativity, personal development and wellness were well represented in the array of workshops, there were many more (it seemed to me) sessions that were about doing. The variety of presentations can be seen on their website and here’s a link to one that I particularly enjoyed, Martin Wigand’s, Future Money.
The beauty of Freewheeling is that it is inclusive. It recognises that people are drawn to different aspects of sustainability. As such the approach is holistic. In a world as fraught with the divisions and problems as the one we find ourselves in 2010, you can’t help but see hope in the Freewheeling ethos as a way forward for South Africa and the globe.
Yep, it sure is time. Ke Nako. The slogan of the FIFA World Cup applies just as well to Freewheeling. Let’s roll up those sleeves and do it. Now!
2010 is a significant year for Africa. The pride that the first time hosting of the FIFA world cup brings is tangible. “Ke Nako” is the refrain. It is Time – to be acknowledged, to be recognised, to take our place on the world stage.
What is less on our minds is the fact that 2010 has been declared as the United Nations International Year of Biodiversity. The rapid loss in biodiversity on the planet gave rise to this attention-getting intiative. Species extinctions are almost a daily occurrence, and they are only the ones we know about – there are many more, unknown to science or beneath the surface of our awareness that we remain ignorant of. The real scary part is that these extinctions are, in almost all cases, caused by human beings.
It is well known that a gauge of a healthy ecosystem is judged by its predators. The top feeders are a litmus test for everything underneath.
We now learn that the link between humans and nature is at the cutting edge of modern psychological study. As all indigenous people will tell you, when the environment is under threat they experience a profound feeling of spiritual disquietude, or dis-ease. This is now being recognised as a factor in modern psychoses and solastalgia is the term for this environmentally connected psychic distress. Read the rest of this entry »
I recently met a South African who’d spent some time living with the locals on the coast of Kenya at Malindi. He’s a keen spear fisherman and likes to take time out from his stressful job (that sends him to all corners of our continent) to spend time with other Africans.
While in Kenya he listened to the native drums, which asserted that all along the Swahili coast, fish stocks were on the increase.
The upsurge in Somali piracy has had an unintended benefit, fish numbers have started to revive, as fewer foreign trawlers are willing to risk East African waters.
What a difference to the usual consequence of African lawlessness, where plummeting numbers are the norm when the human wheels fall off (e.g. DRC and Zimbabwe).
The critical question, of course, is who is the plunderer?
Outsider (regional and foreign) rapaciousness is the killer. Sensible and controlled temperance is clearly a relief to natural resources and, by consequence, to the humans who rely directly upon them.
I can’t help but ask how Asians and Westerners would feel if Africans started stripping their natural resources. Would this be the moment, then, for Africa to take heed of the history lessons, and save the planet?