I began studying Zoology & Geography at the University of the Witwatersrand after leaving high school and, after taking a bit of the scenic route through my undergraduate degree, ended up with a BSc (Zoology & Psychology). I went on to graduate from the University of the Witwatersrand Business School with a Postgraduate Diploma in Management.
Working life started for me in 1996 in the wholesale building materials industry as a training and development practitioner. With the dot.com era about to come into its own, and having been seduced by the glowing phosphor of the computer screen, I managed to steer myself into the field of information technology by getting a job as a developer of computer-based multimedia training material and picked up a few pixel-pushing skills along the way. I mooched about for some time in this realm, partly as an employee of a multimedia company, partly as an independent contractor, and when the dot.com bubble started to show signs of unsustainable bulginess, I took refuge in formal employment at a large internet company as a project manager.
Here I skated perilously close to becoming a corporate slave, but fortunately, as the daily Dilbert cartoon and my time at work started to become remarkably indiscernible from each other, I began to ponder. With a growing interest in global matters and somewhat of an inkling of unease that all is not well, I enrolled for a part time MPhil (Sustainable Development Management and Planning) through the Sustainability Institute at the University of Stellenbosch in January 2003.
In April 2004, I took the plunge from the confines of corporate employment, and embarked on a month-long trip to rural Ghana to complete a design certificate in Permaculture. Upon my return, I made the decision to pursue a career in the field of my studies. I sold my suburban home, stopped driving the shiny little car that the bank tried to make me believe I owned and escaped both suburbia and corporate life in one fell swoop. After a brief experiment with inner city living, I bought a plot at Lynedoch EcoVillage and became its first inhabitant in an organic cottage built from clay, lime and thatch. After 3 years of ecovillage life, I decided it was time to locate myself in the beautiful Eastern Cape province of South Africa, spending time between East London, Port Elizabeth and Grahamstown and the enchanting hamlet of Bathurst.
I have not yet finished my MPhil, but have been ceremoniously (by way of a graduation ceremony) and temporarily ejected from the system with an honours level BPhil having completed all of the course work for the degree.
My current work involves sustainability research, writing and digital information services leveraging Open Source technologies in the renewable energy and sustainability sectors. Current clients include SESSA, REEEP Southern Africa, the Sustainability Institute, the International Labour Organisation and GTZ. Past clients have included AGAMA Energy, SA Cities Network among others.
I am also a part time musician and am fortunate enough to play drums and percussion quite regularly in the Port Alfred, Bathurst, Grahamstown area.
I am still totally seduced by information and communications technology and the unrivalled capacity it allows each one of us to tell our own story should we be so inclined. In this regard, this site affords me the opportunity to indulge.
