The book, Hand Spun Hope Making a Difference in Rural South Africa begins as…
I perch on the ancient rocks at the top edge of the Blyde River Canyon, looking out over the rough heights of the Drakensberg Mountains, the red-orange earth and the infinite shades of green in the bushveld below. All of my activity as a community developer over the last twelve years occurred within the wide view of this spot. The special thrum that is Africa vibrates within me.
The persistent hum happens when bugs, bees, crickets, birds and wind all join together to form a life force that vibrates with immense vitality. The sun is strong and the sky encircling me is bright and clear, a startling blue. A bateleur eagle glides by riding the currents of wind in this immense canyon, the third largest in the world, and unlike the other two a green canyon teeming with life. The rocks are ancient, some 200 million years old, a number so unimaginably big it blows my mind wide open. And, if I consider the rock art sprinkled on the walls of the caves in this range, the spirit of the native, hunter-gatherer San people joins my party of one on the rock. I need to be touched by this primordial canyon’s spacious wisdom to understand what really happened here in South Africa for me and for those with whom I worked.
Order the book: Hand Spun Hope
