commUnity

We think these ideas are great. 

What are you doing to create unity in commUnity - please share, we'd love to hear! 

chicken coop progress

This month has been the coldest of winter so far. Whilst we haven't had much snow in Hogsback itself, there is snow on the Hogs and Gaika's Kop, which calls for icy air and rather cold fingers!

Gaikas Kop 

Nevertheless, we are enjoying the season and slowly but surely things are plodding along. Our chicken coop is looking good and just about ready for the brood boxes, which the children are eager to help build. 

From this...

... to this... 

We are just about ready to start building the brood boxes. The idea is to have the chicken coop alongside a small nursery. The chickens will keep the nursery warm and the little chooks will help with pest control. We are also looking into chicken assisted composting. 

We can't wait to get our first batch of chickens! I would love to get some ex-battery hens, simply to show them that life can indeed be grand. 

We'd love to hear about your chicken rearing experiences - visit us over at Facebook and let us know :)

the really really free market

From the US.... 

.... to Australia...

...to Muizenberg in good ol' Z.A...

The Really Really Free Market concept is growing wings and taking off.

In fact the next one is taking place in 1 WEEK from now 

on July 14th in Muizenberg, Cape Town! 

Check it out here and if you are in Cape Town 

GET DOWN THERE because there really is such a thing as a free lunch ;

And if you are anything like me and cannot be there, why not start your own Really Really Free Market?
I think this is a great way to enhance unity in community and can't wait to have our very first Really Really Free Market here in Hogsback :-)

Here are some pics of Really Really Free Markets past - who wouldn't want to get involved? 

mending clothes and sharing goods and services

fixing bicycles

a vision: skills development through recycling

After spending time with some of the local children in my neighbourhood, I have come to learn that there isn't much for the youth to do during school holidays - and even on weekends. I mean let's put it into perspective here:

You are around 13 years old; self-conscious, hungry for acceptance and recognition - craaaaaving something to stimulate your drive for mastering something exciting.... aaaaaaaaaand you live over 200km away from the nearest movie theatre. These kids are some of the most inventive I have seen; making the most innovative toys with discarded and found items: a bicycle wheel, some wire, a stick and a pair of running feet!

I would LOVE to offer the Heart Space Studio to the children of Hogsback on a regular basis for the purpose of giving them the opportunity to explore, expand and express their creative talents.

Noah, Thembalethu, Simamkele, Asabulela, Sinonuyo, Simbulele, Tatum, Lakayla
(not pictured: Siphamandla, Anelisa, Abongile, Avisiwe, Amier and Amber)

Since we have a recycling centre, I would like to focus on crafting skills that make use of upcycling and giving things a second life - things these children are good at because that is life on The Mountain :-)

The Heart Space Recycling Centre

Amber's upcycled tin to bird feeder :)

Noah and Tatum with their toilet roll bird feeders :-)

In order for me to realise this dream of sharing heart and space with these children, and offering them the chance to learn new crafts and skills, I need to be able to keep up a supply of craft materials and tools for them to use, you know, the usual: paints and brushes, glues and scissors, wax crayons, pencil crayons, chalk, aprons....  and this is where I need your help!

The space is ready and waiting, with tools and supplies to get started.... now we need your support
to help us grow until we become self-sufficient.

How you can support us: 

Share the love with word of mouth. Scroll to the bottom of this post and hit the Facebook button to share this page with your Facebook friends. The more who know, the merrier :)

If you would like to donate supplies or tools please feel free to email me and we can discuss logistics. 

If you would like to make a monetary donation, please visit this page for more information.

And remember to come back to see what we have been up to! 

hearts, hands and cake at Crabbush Primary

The journey of the Live Your Best Life cake continues! Yesterday we went with some of the MylifE team to Crabbush Primary School in Hogsback, where the principal and some of his dedicated staff and children attended the celebration during the school holidays.

The children of Crabbush Primary eagerly awaiting the arrival of the cake

It was a blessing to be able to share this cake with these children at this time because it allowed us to officially dedicate the collective energy of MylifE and Heart Space Hogsback to the school with some added beauty and thanksgiving. 

While the staff of the school are beyond dedicated (some working without pay for months) the school is in need of assistance. The blessing is that pro-active individuals and groups within the Hogsback community have responded to their needs and we will be joining forces with them to bring about even more positive change.

Linzi Thomas thanking the children of Crabbush  and explaining that MylifE and Heart Space will be spending lots more time with them, both at school and within the Hogsback community

Cutting the cake - making it official 

Receiving the cake - thank you Charly's Bakery!

... and thank you O Magazine, SA and MylifE!

It takes a village to raise a child - and we believe it takes a whole village to raise all of it's children. We will be spending time weekly with the children - reading, crafting and learning to "teta". We will also be lending our hearts and hands to maintenance and beautification initiatives while continuing to initiating programs and projects to enhance skills development, food production, recycling and community integration.

Crabbush Primary School has three classrooms to house all seven grades.
The pre-school, which caters to children between 0-6 have a separate container classroom. 

We are looking forward to sharing time and space with the children of Crabbush and getting to know the teachers better. I have the deepest respect for each of them and appreciate the opportunity to learn from them and be of service. 

If you are interested in offering your time, skills and energy to Crabbush School, or if you would like to make a donation to the upliftment of the school, please feel free to email me - thank you for being the change!

With Love,

Shireen

living the best life

It's wonderful to bear witness to the celebration of kindness and this story is a glimpse of just that.

O, The Oprah Magazine SA is doing a Live Your Best Life feature to celebrate 10 years of O Magazine in SA in their September 2012 issue. To commemorate the occasion they nominated Linzi Thomas, founder of The MyLifE Foundation to receive a designer cake, made by the creative ladies over at Charly's Bakery in Cape Town. The MyLifE Foundation is also celebrating their 10th year - and what a ten years it has been!

Happy 10th Birthday!

The creative team at Charly's adorned their 4-tier chocolate cake (which has the most decadent white chocolate icing hiding just beneath the silky pink marzipan) with hand crafted flowers and  cheerful scores of musical notes, winged birds and lyrics.

Phrases and words circle the tiers, inviting us to connect with the energies of O Magazine and MylifE's ethos as well as the many lives of challenged and now confident youth, touched by Linzi and MylifE - that now get to share this most delicious of cakes!  

You see, Linzi cannot do anything without "the children" coming into the equation. It is in her nature. (Ask Wesley, her son how often he has to remind his mom that there isn't any more space in the car to safely give anyone else a lift.) In Linzi's heart there is always space for one more.

As a result, this cake travelled with Wesley Thomas and Gary Wagenheim from Cape Town to Hogsback, Eastern Cape to be shared with as many of the local Hogsback children as possible.

Heart Space was there along with Jeff and Kate of Far and Wide to join in on the celebrations with the local children who had been invited to invite their friends to come and play. 

Thank You O Magazine and Charly's Bakery! 

from Heart Space and MylifE

and the bright youth of the Hogsback community

The cake continued it's journey to the nearby Forestry community in Plaaitjieskraal where it didn't take us long to find the local children...

... then through the village roads of Hogsback.....

... and there is still more cake! 

Come back to see more smiling children receiving a taste of what it feels like to Live YOUR Best Life.

Next stop: Tomorrow morning at Crabbush Primary School in Hogsback - who have kindly arranged to meet us during the school holidays.

In the meantime, pay it forward and go out and Live YOUR Best Life today... remember: senseless acts of beauty manifest as a beautiful world.