Business Leadership

TONY FROST

At the Beginning of the Year

The new year is the time to look forward. It is a time to commit to making positive change happen. It is also a time to mend broken fences; patch up uncomfortable relationships; and determine to make the piece of the world around us the best that it can possibly be.

It is also time to put the past where it belongs: In the past. This does not mean that we should forget about any of the unhappinesses or atrocities of the past. It means that we should keep them clearly in view so that we can learn from all the difficulties, as well as the joys, we have lived through and use this wisdom to make a better job of the future. This approach is urgently needed. The world is in turmoil, it is engulfed in uncertainty, strife is around almost every corner, and people are struggling. This may sound like an unfixable scenario. Nothing could be further from the truth!

It is said that ‘charity begins at home.’ So does prosperity and well-being. No-one has become wealthy or healthy from sitting back and waiting for good fortune to strike. No. For things to change you must make the first change. It starts with the self. Not somewhere else. Or with someone else. It starts with me. It starts with my mind-set. It starts with my building positive strong and productive links with those around me. Not somewhere else. It is pie in the sky to think that if we do nothing, things will change. In short: It is up to us.

So, where to start?

We know we can do nothing about Eskom, or the war in Ukraine, or UK’s Brexit, or the ANC, or China’s Covid woes, or the classified documents saga in the US, or what they will discuss at the World Economic Forum in Davos, or the new appointments and dismissals in the South African cabinet. We know all this. We know we cannot do anything about anything we do not have direct control over. But we have a great deal of control over those things that are within reach of our personal power and sphere of influence and control. We must not underestimate the power we have to make change happen. A conflagration always starts with one small spark; a great river starts high in the mountains as a trickle. We, each of us, can be that spark, that little spring high in the mountain!

We can influence our impact on the environment by eating healthy, mainly plant-based diets that found himself reluctant to leave the security of his mentor’s employ. He summoned the courage to consult with Willie who reassured him that he had every confidence in his ability to set off on his own. focus on locally produced foods. We can avoid, re-use, recycle, and reduce our environmental footprint by doing so.

Mervin could at last launch M. J. September Painters in 2008. His mission was to share the sense of pride that comes with a freshly painted wall with every one of his clients. Since then M. J. Painters has given many homes, offices, warehouses and even restaurants a fresh start with a fresh coat of paint by offering nothing but the best service in Franschhoek.

Mervin September can be reached at 083 339 5981 for any queries or requests.

We can travel more by walking and cycling instead of driving, we can also make more use of public transport where its available. We should try to only fly when absolutely necessary and when there is no alternative.

We can reduce our water consumption quite easily.

We can volunteer at local schools to reduce the burden on teachers and to enrich the lives of the pupils.

We can volunteer our services to improve the skills of the unemployed and so improve their marketability.

We can hold our local councillors, members of provincial and national government to account.

We can blow the whistle on crime and corruption.

We can be law-abiding citizens.

We can love our neighbours and get to know them really well.

We can help to create safe, caring communities right where we are, just by reaching out.

We can, each of us, be shining lights for good in our circles of influence, amongst our friends, in our communities and at work.

Yes, we can be the spark the lights the big fire of positive change for good! tony@siroccostrategy.com young minds are inspired; where individual care and attention is combined with a distinctive, progressive education and where changemakers are equipped with skills for a world beyond our imagination. Bridge House is a leading independent, co-ed day and boarding school, situated in a beautiful, safe setting in the Franschhoek Valley.

An independent (IEB) Matric examination accepted by universities worldwide

· An excellent academic track record – 100% pass rate to date

· A wide variety of traditional team and individual sports and cultural activities

· Four, spacious, modern boarding houses for students from Grade 6 to 12

· Extensive facilities on 28 hectares of land

Open Day is any day you want it to be.

Contact Gill Malcolm gilmal@bridgehouse.org.za or +27 (0) 874 8100 for a bespoke tour of the school or an online interview with the Head. www.bridgehouse.org.za

with Santie Gouws Professional Mountain Walking Guide

You were working as an engineer before you became an accredited professional mountain walking guide. What motivated this change?

In 2020 I felt that I needed a break from the immense pressure of my work as a civil engineer so I pursued a new employment opportunity related to my passion for exploring nature. I have been an avid hiker since my student days and I have experience with both international and local trails. I therefore joined and completed a course to become a professional walking guide before registering with the Department of Tourism.

What is the process of becoming an accredited mountain walking guide?

I studied through a company named Venture Forth where I learnt that a mountain guide’s training and work focuses on risk management, learning a plethora of outdoor skills and how to administer at least level three first aid. The course also included lessons on how to compile an itinerary for your group which includes information on how long the hike would take, a rudimentary map of the hike and what type of terrain to expect. You emerge from that course as a professional who can offer a service as a guide on a commercial level. Are there any hikes that you really enjoy or that offered an unforgettable experience?

I had a life-changing experience while hiking

Poetic Licence

Have you ever felt like this?

There are Days

There are days when one should be able to pluck off one’s head like a dented or worn helmet, straight from the nape and collarbone (those crackling branches!) and place it firmly down in the bed of a flowing stream. Clear, clean, chill currents coursing and spuming through the sour and stale compartments of the brain, dimmed eardrums, bleared eyesockets, filmed tongue.

And then set it back again on the base of the shoulders: well tamped down, of course, the laved skin and mouth, the marble of the eyes rinsed and ready for love; for prophecy?

John Montague from the collection ‘There Are Days’ (Wake Forest University Press, 2001) I have certainly felt this way, as most of us have at one time or another.

In fact, the recent holiday period of Christmas and New Year was a perfect example of it. Not necessarily the occasion itself, which is usually hectic in its own way, but the fact that this was the culmination of a months-long interlude of frantic family changes and adjustments – much of which (such as the birth of our delightful new granddaughter in November) was uplifting and enjoyable, but some of which was simply exhausting.

Piton de la Fournaise, the second highest volcanic mountain on Réunion Island. I was caught a in torrential downpour between two rivers for a few days with limited food and a diminishing cellphone battery. Thankfully I finally made contact with someone when my battery was on one percent who relayed my location to a chopper rescue team! In South Africa, I would say the Jonkershoek hikes are my favourites just because of the dramatic backdrop of mountains and beautiful fynbos.

What is it about fynbos that is so special to you?

Perhaps I am biased after growing up in the somewhat ecologically barren mining town of Germiston, but the breathtaking beauty of the indigenous flora we have here at the southern tip of Africa is truly unique. Fynbos constitutes an unimaginable biodiversity and a new type of flower meets you after every step. What’s more, if you come back in a week a completely new arrangement of plants will be blooming in the same spot. I am utterly in love with fynbos and it is very, very special to me.

You have been active in research and conservation on the Blushing Bride. What is the Blushing Bride and how did this flower receive this moniker?

The Blushing Bride, or Serruria florida, is a beautiful species of Protea which likely gets its name from early courtship rituals in Franschhoek.

The most popular story goes that it was tradition for young farmers to stick this flower in their lapel when they were about to propose to their partners. The flower would convey their intentions which caused their potential fiancé to flush pink with embarrassment when the lad approached. Nowadays several farmers cultivate and sell this Protea to various stores and florists across the country, which is lovely.

I wasn’t alone in this, of course – we were all worn out and reeling. By early January, my head was spinning so fast that I’d have had to catch it first before being able to “place it firmly down/ in the bed of a flowing stream’ to cool off and recover!

But, as the American-born Irish poet John Montague indicates here, even the most chaotic of times soon end, leaving us “rinsed and ready/ for love”. This set me musing, as one is wont to do at the start of a new year, about what success in life really is, what we want out of it and how we can know when we’ve achieved it. Do we sometimes spend so much time ‘chasing our tails’ that we lose sight of more important things?

And I remembered this poem by Canadian poet and novelist Margaret Atwood:

The Moment

The moment when, after many years of hard work and a long voyage, you stand in the centre of your room, house, half-acre, square mile, island, country, knowing at last how you got there, and say, I own this, is the same moment the trees unloose their soft arms from around you, the birds take back their language, the cliffs fissure and collapse, the air moves back from you like a wave and you can’t breathe.

No, they whisper. You own nothing. You were a visitor, time after time climbing the hill, planting the flag, proclaiming. We never belonged to you. You never found us.

It was always the other way round.

Margaret Atwood from the collection ‘Eating Fire ‘(Virago, 1998)

Perhaps this kind of recognition – that we “own nothing” – if and when it comes, is what we each need in order to experience the “clear, clean, chill currents/ coursing and spuming through/ the sour and stale compartments/ of the brain”.

I wish you all refreshment, love – and prophecy?

What is the significance of the Blushing Bride to Franschhoek’s identity?

I adored the Blushing Bride since my student days so you can imagine my delight when I stumbled across them growing in the valley on a hike through Assegaaiboskloof. Unbeknownst to me, I had just found the only place on our entire planet where these proteas grow naturally in the wild. I have tried to find them during other hikes around the Western Cape but it is only here, in this valley, where they grow in nature. This flower is literally endemic to Franschhoek.

Do you use any specific strategies in the conservation of this unique flower?

During one of my visits to the Brides I noticed invasive species such as Black wattle, Stink Bean and Canary Island Pine Trees growing in abundance amidst the Proteas. I therefore consulted experts such as Dr Tony Rebelo at iNaturalist on how I can initiate a campaign to weed out these invasive plants. So I lobbied on WhatsApp, Facebook and other platforms for volunteers to hack out and saw off these alien plants. After two ‘Invasive Alien Hacks’ we have made truly excellent progress in certain areas thanks to numerous volunteers who have contributed their time.

How would you encourage anyone to get involved in the project?

Just as much as volunteers are needed to physically hack out invasive plants, the preservation of the Blushing Brides will benefit immensely from anyone who would like to contribute their skills in organisation, administration and raising funds. Lobbying for volunteers, composing project plans and applying for permits is a labour-intensive process that would be managed more effectively if driven by a team of people. At the moment it is just me that runs the project from the admin side