We found another great voice from South Africa for you. His name is Mario Olckers and he is not your average kind of guy. He is a webdesigner / programmer (we met online of course;-),  and he is also fairly outspoken about political issues in his country. Mario lived for three years as a Buddhist monk in Myanmar (Birma). He belongs to the sometimes forgotten fraction of “colored” people in South Africa - belonging to neither other ethnic group.

Note:
We are using the term “colored” repeatedly in this article. South Africa’s old regime established this term for everyone that was not “black”, “white”, “indian” or “asian” during the segregation days of apartheid. We are trying to tell the story as it is an therefore decided to go ahead with this odd convention. Please learn more at this Wikipedia Article.

We are certainly not trying to hurt or offend anyone and thank you very much for your understanding.

Let’s move on to what Mario has to share with us: Read More…

Posted under Meeting South Africa

We would like to introduce you to Sarah Boden-Dawans. Sarah is the founder of Represent.co.za, a very resourceful lifestyle “blogazine” covering the arts, culture and technology scene in South Africa and abroad. Never heard of a blogazine before? Represent was coined a ‘blogazine’ as it is a hybrid between a blog and a magazine. 
In 2008 Sarah started Jova.co.za, an online community with a focus on creativity, culture, innovation, and social intelligence (often within an experiential marketing context)  in the digital and global era, that bridges South Africa with Europe and the world.

With so much understanding of the arts and cultural scene in South Africa we were of course very interested in having Sarah answer a few questions for us.

Beware: This is a long but real worthwhile read.

What led to the creation of Represent?
I had been back living in Johannesburg post a short stint in Europe, and during this time I was extremely motivated by the rapid societal, developmental and cultural changes I saw around me, particularly in my city of birth, Jozi (this is what we affectionately call Johannesburg). I have always been a kind of ‘conduit’ between different cultures and I found myself happily taking friends, family and visitors around to atypical places, promoting a multi-cultural and open-minded approach to living and loving in the transforming city. Read More…

Posted under Meeting South Africa

I am excited about the progress of South Africa Project so far. We just started and are still in the infant stage.

Regardless of that I’d like to share a few things that have happened so far:

1. We’ve had our first board meeting of Ubuntu Now last week (Ubuntu Now is the non-profit that runs South Africa Project). You can check out our directors here.
2. We are in the process of doing a ton of research. My wife Rashin has been digging out a ton of material and started to share links on an account at delicious.
3. We are hoping to finish all our paperwork for our 501(c)(3) filing this week. Unfortunately the IRS will take some time to grant us tax exempt status.
4. I also had a great meeting with Eugene Cho a few days ago. He is on an amazing path trying to make a difference. More people like him and we’d be all set in this world.
5. Our Facebook Group is at 88 members already and we haven’t even begun to promote it. Thanks Everyone to your support. We also started a fan page that you can join as well. I know that sounds a bit confusing (double whammy?) but Facebook allows us to be more interactive with our group page and the “fan page” has the advantage of better Google visibility.

What’s next?
I am excited about Archbishop Desmond Tutu coming to town as part of the Insight Speaker Series on October 22nd. He will be very busy in Denver but I am hoping to have a little personal exchange with him.

Before that I’ll be heading to BarCamp Africa on October 11th. It will be a great event to connect with like-minded people. After all we are in this together.

But before these two events we still have a ton of work to do:

• Making it easier to interact with us via our website (big no-brainer!)
• Creating the first small fundraising programs
• Reaching out to more local organizations in South Africa
• Reaching out to markers / agencies interested in cause marketing projects
• Finding therapists willing to contribute to the program development
• And so on and so on…

Bottom line:
The more I write the less time I have for what I should be doing now. Rest assured, our team will keep you posted about our progress and the connections we’ll make.

Posted under Everything Else, Meeting South Africa

This is the beginning of a series of interviews with bloggers from South Africa. SA Rocks covers a wide range of interests and serves as a great way to learn more about “New South Africa” .

The name SA Rocks serves as its mantra. Nicholas Haralambous makes sure his readers catch the many positive stories from South Africa. He represents what South Africa needs: People that believe in themselves and in their country, guys that will not take the easy route and pack it up.

SA Rocks became a leading blog in his home country in less than 2 years. You can also find Nic on Twitter at @nicharry or check out his personal blog at nicharalambous.com.

Nic has agreed to answer a few questions to fill us in about his intensions and to give us his local perspective. He has also agreed to serve as a guest blogger for South Africa Project when his busy schedule allows for it.

If you’re a South African blogger and would like to participate, please drop me a note via the contact form on this site!

Q1. What inspired you to start SA Rocks and what are you trying to accomplish?
SA Rocks was a kind of knee-jerk reaction to a very racist, negative and ignorant website that expat South Africans started. I read it, argued with the cowardly creators and then decided that I had to do something to counter their blatant lies. And SA Rocks was born.

I am trying to show the world and more importantly, South Africans that South Africa is a country to be incredibly proud of and passionate towards.

Q2. What was your initial reaction to South Africa Project - Time for Ubuntu?
I think it’s a fantastic idea. Ubuntu is one of the most precious, incredible and sacred African concepts. The idea that everyone is linked or connected is astounding. The concept that everyone’s humanity is only visible through the humanity of others blows me away. It’s about time the world learned what it truly means to be African and South African.

Q3. What are the biggest misconceptions about South Africa in your eyes?
One of the biggest misconceptions is that South Africa is a country on it’s newly found last legs. In fact South Africa is a proud, passionate and successful nation that is in its infancy. The world needs to know that only bigger and better things are coming out of SA! Read More…

Posted under Meeting South Africa