on
tour
South Africa 2023
In 2023 I did my second trip to South Africa. Only one year before, at the end of 2022, I had traveled there for the first time with the clear mission to start my inquiry on the trustworthiness of human kind where our species originates from.
Neither had I planed to be there again so fast nor seemed it possible. But by the time coming it felt really important to follow the pending invitation of my dear friend Nomonde to join the annual memorial lecture for her husband Fort Calata. So I went.
Many other beautiful things became possible by accepting Nomonde Calatas invitation. Not only was I able to reconnect with some people that I had met in the year before to continue our common exploration.
I also got to know many more courageous people that I would like to spread the word about. A South African community starts to form and even the first international integrity HUB is about to open its doors.
The Cradock Four
Nomonde Calata & her family
Since 2021 The Fort Calata Foundation invites the public to an annual memorial lecture. The family of Fort Calata is committed to carry on the legacy of their beloved husband and father who was murdered in June 1985 because of standing-up together with three other young fellows for their community in confronting the system of Apartheid.
“The Cradock 4” wrote history. And they left behind their young families. In 2023 it was clearly time to give their voices a stage and to honour their life paths. In joining the lecture I had the privilege to listen to “The wisdom of the political widows”. The gathering at the Memorial Site in Cradock was devoted to witness and listening: How did they move on from that loss that changed their lives so dramatically? What did they learn and what do they want us to know for the time we are all in today?
It was an honour for me to be with the family and to witness Nomondes sharing as both, a friend and a representative of Integrity For Future.
Who do we want to be as humanity? What are the deeper values we would like to build our future communities on? These are big questions that don’t want to be answered strict & straight. They are an invitation for an ongoing deeper exchange amongst us. We need the warmth of these conversations to meet in our very individual stories of pain and hope, loss and grace.
The work of the Fort Calata Foundation in Cradock, Eastern Cape South Africa, seeks to nourish this kind of exchange. This is where Integrity For Future and the Calata family deeply meet.
Jenny & Wild Spirit
home to the 1st integrity HUB abroad
I remember the morning after our first co-hosted event at the Wild Spirit Lodge. Jenny, the owner and founder of this beautiful place, had spontaneously invited me to offer a soul talk on integrity for both, staff members and visitors of her backpackers located in the midst of a lush forest in Natures Valley.
Jenny and I walked along the beach, shifting from our reflections on the world to moments of silence and back, when she suddenly stopped to look at me and ask me what she could do to support the initiative and how she could continue with the conversation that had just started at her place the night before. A wave of joy went through my body about this clear and very hands on intention. The concept for the possible emergence of integrity HUBs every where in the world had just landed with the first pop-up prototype in my home town Staufen in 2022. Who could be a better host for the first one abroad if not Jenny?
Integrity HUBs are build around the interview questions. They give space for an exchange beyond “teaching”. Integrity is an intimate thing that wants to be explored in communing. The host must be someone who is able to provide that space in full service to what wants to emerge. I trustfully gave my questions to Jenny and her team at Wild Spirit Lodge where you can now go to experience them with other world travellers.
Kind by nature
Conway and kindred spirits
It was pure outburst of joy when I accidentally run into my good friend Conway in the Capetown city center … Conway Lotter is a devoted and gifted community nourisher. When I met him for the first time he ran a community center in Fishoek. We had a long exchange on integrity and about the driving forces behind our social engagements. Now Conway has moved on. He founded Kind By Nature, an initiative that seeks to connect labour work, community needs and a sponsor in a deeply relational way which is clearly mirrored in his claim “we don’t build for you, we built with you.” Curious about his approach? Just get in touch with this beautiful soul.
Talking about old friends and new economy I would also like to share my encounter with Ntuthu. She devoted her life to beauty welcoming warmly the guests in the Kalk Bay placed shop Soul Design.
In sharing with me a story which involved the reading of the bible passage on Saulus’ conversation to Paulus she was on the core of my actual thoughts about a sustainable funding for the initiative.
And for sure, I also met new people being on the road. You can listen to Kali Satyagraha Widds spontaneous reflection on integrity below.
Integrity For Future on tour | South Africa – Kali
The Center
community talks around integrity
Analogue to last years event in Plettenberg Bay I had the precious chance to offer an integrity talk for a community. This time it was hosted by The Center – home for heart & soul in Noordhoek. half way between Capetown and Cape of Good Hope. It lives from the warmth and hospitality of its manager Amy. In our community talks we always start with a map of basics what it means to be a human being. With Dannie, Mirjam and Chris three very skilled and conscious people contributed to a rich exchange on the conditions for our broken trust to heal. Listening, giving space, being able to sit with the discomfort, a cultural yes to failure and to a journey of mutual learning were some of the pearls we collected.
What has been revealed?
a community rising
The resonance on the pathway that the initiative proposes was so high that I decided to offer a space for the people who would like to embark for a journey together.
A community, also nourished by the exchange with the people being active with the work of Warm Data, starts to form organically. We are about to get to know each other in learning about our activities and listening to our stories. A listing of peoples projects and activities will be started and kept up to date at the bottom of this page.
Reach out if you would like to join us! And never forget …
treasure box
Fellows projects & initiatives
A list of our South African fellows projects & initiatives will be coming soon.
Happy weaving, communing and co-creating.