Connecting with nature is essential to help us heal ourselves and the planet.
This was one of the many messages that the Lotus Princess Guardians took away from the  3rd Edition of the Tounché Global Consciousness Summit in Tulbagh on November 30. The word tounché (Pronounced /toon-shei/) means shift in the Yorouba language of Benin & Nigeria. The project aims to forge deep connections around the world to create an international community that can manifest healing and change. 
The Princess Vlei Forum was invited to send young nature-lovers to the international summit. Six learners and one teacher assistant from Lotus High went to the event, with two other Forum members and Priscilla de Wet, a Khoi cultural activist and teacher from Primrose Park Primary.
The summit aimed to offer participants an opportunity to interact with and learn from top healers, activists and facilitators who shared wisdom and real-world experiences, aimed at restoring the harmony between humanity and nature. Attending the event were a mixture of international thought-leaders, wisdom keepers, global experts, spiritual visionaries, healers, storytellers and meditation teachers representing the diversity of the African diaspora and the world, as well as several members from local NGO’s.

'​It was a day of new experiences for the Lotus Learners. As Nicole Anthony remarked,  ‘There are so many people involved and I didn’t even know that there are so many things  that the people are doing… it’s actually a big thing, how you can connect with nature…’
The program opened with an interview with Simon Jongenotter, originally from THE Netherlands but now the Chef/co-creator of Zest Ubud, the food at Bali Silent Retreat, food forest custodian and founder of the New Earth Cooking School. All the Lotus Learners were very inspired by his philosophy. In the words of teacher assistant Curtley Fortuin,  ‘I enjoyed Simon’s speech about how he would collect everyone in his work place and make them all happy, and see if someone is sad, or someone is angry, and then everybody help that person in the workplace, and that really was interesting because a lot of  bosses  won’t take that interest in a worker … “
Curtley was also inspired by Simon’s  message to connect with your inner child. ‘when Simon was talking about finding your inner self, your little wild child self, because that child was free, and that child didn’t care about what anyone else thinks Because now that we are grown up, we always think about what other people think … that’s why if we find our inner self we will be more free and carefree about anything and we will still be mature but we will be less worried about what other people might think 

​Simon’s talk was followed by a panel discussion with Annette Muller, an international model turned Green Witch; Portia Dianne Lee (USA), founder of DBA Day Seven Wellness Center, a non-profit wellness center focused on providing our global community with access to proven and practiced strategies helping to heal and contribute to the human collective’s overall emotional and spiritual wellbeing;  and  Melissa Bartholomew (USA)Racial justice and healing practitioner, Racial Justice Fellow at Harvard Divinity School (HDS), and an Instructor in Ministry at HDS, Doctoral candidate & part-time faculty at Boston College School of Social Work.
The panel spoke about the need to heal the inside and the outside, and to re-establish our connections with the earth and each other; and reflected on the deep woundedness inflicted on the natural and human world by colonialism and racial injustice. In the words of Portia Lee, ‘If a land has no collective atonement the trauma is still in the body and in the world. When something happens that trauma can be triggered.’ 

​After the Panel discussion, the group from the Princess Vlei Forum was invited to say a few words. Bridget Pitt spoke about the history of Princess Vlei, and the intersection of painful historical narratives rooted in the space, and the ways in which the Forum tried to use the space to bring healing to the community. Damica Fortuin said ‘I am a member of the princess Vlei Guardians, well I basically realised that people fail to recognise how we neglect nature, the guardians help to minimise pollution, we clean up the vlei, we plant.’
Nicole Anthony said, ‘Princess Vlei really showed me how important nature is and also drew me closer to nature, and helped me to accept nature… because not many people see what we see, in the way of how important nature is. So we try to get Princess Vlei to be how it was in the beginning and show the importance of the birds and animals at Princess Vlei. So we are the custodians of nature, and we are the guardians of Princess Vlei’s future.’
Curtley Fortuin reflected on his own journey, from a young boy who cared nothing about nature and would kill snakes for fun, to becoming a nature warrior. ‘In grade 8 I met an interesting teacher, Mr Isaacs, who drives us all and drives the school. I got punished, and he said I must go work in the garden  for two weeks, and that changed me. I saw two of the most interesting birds, I saw a pintailed wydah, and I thought, wow, this is different, because where I come from, we don’t see that, because I grew up in the kind of Ghetto area of Cape Town; and then I saw a Southern double collared sunbird and that was the most beautiful bird I’d ever seen. Then I was asked by an environmental organisation called CTEET to be an international ambassador for them because of the work I’d done at the school and the trees we’d planted in the community. They paid for my studies to go and study nature conservation. So now I love nature.’
People were very interested in the project, and particularly taken by our t-shirts.

​Next on the programme was a poem performed in isiXhosa by a member of the #Langaformen, a group dedicated to combating gender based violence by working with men and boys. This too had a very profound impact on the Lotus team. In the words of Damica Fortuin, ‘basically they were saying that they would never abuse women and women should be respected, so I think for us young girls, we should discuss how we should be treated, and we should respect ourselves, and see how men are supposed to treat us, and stand up if we see someone getting abused don’t just keep quiet.’
The morning ended with a healing session, lead by Silfath Pinto (Benin),  a mindset reprogramming and energy healing practitioner. Silfath also made a deep impression on the Lotus learners. Jody Maans spoke about how she enjoyed the breathing and movements. ‘There’s a lot of stuff to take in in our lives … and the stretches and stuff that she showed us, like the morning stretches, that’s how you release it.’
Jae-Lee Marthinus was touched by a technique to put your hands on your heart to shield it from harm. Reflecting on how she could take this knowledge into her life, she said, ‘if I get into and argument with my friends, I will just lay back and cover my heart with my hands.’

​After lunch, there was an interview with Gary Dourdan (USA), a highly acclaimed film and TV actor, artist and musician who turned his back on a celebrity life to reconnect with nature and his ancestors. Gary spoke about the need to cultivate lightness. Curtley Fortuin found his input extremely inspiring. ‘When Gary talked about how his daddy wasn’t rich or anything and then from a car wash his daddy became a multi millionaire and that really took me in because it shows you can do anything. I also loved Gary’s life story as well, and about how he still connects to his ancestors and still speaks to them and connects to them, and how he connects to earth. That also really inspires me.’
 
Gary’s interview was followed by a panel discussion with Catherine Constantinides (South Africa) International climate  and human rights activist, Archbishop Tutu African Oxford Fellow and Mandela Washington Fellow;  SARAH COLLINS (SOUTH Africa Inventor, CEO and equality innovator, Fortune Magazine’s Top 10 Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs, Oprah’s African Heroines, Fair Lady’s prestigious Woman of the Future Award and 2019 Forbes Africa’s top six wealth creators on the continent ; and  Thebe Ikalafeng (South Africa), Founder & CEO Brand Leadership Group, Founder & Chairman Brand Africa who has worked on over 100 brands across Africa, and has been to every country in Africa.

​Gary then delighted the group with a musical performance. Damica Fortuin said, I loved this one song that Gary was singing, called “God is a woman” … its basically showing that a woman is independent and a man actually needs a woman … a woman … she nurtures you and she feeds you so its basically showing that a man needs a woman to be successful. People think a woman is weaker than a man but women actually have the real strength.’ 

Speaking afterwards, the Lotus learners reflected on the message of the need to connect with nature, not only to save planet from environmental destruction, but to save ourselves from mental distress and depression. Nicole Anthony said, 'we need to connect with nature  by planting more plants will make you more connected because now that you have planted this plant you are going to look after it because you planted it so that actually means a lot to you ... you put it into the ground to be part of nature … and cleaning up because, the dirt and stuff, nature don’t want that and we don’t want that for nature; and we can connect by talking to  to people about nature, give them advice and tell them what nature has done for you … so that they can also connect to nature and see the importance of it …and just sitting there and looking at the plants.”
 
Curtley reflected that connecting with nature can get more difficult when you get older. “It’s very funny also how when you’re younger you connect more with nature even though you don’t know anything about nature but when you grow older you start to disconnect with nature even though you know so much more about nature… you want to connect, but you don’t have that connection you had when you were younger and you didn’t know what nature does for everything … so that is really interesting.
 
He felt that people can connect with nature from the inside by learning about and ingesting healing plants, rather than turning to drugs to make you feel better.  

The day certainly brought many shifts these learners, and to all of the Princess Vlei team. We would like to thank the organisers and sponsors for giving our young nature guardians this remarkable opportunity. Read more about the event and the project here: https://www.tounche.com/south-africa-20

Princess Vlei has long been home to hundreds of Western leopard toads every year – but there was some unusual toad activity there in the past few days.
On November 28, forty children from Levana Primary and Primrose Primary stepped into the toad’s flippers and explored Princess Vlei from the perspective of a toad. 

The learners spent some time learning about  the life cycle of the toad, and discussing what kind of habitat toads need to  be happy and healthy and breed successfully. Learners discussed what belonged in a toad habitat. It was agreed that snakes belonged, but plastic pollution did not. Both are harmful to toads, but snakes are part of the eco-system and help to create the habitat that benefits the toads. For example, the snakes eat the moles, which helps the fynbos, and the fynbos attract pollinating insects which provide food for the toads. Children also learned why the western leopard toad is now endangered, as a result of habitat loss, domestic pets and being run over when they are crossing roads to return to their breeding sites.
Learners then explored the vlei from the perspective of a toad looking for a good breeding site. 
A highlight of the day was the opportunity to explore the vlei from the water as well as from the land. This was thanks to Andrew and team from Gravity Adventures, who taught the children how to manage a canoe, and provided boats for the children to experience the water themselves. For many, this was their first time in a boat. They were nervous, but exhilarated by the experience.
Afterwards, some learners were so inspired by the life of a toad that they decided to take to the water themselves. 
​

​A  few days later, the Primrose Park learners returned to explore the life of a toad through art. They created wonderful toads from clay – each one with a great personality. They painted plates to create a habitat for their clay toads, and were careful to include everything a toad might need such as a water plants to hide their tadpoles from predators, and tasty dragon flies and other insects.
Thanks to this experience, we have forty new toad guardians who understand how and why to protect these wonderful creatures. 

​What came first - the pollinators or the plants?
We did not manage to answer this question at the Princess and the Pollinator event on 26 November – but the children of Buck Road Primary  made some wonderful discoveries about pollinators at Princess Vlei.
Armed with charts to help them identify flowers and pollinators, the Grade 5 learners spend an afternoon closely examining and recording pollinator activity on the fynbos that has been planted by school children in the past few years. 

​They discovered many pollinators busy gathering pollen or nectar, and helping the plants along the way. These included monkey beetles foraging in the vygies, butterflies, flies, ants, spiders, other beetles and sunbirds.
Keeping track of pollinator activity helps us to measure the health of the ecosystem at Princess Vlei. There can be no doubt that the Eastern shore of the vlei is unrecognisable from the sandy wasteland that was there five years ago.  This is a wonderful testimony of the hard work done to rehabilitate the area, much of it done by school children. 

​Collecting data about pollinators teaches the children valuable skills, gets them excited and absorbed, and helps us monitor the plants. The Princess is flourishing, thanks to the help of her pollinators and human friends.  

“This is the Great Sky Goddess.  She protects all the creatures of the sky such as sea birds, wetland birds, and flying insects. At Princess Vlei the Goddess protects wetland birds such as the Grey Heron, the African Fish Eagle and the weaver. We can help the Godess by minimizing air pollution and taking care of flying creatures.
   This is how Damica Fortuin (16)  from Lotus High introduced one of the Nature Guardian figures installed at Princess Vlei on Saturday 21 September.
     The installation was part of the Flight of Dreams Parade, which is held each year to create awareness of and to celebrate the wildlife at Princess Vlei, and to showcase the artistic talents of our youth.

    Due to the rain, the parade did not go through the streets this year ­- instead a shorter parade was held on Princess Vlei itself. However, this did not dampen the spirits of the 200 children who turned out to take part.  They were keen to showcase the Nature guardians, totem poles and puppets they had been making throughout the year, as part of the Forum’s work in using the Princess Vlei to instil a passion for nature amongst local youth.
     Also featured on the parade were young members of the Jungle Theatre Company’s drama club and the fabulous creations of eMzantsi Carnival. eMzantsi’s Blokka band provided a lively beat for the paraders.

The three nature guardians were created from natural biodegradable materials, and have been installed at Princess Vlei to remind us of our work as humans to care for the environment. The eland, introduced by 12 year old Julius Bolligelo from Harmony Primary, represents the earth plants and creatures, and the spirit of the animals that have been displaced by humans It helps to keep nature in balance. Speaking of the Water Guardian, Nicole Anthony (17) from Lotus High said, “This is the Fish guardian, guardian of all creatures of the sea and the water. At Princess Vlei it looks after the fish and wetland birds. We can help it by keeping the waters and the ocean free of pollution.”
   Children tied cloth around the poles to symbolize their promise to care for the planet. Xavier Anders and two other learners read out intentions written by Primrose Park Primary learners. They pledged to pick up littering, and keep wild creatures form harm and other pledges. The pledges which were written on sticks were suspended from nearby branches.
    The high poles are aimed at providing perches for raptors, as Princess Vlei has no tall trees. They have been placed in the semicircle of trees which were planted on 9 August in honour of strong women and our indigenous mothers.

After the parade, participants took shelter from the rain at the Jolly Carp, where they enjoyed a rap performance from Quan Michaels (16) from Grassdale High, who is a member of Heal the Hood; spectacular cultural dancing from the young Khayalitsha based 7784 Performers, and a play called the Mantis and the Bee by the JTC. This recounted a traditional Khoe creation myth, and reminded the audience of the need to care for the earth. The afternoon ended on a high note with performance by Emile Jansen and Mixed Mense.
     The event formed part of the African Climate Alliance’s week of Positive Action. Princess Vlei Forum supports the ACA’s work in urging government and business to take urgent and effective action to mitigate and limit the devastating impacts of climate change.

Special Thanks to the Hans Hoheisen Charitable Trust for funding our rehabilitation and educational work at Princess Vlei; to Brent for so generously donating his time and sound equipment, which greatly cheered up the grey skies;  to the Jolly Carp team for taking us in out of the rain; to Sarah Oliver for taking the pics and to Siraaj Roomaney for donating juice. Thanks also to our organizing partners PCAC; eMzantsi and Jungle Theatre Company, especially Fabian from PCAC for late nights stitching Guardians; to all the Forum team, and to our amazing community of learners and teachers.

My name is wood fairie. I look after the woods and mother earth forest...
     This was one of the many nature guardians created by local school learners at Princess Vlei in the last few weeks.
       Learners from Levana Primary, Primrose Park Primary and Lotus High came to Princess Vlei to create the guardians: symbolic figures to express the children’s commitment to caring for nature and wild creatures. 
      The learners first explored Princess Vlei to observe what animals were living there, and to discuss what dangers threatened them, and what they needed to keep safe. Learners also gathered found natural material such as sticks, leaves and feathers. Our young naturalists were particularly inspired by a large crab spotted on the banks of the southern outlet canal.

The learners then used their natural materials to create small guardian figures to keep the wildlife safe at Princess Vlei.

Two weeks later, the children gathered at Lotus High school to begin work on large guardian figures. These large biodegradable figures will be installed at Princess Vlei at our annual Flight of Dreams parade on Saturday, September 21. Learners will be invited to inscribe their intentions on how to care for nature on wooden sticks to be incorporated into the guardian figures.

Several generations of strong women came together to Princess Vlei on August 9 to plant trees and to honour our women heroes, past and present.
The event was organized by the Princess Vlei Forum in celebration of National Women’s Day and the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. About 80 women from local communities came together to plant 30 indigenous trees, donated to Princess Vlei.
    The Princess Vlei has long been associated with women and the indigenous people, as expressed in the legend of the Princess. This is the story of a KhoeKhoe woman who was violated by Portuguese sailors from the d’Almeida party, in 1509. Her tears formed the vlei.
   Mary Jansen, a longstanding community and cultural activist was the MC for the event, and was presented with a book to honour her contribution to the fight for social justice and for the recognition of indigenous people’s rights.  Jansen is a Chief in the Cochoqua Tribal House.
Emma Oliver opened with a prayer, giving thanks for the women ‘of the past days who inspire us with their courageous lives’.

    The first tree planted was in honour of the unnamed Princess of Princess Vlei. This tree is a sapling of the ‘Treaty Tree’ ­- a 500 year old Milkwood still growing in Woodstock.  A battle between the KhoeKhoe and the Portuguese sailors under De Almeida  took place near by the tree in 1509 -  64 sailors were killed. Later slaves were sold under the tree, and the Blaauwberg Treaty granting the Cape to the British was signed there in 1806. The sapling was donated to Princess Vlei by fynbos consultant Alex Lansdowne.
    Princess Chantal Revell planted a tree in honour of Sarah Baartman, the KhoeKhoe women who was taken to England in 1810 and suffered horrific abuse, including being paraded as a spectacle in public. Revell described a recording of Baartman’s voice, in which she said, ‘Ek wil huis toe gaan’. She died aged 26 in France, but her body was kept and dissected. Her remains were finally returned to South Africa for a dignified burial in 2002.
   Tanyan Gradwell, an indigenous revivalist and social activist, planted a tree in honour of Krotoa. Krotoa was taken to the castle by Jan van Riebeeck as a young girl, and suffered abuse at the hands of the Dutch. She learnt Dutch and worked as a translator in negotiations with the KhoeKhoe. She later married and had children, but after a short, traumatic life died of alcoholism.
Gradwell spoke about the injustices suffered by the Cape’s indigenous people, which are still continuing. She read out a poem she had written to Krotoa, asking ‘There are so many truth and lies, do you know that your children have been marginalized…?‘

    Mary Jansen planted a tree in honour of Zubeida Jaffer, a long time activist for social justice and women’s rights. Jaffer spoke about the importance of giving our daughters a positive message, of helping them to heal from the intergenerational trauma that has been handed down over the centuries. ‘We need to tell them every day how beautiful they are, and that they deserve to be treated with respect’.
    Several other members of group spoke about women they were honouring by planting trees. Amongst them was Cheryl Jacobs, whose parents ran a fruit and vegetable stall at the Princess Vlei for many decades; and Clarina de Freitas, who planted a tree in honour of the De Freitas women who sold fish near Princess Vlei for several generations. ‘Our slogan was that no-on should ever go hungry’
Charlene Houston spoke about her grandmother, Winifred le Shauls, who was brought from the Congo to South Africa as a child servant. 
   The Princess Vlei is an appropriate space to honour strong women, as it holds a memory and energy going back thousands of years. There is much trauma in that memory, but also growth, connection, healing and support. Trees remind us of the power of community, the strength of diversity, and the importance of roots, and the trees planted today will endure as beautiful living monuments to honour the indigenous peoples and strong women of this land.

While some might not know their weaver from their wader, some learners of three local primary schools are experts on birds found at Princess Vlei. And pretty fabulous artists too!
These learners, from Harmony Primary, Muhammedeyah Primary and  Lotus River Primary had the privilege of attending one of Alice Ashwell's spectacular and informative interactive bird workshop during the second term this year. The workshops form part of the Princess Vlei Forum's annual Flight of Dreams Project, to raise awareness of the birds and other wildlife at Princess Vlei.
Below are Alice's comments on the workshops.

“Today, we are planting wolves”

This was the message from restoration consultant Alex Lansdowne at the Princess Vlei Forum “Bringing life to the Princess” planting event on 11 June.
 
Speaking to the one hundred and twenty children who had gathered to help with the planting, Alex explained that the difference between a cultivated plant in a garden and a wild plant is like the difference between a dog and a wolf.
 
“There used to be a community of about 500 different plants, and the work that we are doing, and you guys are helping us is real conservation work. You guys are helping to bring the habitat back…. The City of Cape Town has the most biodiversity of any city in the world, and you are helping to conserve that.”
 
The children came from Claremont High, Lotus High, Buck Rd Primary, Kannemeyer Primary, and Levana Primary. There were also a group of home schooled learners. The children enthusiastically followed Alex’s instructions to put more than 700 plants in the ground. Each child wrote their name on a stick to plant with the plants, and was given a thank you letter with colour photo cards of each species that was planted.

The planting was part of the Forum’s environmental education programme, but also an important part of a five-year restoration plant to revive the indigenous fynbos in the area. Lansdowne was contracted by the Forum to draw up the plan.
 
The schools planting event followed a community planting event in May. Between these two events

• More than doubled the area of habitat under active restoration from 699m2 to 2341m2.
• A total of 1025 plant units, and 16 trays were planted.
• 7Kgs of mixed seed were broadcast in the 2019 restoration areas.
• 26 species were planted or broadcast, of which 4 are on the RedList of endangered species.

The forum would like to thank Elzanne Singels and  CTEET volunteers, Nondumiso Myataza. Tevya Lotriet, Princess Mfekayi and Wanda Tshangela for their assistance, as well as all the learners and their teachers for making this a great afternoon. Thanks also to the Hans Hoheisen Charitable Trust, managed by Nedbank Private Wealth, for funding our education programme and restoration work.
 

These were the instructions given to some young time travellers visiting Princess Vlei from the year 2219.  The visitors had come from a future where there were no birds or bugs. A world full of sounds - bleeps,  sirens,  robotic voices,  and machinery. But not a twitter, nor a chirp, nor a buzz could be heard, where all greenery had disappeared under concrete, and all rivers and vleis were swallowed by plastic  waste.  
     Forty time travellers, from Buck Road Primary, Harmony Primary, Floreat Primary and Levana Primary schools, were greeted by a Spirit Guide (Denisha Anand), who told them how the vlei had once looked in the time of the first humans who lived there, and how those humans lived harmoniously with the plants and animals. 
     Then the time travellers went out wearing with face masks to ensure that they did not catch virues from the past or pass on any viruses from the future. They carefully observed the birds and insects to see how they lived, what they need, and what might threaten them.  They were guided by the Time Lords, (who were sometimes their teachers).

When the time machine was ready to leave, the Chief Time Lord, Brendon Bussy, blew a horn to warn the children that the portal was closing, and they had to run to get back or risk being stuck in 2019.
 
Back in the time machine, the time travelers reported on their findings and shared their pictures and maps. They all agreed that birds and insects are awesome, but there are many things threatening them, in particular pollution. Here are some of their observations:
 
“Birds have feathers to keep them warm, they travel to different places, this is what we call migration. They use their beaks to get the nectar out, because unlike humans they can’t use their hands.”
 
“We want to make people aware that they shouldn’t pollute these areas because it is hurting the birds and insects.”
 
“We found that birds are in danger because humans don’t really care, they just care about technology and that and don’t really take care of nature … Nature don’t need us, we need nature. And there is lots of pollution and the wetlands are their habitat and then some people … want to clear the wetlands for farming or to build houses.”