A Guest Post by the Beautiful Buyi

This guest post is by the beautiful Buyi. It gives great insight into some of the topics covered on one day of our week long adventure.

Photo collage by Buyi

Meet Buyi

Meaning of name: to be brought back

Country of residence: South Africa

Day 1 of the #SLJ2016 was spent learning and experiencing the biodiversity that exists in South Africa's Natural #WorldHeritageSite #IsimangalisoWetlandPark. We spent time exploring the #WorldViews from which we operate and how these impact the way we work.

Topics of discussions:

-Do possessions make us happier or lead to happiness? The more we have, the more we want?

-How do we place values on our ecosystems? These are priceless in my view but how do you make someone believe the value of a tree, a clean river etc when they are hungry and poor? We have different life priorities & experiences.

-How does the time factor influence what we do? The decisions we make? Long term vs short term goals?

-Anthropocentricity? A philosophical perspective on that everything in nature exists for our own gain? This blew me right away thinking that humans are intrinsically selfish so how do we move away from this way of thinking and behaving?

-Who is responsible? People seem to be playing a waiting game. Waiting for someone else to tell them the 'right thing' to do? They shift blame/responsibility away from self? Not feeling like they are part of the solution?

No one really has the answers but looking at things with an open mind and being conscious of the effects we have on everything (socially, economically, natural impact) we can begin to look inward rather than outward to find the answers we already know exist. No one has the answers but we strive to live the best way possible day by day. Living in the hope that by playing our part, we will move towards a more sustainable way of life and begin to move towards realizing a sustainable future for all. Our moral and spiritual compasses will be our guide.

#BeTheChange #SustainabilityLeadership

A note about Buyi from the Blog authors:

Buyi was always filled with joy and enthusiasm during the week. Buyi was so inspiring she took home one of the Hippo Den awards, which she very much deserved. She was open, engaged, always smiling and full of wonderfully interesting questions. She even tried (unsuccessfully) to teach Avery how to dance like a true Zulu woman. For proof of her attempt please see photos below.

Buyi: "Ok Avery, you can do this"

Avery: "Oh my goodness, what am I doing?!"

Buyi dances so well, of course. Avery tries her hardest but its nothing in comparison. (Is that a white girl fist pump?)

Buyi will have to travel to Canada soon to continue the dancing lessons. Good thing she has a new friend to stay with there!