I think it was Rumi that said
‘If you don’t go over the hill,
you will never know what’s in the valley.’
I wanted to know what’s
beyond living in the city.
Living in a concrete jungle, I wasn't happy.
The city drowned my creativity.
I started living past myself.
It set me off balance.
I needed to experience a different side of life.
I also thought I didn't want to raise my kids
in an environment where
they were going to be influenced
by materialism and consumerism.
It's easy to fall into that trap
because people believe wearing those Gucci jeans
will let them walk better.
Or having the latest iPhone
they'll be able to speak louder.
Wearing a 100 000 Rand watch
and wearing a 100 Rand watch...
it's going to tell you the same time.
But lots of people believe that
adding material value to their life
improves their wellbeing.
They work hard for that thing
and then when they get it, they enjoy it for 5 minutes
and then that feeling is gone.
In the city, kids grow up
and they are deprived of a childhood
a true childhood.
I wanted them to still play with sticks,
still running barefoot.
I wanted them to experience the elements,
to appreciate this world more,
in all its forms.
Friends arrived here and were like,
Where the hell do you live?
This is the middle of nowhere.
There's nothing. There's no shops.
There's no neon lights.
There's nothing.
And I think for me, that's what appealed to me.
I saw a different side to living.
We don't have a television at home
and we're cool with that.
We've replaced it with discussion
and books,
and just your daily experiences.
Which is nice to hear.
I've got quite an entertaining family.
When we just moved here, I had no money.
And I had just enough
to provide us for that meal, that lunch.
And I was not stressed
and my kids were laughing
and I was laughing
and my wife was laughing
and we were sharing jokes.
And there was no...
there wasn't that worry of
are clients going to pay?
Or when is the next job coming in?
I accepted that
there's time when you'll have
and there's time when you won't have.
I had more than not having what was in front of me.
That for me is what means a lot more than money.
If I had to experience that in the city
I would have been stressed out.
And you've got to be brave.
You've got to really be brave to change.
And you've got to adapt.
But I can see the reward now
because I can see the transformation of myself,
my wife,
my kids.
Nature definately has a huge impact on my life.
I would like to appreciate it in all its natural wonder
and experience the elements more openly
and embrace it even more.
It's about experiencing things.
It's about taking your shoes off
and taking a walk in that mountain stream.
I'd rather create memories than make money
because that is something that
one day when I close my eyes
I'll be able to look back at the memories.
Every day is filled with opportunity
to create these memories.
And you put it in your memory bank
instead of your bank account.
And then if you need to access it
you can go there and pull out a memory
and it will put a smile on your face.
Some people, they chose to go to the bank
and draw some cash
and that puts a smile on their face.
So I think everybody has got
different reasons to live.
No, my soul is not for sale...
definately not.
I come from a place where we put
the value of your heart first
before you put the value of money.
Never...
never will money buy me happiness.
Thanks to all of you who helped make this film possible.
All of our films are totally crowd funded.
So if you'd like to continue to support us on our journey
check out our Green Renaissance page on Patreon.