“The great danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.” –Michelangelo

Today is New Year’s Day and with that comes new hopes, new opportunities and new goals. Check out my life’s purpose and 2026 Goals below:

My Life’s Purposes

1. Fill the world with kindness and love
2. Make a difference – level the playing field for people who were born with the cards stacked against them
3. Change perceptions about differently-abled people

2026 Goals

1. Continue to be kind, honest, grateful, loyal (to those who deserve it) and filled with wonderment
2. Organize Morgan’s Breath of Life Birthday Party
3. Visit Breath of Life as often as possible and make a monthly contribution
4. Organize all the birthday cakes for the kids at Breath of Life this year
5. Raise R35 000+ for Breath of Life in honour of my birthday
6. Buy 10-20 soft toys so that i have enough for every goodbye and birthday at Breath of Life for the year
7. Call the twins weekly (when they have access to a phone) and take them on an outing at least twice this year
8. Organize a birthday cake for the twins
9. Buy groceries for the house at least four times a year
10. Choose people who choose me and support friends who understand there’s a heart attached to the helping hand and prioritize the relationship – with time and effort (showing up in real-life)
11. Enjoy Australia (if we go)
12. Focus on wellness – continue to eat well, continue to get sunlight, continue to be grateful, start exercising, get regular dental cleanings, prioritize sleep
13. Enjoy little things – create perfect moments daily
14. Have more fun – maybe continue going to the beach, take a pottery class…something
15. Read 12+ books
16. Do 35+ good deeds

“Make measurable progress in reasonable time.” – Jim Rohn

As we near the end of 2025 it is again time to review the goals I set at the beginning of the year

My 2025 Life Purposes and Goals in Review

My Life’s Purposes

1. Fill the world with kindness and love [did my best]
2. Make a difference – level the playing field for people who were born with the cards stacked against them [did my best]
3. Change perceptions about differently-abled people [did my best]

2025 Goals in Review

1. Continue to be kind, honest, generous, grateful, loyal and filled with wonderment
2. Every day be the best SuperSidekick to Superhero Catherine Constantinides (she’s the best, most hardworking real-life Superhero I’ve ever met she totally deserves me forever  and no matter what else I’m doing in life I will always be here for her)
3. Maintain and strengthen my deep friendship with Michelle Rielly  
4.  Raise at least R34 000 for Breath of Life 
5. Become financially independent – earn more than enough to pay for my own medical aid and groceries ( Update: I bought groceries for the house once or twice this year – it’s a start )
6. Have more fun – maybe take up art of some kind or simply going to the beach more often ( Update: I spent more time at the beach this year of which I’m proud)
7. Focus on wellness – pray every day, have good diet, exercise, good sleep, gratitude and get more sun (Update: I need to work on regular prayer, sleep and exercise everything else is good )
8. See Michelle Rielly in real-life again – I miss her lots
9. Choose people who choose me – no more chasing people (Update: this is still a work in progress)
10. Visit Paternoster (Update: the only chance to get there was in April during my brothers graduation but it was still an hour away so didn’t get there)
11. Visit Europe – go to Paris and Rome – and go paragliding in Switzerland (Update: I made it to Rome – it was stunning)
12. Go whale-watching with Southern Cross Cruises in October ( Update: I saw whales with Southern Cross Cruises on October 11th – it was awesome)
13. Stay at Crawfords Beach Lodge (Update: after what we spent on Rome I didn’t have the heart to ask my family for a stay 40kms away but maybe next year)

14. Read 24-48 books (Update: by December I was on book number 8)
15. Do 34  or more good deeds – one of the deeds must be having one or more trees planted (Update 1: Visions of Change helped me plant 5 trees) (Update 2:I wasn’t counting my good deeds but I’m pretty sure I covered 34)

Birthdays are a chance to look back and forward at the same time.

Yesterday I turned 33 and what a blessed day it was….lots of people came to visit, lots of cake was had and lots of love was shared. Thank you to everyone who made my day so special.

Miss Earth South Africa has always advocated for the development of young women in South Africa as Environmental Ambassadors. With an unprecedented two years behind us, we face more environmental challenges today than we ever have. And the issue of the climate emergency needs to be tackled head on. Who better to champion this cause, than our very own ambassadors; rooted in their communities and inspired by an organisation that has been established and entrenched in science, community, education, and empowerment. 

A perfectly inspired Spring announcement was hosted at the Southern Sun Rosebank in Johannesburg where the ten Miss Earth South Africa finalists from across South Africa gathered for a morning sharing their journey, engaging and an opportunity for the organisation to unpack some of the exciting programmes, projects and campaigns that have made up the year 2022.    

Celebrating almost two decades of Environmental Advocacy, Community Service and another generation of Green Leaders which form part of the strong fold of young women; 22-year-old Ziphozethu Sithebe from Centurion was crowned Miss Earth South Africa 2022. With an avid passion for aviation and the green innovation within this space, she has been hard at work over the past few months with her greening projects and campaigns. Sithebe is joined by her runner up: Nthabiseng Kgasi, a marketer and home girl from Protea Glen, this former Miss Soweto, is 27-years-old and is no stranger to the media space. Included in the line-up of announcements made, two ambassadors were announced to complete the Top 4. Knysna beauty, Angelique Fourie is a BA Corporate Comms graduate and is passionate about sustainability and community development and is joined in the top four, by KwaZulu Natal’s Melissa Lederle from Pietermaritzburg and is currently completing her PhD on Climate Change, Refugees and 21^st Century Scenarios. Sithebe will represent South Africa later this year in the Philippines for the 2022 Miss Earth and we have no doubt she will fly the flag high.  

In 2019 Prof Thuli Madonsela, stated in a video message, the quote below, and today her words remain engraved and powerful to each new cohort of young women who apply to be part of this programme; “It is all our responsibility to understand a small inaction can have grave consequences for the country, continent and the world.” She went on to say that; “These young women of the Miss Earth programme have the greatest commitment to create change.” 

In early September 2022 a panel of judges spent the day with the young women who unpacked their community projects and work. Judges included the CEO of the Green Development Foundation: Rebecca Ngaka; Director of the Europa Art group, Melina Lambrakis; world renowned designer and the man behind the world-famous Madiba Shirt, Sonwabile Ndamase and broadcasting giant Leanne Manas, a face and personality that is no stranger to South Africans.  

Off the back of a period in time that sent the world into a spin, we now return to a sense of ‘normality’ but we have stepped back into a world where the impact of climate change continues to pain and wreak havoc in communities, cities and countries throughout the world. Closer to home the devastating floods earlier this year devastated KwaZulu Natal and issues around water shortages and even the electricity crisis can all be linked and tied back to the fact that we have not addressed a changing climate and addressed the challenges that science has told us about for decades.  

With a passionate commitment and mission to change the perception and understanding of climate change, the impact of environmental degradation and the crucial waste, water and food security paradigm, the Miss Earth South Africa organisation is firmly committed to ensuring that through campaigns such as the #WasteStopsWithME they are able to be on the ground, in cities and communities across the country; from  Johannesburg to Tshwane, KwaZulu Natal and Cape Town, Eldorado and Soweto, Alexandria to Gugulethu, to name but a few. Communities were engaged, clean-ups were hosted and communities gathered, to understand and engage the topic at a local level.  

Through these programmes, the primary objective is always to create awareness and more importantly to educate on the issue of waste management and the catastrophic affects of a lack of waste-consciousness for our country and the globe – with a core focus on taking the issue of waste to the individual and connecting ordinary South Africans to their own waste generation and footprint. In other programmes food security, Ocean Protection, eWaste, Conservation and illegal wildlife trade, are but a few of the focus areas that are tackled each year.  

 
Ella Bella Leite, Director of the programme said; “Finalists demonstrate clear leadership qualities, creative thinking, strength of the mind and character, most importantly a passion for making a sustainable difference in their communities. Each year it is immensely rewarding to see the growth and influence of the Miss Earth South Africa programme, over a period of more than sixteen years we can confidentially say that we have empowered, educated and encouraged young women from around South Africa to become Environmental Ambassadors.”  

The Miss Earth programme is proud to work with partners such as Southern Sun, The Europa Art Group, Interwaste, GebCo, Green Development Foundation, Servest, Skin Renewal, Eco-Monkey Recycling, Newsclip Media Monitoring, Samsonite, Sava Vinyls and the Department of Environmental Affairs.  

  
In congratulating the Miss Earth South Africa 2022 winners, Candy Tothill, Southern Sun’s General Manager of Corporate Affairs and Head of Marketing & Brands said, “Southern Sun is consciously committed to integrating best environmental practices into our core business strategy, and we try to ensure that our conduct meets the needs of the present, while minimising the cost to future generations. It has been a pleasure to host this year’s announcement at Southern Sun Rosebank and we extend our warmest congratulations to the winners. We wish them every success in the months ahead, as they work to promote environmental consciousness and improve conditions in their communities.” 

The ladies have been spoilt with gifts from Lanza, Clarins South Africa, Panier De Sens, The Laser Beautique, L’abeille Natural Alchemy, David Green Eyewear and the winner will be supported by Europa Art, Samsonite, JJ Schoeman and Vukani Fashion as she prepares for the international event.  

Finally, Executive Director of Miss Earth South Africa, Catherine Constantinides, also an international climate activist and human rights defender said; “Heroes don’t live in story books they live amongst us and we as the Miss Earth Leadership Programme have to ensure we empower and inspire these young women to be active citizens and be those heroes we need in society to allow us to change the problems we face on a social, community level and linking that to the environmental impact we are faced with as a society. We are faced with a climate emergency and we have no time to lose; it is our belief that these young women will take the #GreeningMinds into every sphere of their communities and platforms of influence as they set the agenda and shift behaviour, mindsets and the future we strive for. Their time is now!”  

“To be without trees would, in the most literal way, to be without our roots.”― Richard Mabey

Yesterday, ahead of Arbour Month, My Superhero Catherine Constantinides and the Miss Earth South Africa programme planted trees at Houghton Primary School. Thank you to GebCo and 3Sixty. for the support of this project and the programme.

“Make measurable progress in reasonable time.” – Jim Rohn

As we near the end of 2020 it is again time to review the goals I set at the beginning of the year

My 2020 Life Purposes and Goals in Review

My Life’s Purposes

1. Fill the world with kindness and love [did my best]
2. Make a difference – level the playing field for people who were born with the cards stacked against them [did my best]
3. Change perceptions about differently-abled people [did my best]

2020 Goals

1. Continue to be kind, honest, generous, grateful, loyal and filled with wonderment [did my best – give myself an A]
2. Every day be the best SuperSidekick to Superhero Catherine Constantinides (she’s the best, most hardworking real-life Superhero I’ve ever met she totally deserves me forever  and no matter what else I’m doing in life I will always be here for her) [did my best – give myself an A++++]
3. Do more for Breath of Life perhaps raise R29 000 in honour of my 29th year of life (Breath of Life is a place of safety for vulnerable babies here in my city I JUST LOVE THEIR WORK)
4. Take one classroom of kids who’ve never been to the movies to the movies [postponed due to COVID ]
5. Eat healthily [failed]
6. Practice Patience [failed]
7. Publish my children’s book Different is Cool
8. Make a steady income [not yet achieved]
9. Teach kids and adults worldwide that Different Is COOL [did my best]
10. Continue to raise awareness about the Western Sahara conflict – the Western Sahara has been illegally occupied by Morocco since 1975 due to the fact that it’s rich in natural and though the UN promised a referendum in 1991 it has yet to come to pass meanwhile half of the Saharawi People have been living in the refugee camps in Algeria since 1975 [did my best]
11. Choose people who choose me [did my best]
12. Read 12+ books [read 4/12 so that’s an epic fail]
13. Plant 52 trees in honour of how old Gerda would have turned this year [I delegated it to other other people to help me but sadly it never happened]
14. Do 29+ good deeds – for my 29^th year of life [did my best – i wasn’t counting the amount of good i did but i must have done at least 29 good deeds]
15. Visit London, Paris and Rome [postponed due to COVID]

[Note: The items that have a strikethrough have been fully achieved]

“The power of human empathy, leading to collective action, saves lives, and frees prisoners. Ordinary people, whose personal well-being and security are assured, join together in huge numbers to save people they do not know, and will never meet….Unlike any other creature on this planet, humans can learn and understand, without having experienced. They can think themselves into other people’s places….We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.”– J.K. Rowling,

On this World Humanitarian Day I wish to thank some of the people who’ve supported me repeatedly on my ten-year-long humanitarian journey who are my family, my late physiotherapist [who died a year ago today], David Boutin,  Beverly Bernhardt, Sharon K. D’Agostino, Barbra Royce, Gaynor Young and many more. From  wells and smiles to diaper drives we’ve done most things……..THANK YOU