I once sat beside my father atop the Drakensberg, looking out over the Lowveld with stars in my eyes. My father had instilled in me a passion for nature but he recognised that my young enthusiasm might be lost without an equal passion to fulfil the responsibility that comes with it. Speaking about the array of life below, he said ‘this is their home and it is our privilege and our responsibility to share it with them’. He loved nature so honestly and selflessly. He was at his happiest among trees and grassy plains, rocks, rivers and wildlife, living as part of the natural world instead of something separate from it.
As a species, our intelligence and abilities put us in a privileged position. We can mistake this as a right to dominate our planet or we can embrace it as an opportunity to fulfil a unique role as custodians. We can not do this without the respect that comes from understanding that we need nature – physically, mentally and spiritually – to survive.
At Campfire Academy we aspire to provide every student of nature with the chance to LEARN, UNDERSTAND and eventually INSPIRE others through knowledge and action. We seek to break down the artificial divide between the ‘natural world’ and the ‘human world’; to reconcile them into one harmonious existence. True progress and development can not be achieved on a path of disconnection and destruction.
I challenge you, wherever you are and whatever you have at your disposal, to believe that you are important in this mission and that you are capable of making a difference. Nature loves courage. She always has a place for one more on her team and so do we.
