Finding them thar blessings in our wilderness

Greetings to you as you teach God’s children about the wonderful blessings of the Gospel – the good news – of Jesus Christ.

Some pictures from Gospel Library

I was thinking about an experience last week, blessing the sacrament with Tashinga Mukucha. I am not usually aware of how things are going, but I was watching those passing the sacrament and so I was aware that the bread had run out and at least those serving, and probably someone in the congregation did not receive bread. They could not eat in remembrance of the body of the Son – but, even if they could not eat, they could witness that they are willing to take upon them His name, and always remember Him, and keep His commandments which He hath given them – and as a result they could always have His Spirit to be with them. This sacrament experience was not quite complete for those who missed the bread.

Jesus fed five thousand with few loaves and few fishes (see also Matt 14, 15, Mark 6, 8, Luke 5, 9, 11, John 6, 21, and other examples of His power to multiply as an example of our making five other from the five talents that He gave to us). Could He not have multiplied this bread to feed all who were there to partake of the sacrament? Yes! He could have, but He had delegated the sacrament to the bishop who delegated it to those assigned to prepare the sacrament.

I thought back to Digby Chater, the branch president in Welkom Branch telling us when he was branch president of going out from his home in Virginia to visit members in Harmony, probably travelling about 60 or more kilometres that night. As he turned into his driveway, his Volkswagen Beetle ran out of fuel. He opened the garage door, let the car run down the slope into the garage, went to bed, and the next morning he dealt with putting in fuel. This incident came to mind as I was returning home one evening after visiting some members and attending Institute class, and I ran out of fuel before I got home! I was about 650m from my home and not in the driveway! There were no significant slopes between me and my home. I was on a motor scooter. I could have pushed it home and filled it, or I could have parked it, walked home and returned with fuel to fill it, but I was miserable because I had not been blessed as Digby was.

The young man who provided the bread could have supplied more than three slices. Tashinga and I could have broken the bread into smaller pieces. We could have done something to prevent the shortage of bread for the sacrament.

Digby would have turned his car to Reserve and I would have turned my scooter to Reserve. We both knew that the fuel was low, but his need being in a car late at night was greater than mine being on a scooter in the twilight.

Why did God not provide enough bread to feed those needing the sacrament? Why did He not enable me to have enough fuel to reach home? He could have, but I needed to be self-reliant. He delegated our self-reliance to us.

We so often bemoan our difficulties, challenges, shortages, lack, loss, or whatever, rather than looking for the miracles in our lives. How often did Israelites bemoan the boring same food every day, breakfast, lunch and supper? Manna, manna, manna, manna, manna, manna…! No variety! Forty years with no variety! Really? Oh – once there were some quail… But then it was back to manna, manna, manna. How inconsiderate of that God who told us to follow Moses away from the flesh pots of Egypt? We were slaves, but hey – at least we had a more interesting diet! And then there are those fiery serpents that caused the deaths of some of our family! There was that brazen serpent, but it was not just standing in my front garden – I would have to walk some distance to gaze upon it before I might be healed – as some said that they had been.

Whether you as a disciple of Jesus Christ, or someone that you are teaching, is facing issues that cause misery, it is important to remember the comment that the devil seeks that all men might be miserable like himself, as opposed to Adam and Eve who could have had no joy, for they knew no misery while in the garden of Eden, and the promise ‘Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.’ all mentioned in the second chapter of 2 Nephi.

You are sharing the gospel of joy. You are helping people to learn about the church of joy. Blessings on you as you look for and recognise the joy and help others to recognise the joy in their lives and acknowledge the hand of God in all things.

I know that we are blessed with immeasurable joy, even although there are times – really – that we feel an absence of joy in our shroud of black misery. Blessings on you as you look for the miracles in the daily bread and being delivered from evil as the Lord directed us to consider as He taught the manner after which we should pray. Seek them thar blessings and ye shall find them. And you will be able to help others to find them thar blessings in the manna in their wilderness. The Sprit – the Comforter – shall help you to acknowledge that the Lord is present, in the details, right here, now, even when we seem to be spending years in a dull, miserable wilderness. He does have a living prophet in 2025.

The Priesthood—a Sacred Gift

I was asked to speak in our Milnerton ward sacrament meeting today, and to lead a discussion in the Elders Quorum about Pres. Russel M Nelson's October 2023 General Conference talk Think Celestial. Well, let me share my thoughts with anyone else who might be interested to read them and consider my boring observations 😉😉

In the process of preparing, I read a talk by Pres Dieter F Uchtdorf from October 2012 The Joy of the Priesthood and the two talks following it given by Henry B Eyring and Thomas S Monson. The talk Think Celestial also added valuable thoughts, as did going through an articles by Denelson Silva, Seek Diligently and You Will Find, included in the January 2024 Liahona. My thoughts also turned to many exciting experiences that I have had in Heavenly Father's wonderful Creation, and in priesthood service in His great work. Well, I hope that you enjoy my rambling thoughts...

Pres. Uchtdorf started off by recalling how he and some friends restored an antique airplane - a  1937 Piper Cub that had become run down. He shared how it was a great joy to fly it with his teenage son, and be reminded that the Piper Cub was not built for speed - cars on the autobahn in Germany would drive faster than they could fly when facing a headwind. He then related how he had flown in a sophisticated F-18 fighter jet and was reminded that being a jet fighter pilot is a young man’s game. In both the Piper Cub and the F-18, he felt the excitement, beauty, and joy of flight.

This turned my thoughts to many of my experiences working in beautiful forests, beautiful deserts, and many other landscapes created by the Lord. There are wonderful forests in the kloofs of Table Mountain. There is a small desert close to Cape Town - at the Tankwarivier about 200km from Cape Town, and there are delightful forests in the Cedarberg just 50 or so kilometres from this patch of desert.

I recall these Namib Desert dunes in February 1999 that normally are bare sand dunes,
but they looked green following recent rains. 

When close up, we could see how there was a lot of bare ground,
but at an angle the grass was hiding the bare ground making
the dunes or ground look green. This reminded me of what my mother frequently quoted 
'It takes the effort of every blade of grass to keep the meadow green'.

These are some of the wonderful Outeniqua Forests near to Knysna. 

So very different from the Namib Desert.

This also reminded me of some of our experiences visiting different sized wards and branches. When we were married in the Salt Lake Temple, we attended a ward sacrament and testimony meeting in Cottonwood Creek in the Salt Lake Valley. The chapel had more members in it than we have in a very well attended stake conference in Cape Town. There was probably a full Deacons Quorum of 12 deacons serving the sacrament to that large congregation, and probably only one in about 150 people got to share their testimonies compared to about 1 in 10 in our ward. The Elders Quorum was possibly large enough that there might have been two Elders Quorums in the ward. Home teachers probably visited a next-door neighbour, or someone well within walking distance. It would probably be very rare for an elder or high priest in that ward to get to administer or pass the sacrament in the chapel.

Compare that to our time in Nelspruit Branch some 5 years later where I was sometimes the only person, or one of two, blessing and passing the sacrament, and I would drive about 65 kilometres in our little Datsun 120Y to home teach a sister in Sabie, and then about 40 km to visit a brother in Barberton. 

I remember occasionally travelling about 22 kilometres from our home to Koeberg to home teach with Roux Lötter, or going about 100km to try and visit someone in Langebaan. It was a special occasion to see my two grandsons having their first experiences exercising the Aaronic priesthood as Josh blessed and Caleb passed the sacrament with their father Andrew. Then Caleb, then I, and then Andrew spoke in the sacrament meeting today.

Pres. Uchtdorf reminded us that the priesthood is the eternal power and authority of God. The men exercising that priesthood are mortal beings who are flawed and imperfect. The bishop, or Primary president acting with authority and keys conferred by the priesthood are here to serve as the Saviour served in Jerusalem, and not to be served. I loved hearing King Charles declare in his coronation as King of Great Britain that 'I am here to serve and not to be served'. The New Testament describes of Jesus of Nazareth served, and we are His agents and need to do as He would do if He were here, serving willingly and devotedly. 

My thoughts turned to our schools here, or anywhere in the world. If a 40-year old person who never had the opportunity to go to school were to decide to go to school, she or he would not be put into a matric or senior class, but in a Grade 1 class in order to learn the basic Three-Rs - Reading, wRiting and aRithmetic. It would be hoped that they would take a lot less than 12 years to reach the matric level, but they would be helped along the way by being put into classes with pupils with a similar level of development. That is not through any intent of supremacy or superiority, but out of compassion with the hope that they would become suitably qualified to graduate with a matric so that they can be more valuable in helping to build the nation. 

It is such a blessing to reflect on a significant change in policy since I was a bishop less than ten years ago. There need to be two adults present in any child or youth class or activity. This means that there is a wonderful opportunity for a new or returning member who needs to build or reinforce their Gospel foundation to be one of the two adults in a Nursery, Primary or Youth class or activity. They can serve as Primary secretary or music leader and have the basic Gospel 3-Rs taught together with the children. The Lord knows each member and will guide the Primary president, or youth leader, or bishop, to know who He would have build that spiritual foundation. In a large ward, maybe they could serve as class president or secretary, or in our medium-sized ward as that second adult. 

In learning how to know who to call to serve, the Primary leader should go through Chapter 17 of the General Handbook, but should also go through chapters 1 to 4 for the foundation, and really all chapters to 38 to see where Primary fits in the whole Church. This will help significantly in building the new or returning members, and every member of the ward of branch.

Another wonderful insight that I have had over the years is how my serving in the Church has helped me to learn administrative, teaching and leading skills that were of great value to me in my employment, and many skills that I learned in my employment have been of great value in my service in the Church. I am impressed that the Lord knows every one of Hs children and will guide the Primary president or the bishop in knowing who to call to serve in every calling, and what calling is suitable for every member. I know a member who is baking bread for many people each Sunday morning and so rarely gets to attend sacrament meeting at 09:00. If we met at 17:00 this member would rarely miss a meeting. But if a leader were to ask the Lord, He might well inspire that leader to call this baker to teach, or be that second adult present, in a Seminary class on a Tuesday night. These are some of the blessing of the priesthood keys and responsibilities given to each bishop or organisation president. It is unfortunate that we often focus on what a person does not do or cannot do rather than looking at what the member could become.

Just as I learned about bits and bytes when I first started to use computers, a byte containing 8 bits, with a value of 256, and the Lord would have us magnify or multiply our callings or talents to two, then four, then 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, maybe even 1024 to form a kilobyte of talent. I suggest that the Lord is not lacking in any skill. He would not be deficient in any type or temperament that we describe in psychology, but that He has a wonderful balance of all types and temperaments. 

Heavenly Father wants His children to become creators of deserts and forests, wards, branches, families, countries, and the world. He knows what we can become and through the priesthood each of us can become everything that He wants us to become, learning as we go by serving as He would serve, whether in Primary, or exercising the priesthood, or in any way that we can in His Church. He would like us have great joy in flying our Piper Cub or F-16 jet, soaring above the clouds and enjoying the magnificence of His creation below us. I have a special testimony of this, and I share these thoughts in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

The Lord blesses His children through patriarchal blessings

Talk intended for Milnerton ward sacrament meeting 19 Feb 2023, but I gave about a quarter of it due to having about 5 minutes. So here it is for those interested in reading the other 16 minutes or so. The two previous speakers (Daphne van den Berg and Allen Torr) laid a wonderful foundation for the few minutes that I took, so all was good...

Introduction

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Who was born? Which one of us sitting in the chapel was born?

Who had to be fed, dressed, even had stinky nappies changed, or had to be lovingly rocked to sleep as a baby?

Who had a first day of school at about 6 years of age?

Dumb questions, huh? Duh! Who did not? 

Can you remember your birth, or having nappies changed, or being rocked to sleep as a baby, even that first day at school?

Can you remember what you ate for your main meal four days ago, and how it tasted? I presume that you had at least one meal four days ago? What details do you remember?

Can you remember the experience that you had when you, as Eve or Adam, partook of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil – you know – when you learned to distinguish between the opposites of good and evil, light and darkness, bitter and sweet, health and sickness, pleasure and pain? Or are you, as I am, still learning that important spirit of discernment?

I do not have any memories of my birth, nappies and so forth, or even my first day at school, or specifically my main meal four days ago. I do have some memories of some of the things that helped me to distinguish between those opposites. Most of what I remember has to do with the sensations of feeling, tasting, smelling, seeing, or hearing. Those feelings remind me more of, or at least as much as, the information that I learned, the details of the event or journey, or the processes involved.

One of my earliest memories is feeling – I recognised the feeling of the Spirit and that it was the same as the feeling of love in my family. I would guess that I was a little child at the time. I remember playing with the window-winder in the family car as we turned a corner near to our home and thinking that I was feeling a warm fuzzy feeling, and that warm fuzzy feeling was the same feeling that I had when the Spirit was with me and when I was feeling the love in my family. It was a comfortable, good, pleasant, sweet, healthy, brilliant feeling. That is one of my special memories – such a small and simple thing.

Eternal relationships

I recently shared something in my WhatsApp status. A meme – I think that is what it is called – that shows an elderly man lovingly kissing his elderly wife who is evidently frail, with the quote ‘Relationships don't last because they were destined to last. Relationships last long because two people made a choice to keep it, fight for it, and make it work.’ 

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I often refer to a wonderful scene in Fiddler on the Roof. Tevye and Golde had been married for about 20 years. They have three daughters and are planning on arranging marriages for their daughters just as their own marriage had been planned by their parents, probably about 20 years before. But their daughter appeals to not be married to an older rich man that would be a very favourable match for Tevye’s poor family. She would rather marry a simple tailor. He is not wealthy, but she loves him. This is when Tevye and Golde asked the questions ‘Do you love me? Do I love you?’ And they discover the answer – each loves the other. Their love was the outcome of being faithful to each other, being committed to each other. How often do people in our communities marry, or form a bond with each other, because they think that they love each other, but what they are feeling might be lust rather than love, or it might be love, and then, if both are not faithful to each other, they fall out of love. Don’t we witness that all too often?

The ultimate demonstration of love is ‘For God so loved the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son.’ https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/nt/john/3?lang=eng&id=p16#p16

I remember a young man, a member of our ward, ridiculing my faith and religion because he said that it is immoral for one man to have to suffer to atone for the wrongs of others. And so he denied the faith that he had previously professed. I know that he had felt the Spirit because I had heard him express such feelings. But he was choosing to not remember what he had felt.

I was fascinated during some of my tour guide studies this last week, learning more about our history. I was struck by hearing that a significant reason for the Great Trek was because that group of Calvinists in South Africa believed that they were God’s ancient covenant or chosen people, and that they had a work to do. I investigated that and concluded that the Dutch Reformed people would probably be those referred to. I considered what we believe – that we are the children of Abraham, and so we inherit the Abrahamic covenant. That is brought to us in our patriarchal blessings as our lineage in the house of Israel is declared – the birthright inheritance of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, God’s ancient covenant people.

That Abrahamic covenant is special. Our individual covenant is special. Our Heavenly Father delights to bless His children. He said ‘Hearken and hear, O ye my people, saith the Lord and your God, ye whom I delight to bless with the greatest of all blessings, ye that hear me;’ https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/41?lang=eng&id=p1#p1

What we do with our blessings

How often has our Heavenly Father blessed you with something like a harvest of peas? He delights to pour out a blessing such as rain to water crops. And we harvest a bag full of something like peas. Don’t they taste so delightful? Sweet, juicy, round. I love them! It is a long time since I shelled a pea and ate the little peas. It makes my mouth water to think of the taste, the sensation, the delight. We then have the choice to enjoy that delightful bag of peas! Or we can choose to multiply that bag to produce even a hundred or more bags of peas.

The Lord asked a really good question in the third chapter of Malachi, eighth verse. ‘Will a man rob God?’

And then He comments on it. ‘Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.

‘Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.

‘Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

‘And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts.

‘And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts.’ https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/ot/mal/3?lang=eng&id=p8-p12#p8

He has opened the windows of Heaven and poured out rain that enabled you and me to produce a harvest. He has given the sunlight, the oxygen the nutrients, the seed itself that made the harvest possible. He has always been faithful in blessing His children because He loves each one of us. Whether our harvest is peas, beans, wheat, maize, wool, meat, artwork, music, beautiful clothes, engineering wonders, technological devices, wages, health, beauty, love, natural beauties and resources, or whatever we are able to produce, what could we have produced if it had not been for the food that we had eaten? The very source of what makes up any of our produce is primary production – plants that we or someone grew –  on which each of us relies entirely, simply for survival. He delights to bless us and is faithful in blessing us – we were born; we had our nappies changed because of loving parents or carers; we are what we are because He is faithful to us.

Will we be faithful to Him?

Our patriarchal blessing

I like a quote that I read in LDS Living – learn to see a patriarchal blessing not as a destination but a doorway to more revelation.

Where does my patriarchal blessing start? Does it start when it addresses LESLIE WARD POWRIE? Where does it end? Does it end ‘by virtue of the priesthood I hold and in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen’? Or did His communication with me start long before I was born, or had my nappies changed, or had that warm fuzzy feeling, or started school, or ate that meal four days ago, and will it end long after I breathe my last breath of mortality and my body is laid to rest?

I shared an invitation to listen to this talk in my WhatsApp Status. Some of you might have seen it. Some who saw it might have had the thought go through their mind that ‘patriarchal blessing’ reminds them of Abraham and the repeated promise made to him – in Genesis 12 ‘in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.’ https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/ot/gen/12?lang=eng&id=3#p3

In Genesis 18 ‘Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?’ https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/ot/gen/18?lang=eng&id=18#p18

In Genesis 22 ‘And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.’ https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/ot/gen/22?lang=eng&id=18#p18

I am fascinated to consider how we are – how I am – part of the seed of Abraham through whom all of the families and nations of the earth shall be blessed. Are we – am I – living up to that charge?

He delights to bless us

Last week we sang hymn 96 in which we sang ‘Dearest children, God is near you, Watching o’er you day and night, And delights to own and bless you, If you strive to do what’s right. He will bless you, He will bless you, If you put your trust in him.’ He does truly delight to bless us. He sent us to school in this mortal experience with the hope that we will choose to follow Him. He wants us to choose to follow Him – the ultimate exercise of our agency is to want to choose to follow Him; to desire to choose to follow Him; to be determined to choose to follow Him. He hopes that we will choose Him – the Spirit has made it clear to me that he has no desire that any one of His children will choose to not follow Him.

My father described our patriarchal blessings somewhat as what we might have been told as we left heaven as we came down to Earth to be born – that time when we were having nappies changed and being fed, kicking and crying in frustration as we were learning to fit our fully developed spirits into those tiny little bodies. We are still learning about our divine potential and relationship. Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother would have been sad to see us leave and have our memories of life with Them lost, and now we are learning to navigate the challenges of mortality as we walk by faith and not by sight. But they believe in us. They know who we are!

We are given some specific information about patriarchal blessings in the guidelines for patriarchs.

A patriarchal blessing should also include inspired and prophetic statements about the life possibilities of the recipient. As the Spirit directs, the patriarch identifies for the recipient accomplishments to be realized, challenges to be overcome, and blessings to be received. The patriarch also includes such promises, admonitions, and warnings as he may be prompted to give. In these ways a patriarchal blessing can help the recipient define his or her responsibilities and goals.

In each blessing the patriarch should make clear that the realization of the promises is contingent on the faithfulness of the recipient and the will of the Lord.

A patriarchal blessing should encourage the person to keep the commandments and to qualify for eternal life. . . .

The declaration of lineage is not determined by a person’s race or nationality. Because of the scattering of Israel among all nations of the earth, the lineage of Israel is found in people of most races and nationalities. . . .  

On the subject of declaring lineage, Elder Dallin H. Oaks said: “A declaration of lineage is not a scientific pronouncement or an identification of genetic inheritance. A declaration of lineage is representative of larger and more important things. . . . This declaration concerns the government of the kingdom of God, not the nature of the blood or the composition of the genes of the person being blessed” (“Patriarchal Blessings,” Worldwide Leadership Training Meeting: The Patriarch, Jan. 8, 2005, 8).

Regardless of lineage, all who gain a testimony of Jesus Christ and accept baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost from the Lord’s authorized servants are accounted as Abraham’s “seed” as promised in the Abrahamic covenant (see Abraham 2:10; Galatians 3:14; Ephesians 3:6). Therefore, the fulness of the Lord’s blessings will come to all who obey the laws and ordinances of the gospel. . . .

Spencer W Kimball said that “Patriarchal blessings are revelations to the recipients . . . to protect, inspire, motivate toward activity and righteousness.

“An inspired patriarchal blessing could light the way and lead the recipient on a path to fulfillment. It could lead [him or her] to become a new [person] and to have . . . a new heart” (The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, ed. Edward L. Kimball [1982], 505).

Conclusion

We may not remember our birth or infancy, or even many things from the past as we progressed towards becoming those who do the guiding and nurturing of infants. Parents may not even have clear memories of the births of their children, feeding and nursing them, or changing their nappies. But those were real parts of our lives – as babies, and in due course as parents. Similarly, we do not remember every detail of our experience, growth and progress along our eternal paths towards becoming like our Heavenly Parents. They want us to grow and become like Them – They want us to want to choose to become like Them and then to pursue that objective in our eternal journeys towards become – may I call it – Divine Adults? We pray ‘Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.’ As we reflect on the prayer that the Lord taught His disciples to pray in the sermon on the mount that we are studying in Come, Follow Me at present, may we strive to become perfect, merciful and holy as He is? Our patriarchal blessings are part of the personal guidance that each of us can receive on that straight and narrow way towards our divine destiny.

May we ponder seriously on how we can live as the Saviour invited His disciples to live in the Sermon on the Mount. May we press forward faithfully, striving to live up to our privileges, living up to His expectations, living up to our divine potential. I humbly pray that we will invite the Spirit to help us to receive the personal revelation that we need to have in order to prosper in the midst of the challenges of mortality – that we may each blossom as a rose in our individual desert of life. May we be committed to our relationship with Him. May we remember that He delights to bless us. May we live in such a way that He can welcome us with those wonderful words in Matt 25 ‘Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou has been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord’. That we may walk in the Abrahamic covenant and be seen sitting in the bosom of Abraham our father, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Careers in Biodiversity - or careers in life

This blog post is written for anyone thinking about what to do with however many minutes, hours, days, weeks, years, decades, or any amount of time during her or his mission on this planet Earth. 

This is based on a talk that I have given at schools, universities, to audiences that included interns, youth, young adults, and others. I hope that you enjoy reading it and broadening your outlook on career development for you and anyone that you might influence - like children, grandchildren, or anyone!

Before I go any further, let me point out that I worked for more than 30 years at Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden on the slopes of Table Mountain in Cape Town. This garden is one of the top 7 botanical gardens in the world. Here are some photos that demonstrate some of the beauty and wonder of this place, and the delight that I had working there.

Now for the talk...

The tax payers of South Africa that largely fund the SANBI work

SAFARIS volunteers

Interns

SANBI staff

Early biodiversity explorers in southern Africa

Anyone contributing to making the world a better place.

I would invite the members of the audience to:

Introduce yourself.

Explain your interests and background.

What is the level of expertise already in the room?

Take a photo of the group for the SANBI record!

I have a cute GIF that I prepared that shows this dog being wagged by its tail. I would say to the audience:

Don’t let the tail wag the dog

Just because many people around you seem to have more of anything than you have – money, beauty, fame, skill, talent, glam, power, or sommer anything! – don’t let that cause you to be anything less than you are created to be.

Just because MS Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Access, Macros, GIS, Visual Basic, Python , field work, careers, or anything that I teach, can do or be something is not reason for you to have to do it.

Keep it simple, concentrate on what you need to accomplish, and don’t lose sleep over all the things that life can do or be that you don’t know how to do or be.

This talk will introduce you to things that you may not remember, but at least you will have an idea of some things that can be done.

The most important thing is to be the best that you can be. My mother often said ‘The world needs streetsweepers, but, more importantly, the world needs excellent streetsweepers.’ I include shepherds, carpenters, fisherman, plumbers, mechanics, electricians, doctors, lawyers, accountants, scientists, or any career. Be excellent in whatever you set out to be. No career is insignificant or inferior if you will be excellent in whatever you choose for your career path and see your role in helping to make the world a better place for each of its occupants. 

As I was typically talking at or for SANBI, I would remind them of the SANBI motto.

uGreat, the SANBI motto: Ubuntu; Growth; Respect & Tolerance; Excellence; Accountability; Togetherness

You are part of the uGreat team

Know what I am presenting today can do, or at least you have an idea.

Then you can communicate with a team member who can get this tool to do what you need to do at the time that you need it.

This presentation is on the network

If I move too fast for you, or if you want to review something, find this presentation later in [M:][\\172.16.1.170\KRC Department Folders]\Public\InternSkillsDevelopment

The examples, questions and practice documents will also be there

Following are some images the depict some of the exciting things that I have done during my career - only a small part of what I have done!

Some of my journey

Born and grew up on the West Rand

Spent time in Transvaal, Cape Province, Natal, Orange Free State, England, SWA/Namibia, Isla Do Sol, New York, Utah, Los Angeles, Iowa, Washington DC, widely in all 9 provinces of South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Italy, Germany…

Florida Primary School, Florida Park High School, Wits University, University of Cape Town, Latter-day Saint, Ensign Scout Troop…

5^th generation African besides deriving from Cradle of Humankind in Africa!

Earthling! Human! Each of us is a Child of ‘our Father which art in Heaven’, the King of all Creation – we are princes or princesses.

Employment: Self-employed doing home repairs (I am embarrassed to say that the first dividing wall that I built was not all perfectly vertical); Technician in Namib Desert; horticultural chemist; biochemistry SU Medical School laboratory technician; Herzlia teacher; Kirstenbosch; troop Scoutmaster; …

NBG (MSc, plant chemical taxonomy, education officer and botanist, garden guide), BRI (Stress Ecology Research Programme), NBI and SANBI (head of IT in NBI Cape, data basing, programming, coding, simulation modelling, climate change studies, degradation modelling, vegetation mapping, ecology, technologist, First Aider, health and safety officer and committee chair, employment equity, mentor, teacher, lecturer, …)
Son, brother, husband, father of 5, grandfather of 11 in 2024… 

The following 17 slides show just some of the interesting things that have been part of my wonderfully fulfilling career.

I loved working in this team, and being part of so many wonderful experiences, tasks, travels, projects, responsibilities, and so much more.

I would ask the audience who they imagine might be employed at the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden where I was based for more than 30 years:

The more obvious:

Botanist

Zoologist

Ecologist

Nature conservator

Horticulturist

----------------------------------

And then I would point out others that work in such an organisation.

The behind-the-scenes:

Artists

Assessment

Biochemist

Biodiversity informatics

Bioregional plans

Bus driver

Climate change

Collections manager

Compliance

Dietician

Draftsman

Economists

Editors

Education officer

Entomologist

Estate manager

Ethnobotany

Forestry

Gardener

Geneticist

GIS/GIS technician

Graphic designer

Groundsman

Health & Safety

Herpetologist

Herbarium curator

Infrastructure

Invasives (Early Detection and Rapid Response)

Investers

Journalism

Librarian

Marketing

Marine biologist

Marine ranger

Motor mechanic

Media (photos, film)

Molecular biology

Movie director

Museum curator

Nature Conservationist

Photographer

Policy advice

Population biologist

Project management

Publishing/Publications

Red listing

Statistician

Stewardship

Taxidermist

Taxonomist

Technologist

Training

Vegetation survey

Vet

Web design

Then I would include SANBI as a whole: 

The list goes on!

Accountant

Administrators

Agriculture

Architects

Assets

Auditors

Bookshop

Caterers

Cleaner

Clerk

Climate change

Communication

Corporate Services

Data management

Driver

DTP

Events coordinator

Facilities manager

Finances

Handyman

Human resources

IT procurement

IT technician

Laboratory technician

Landscaper

Lecturer: natural resource/biodiversity governance and management, land issues…

Legal adviser

Mowers

Municipal support

Occupational Health, Safety & Environment (OHSE)

Operational and Quality Managers

Outreach

Permitting

Receptionist

Reservations Consultant (conserve Africa's spectacular biodiversity)

Restaurants

Scientist

Secretaries

Security

Supply Chain Manager

Systems Management

Teacher

Telephonist

Typist

Urban Development Experts in urban sustainability

And more…

The biodiversity sector includes:

SANBI

Botanical gardens

SANParks

Universities

City Parks

Garden Centres

and more...

Groups with whom we interact include:

National, Provincial, Local Government

CSIR

ARC

Industry – Dimension Data, 

Tourism

Consulting Ecologists – Environmental Impact Assessments etc.

NGOS – WWF, TMF, SANCCOB, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)

IUCN

Museums

Municipalities

Military

Denel

Africa Media

ESKOM

Mining companies

Construction & Engineering

Zoos

Schools

Nature reserves

Railways

Agriculture

Architects and engineers

Sustainable energy

and more…

My journey since 1983:

NBG (National Botanical Gardens)

Gardens

Horticulture

Botany

Tourism

Indigenous

BRI (Botanical Research Institute)

Botany

Taxonomy

Vegetation

Agriculture

Indigenous

NBI (amalgamation of NBG and BRI)

Plants

Indigenous

SANBI (further development of our statutory directives – South African National Biodiversity Institute)

All Biodiversity – terrestrial, marine, mammals, birds, reptiles, spiders, insects, bacteria, GMOs, aliens, invasives, ecosystems…

Office of the Chief Executive Officer

Biodiversity Research Portfolio Management

Climate change

Museums

Applied research

Knowledge, Policy & Network Management

Planning

Education

Conservation Management & Corporate Services

Human Resources 

Finance

Marketing & Communications

Information Technology

Conservation Gardens & Tourism

Gardens

Building & maintenance

My journey in practicing my career:

• Handyman most of my life.
• BSc
• Namib Desert (4 visits)
• BSc (Hons)
• Commercial horticulture research (one year)
• Medical biochemistry research (21 months)
• Teaching science, mathematics, computer studies, business economics in Middle School
• Plant chemical taxonomy
• Graduating with an MSc
• Herbarium and Education in Nelspruit (Lowveld National Botanical Garden)
• Tour guiding
• Stress ecology research
• Investigating potential impacts of Climate Change on plant species distributions
• IT manager
• Database developer
• Field research, travelling very widely in South Africa, and visiting parts of Lesotho, Swaziland and Namibia
• Ecology
• Herbarium collections
• GIS work
• Programming (BASIC, VisualBasic, Avenue)
• Author/co author of scientific and popular articles and books

During this time, I was involved in Employment Equity (including interviewing and selecting several candidates for employment), Occupational Health and Safety (OHS rep as well as chair of the committee, First Aid), mentoring interns, and assisting people in the education, administration, gardens, and other departments with technological solutions.

I was never bored!

I am somewhat a ‘Jack of all trades, and a master of few’ (even although I am a Master of Science 😊)

I would say that your career can be as exciting as you choose to make it, no matter where you are, but I choose to make my career exciting in the beautiful setting of Biodiversity

Having botanical, zoological and ecology training and having an engineering way of thinking makes me more versatile in the Biodiversity setting

I have given a talk about enjoying your personal desert wherever you are, using examples of my time in the Namib and other desert areas.

While this relates to the inevitable depressing times of life, I think it is very relevant to your career choice

Months and months of nothing but months and months

Unless you get down to ‘smell the flowers’ you probably will not even see that they are there

Employee attraction and Retention

Employer of choice

Equal opportunity

Rigorous recruitment processes

Incentives above market rate

Benchmarking

Continuous Professional Development

Rewarding high performance

Conducive working environment

Human Capital Development – the greatest asset of an organisation is its human capital.

Whether you choose 

a biodiversity career in the biodiversity sector

another career in the biodiversity sector

a biodiversity career in another sector

another career in another sector

Being happy or unhappy is still your choice

Being environmentally conscious, responsible and friendly is also up to you.

I hope that you will choose

a biodiversity career in the biodiversity sector

another career in the biodiversity sector

a biodiversity career in another sector

another career in another sector – yes – I hope that you will choose a meaningful career!

Being happy

Being environmentally conscious, responsible and friendly

To enjoy our gardens, parks, mountains, our wonderful natural heritage…

One of the most important things that I can suggest is that anyone wanting to choose a career do a profile to determine your own talents, interests, type, temperament, and to see what might be suitable options for your own career. These are so easily available in this period of our history (just do a Google search such as 'career profile assessment', or 'types of temperaments and their characteristics'). It is always amazing how diverse the options can be for one person. For example, my profile points me to a variety of things ranging from engineering to accounting to physiotherapy to clergy to ...

I hope that you will choose – to be intentional in your life – to choose to be part of the solution and not part of the problem

Question time

Questions, then I’ll briefly conclude my talk.

Sharing time

Floor open for 

questions and 

sharing skills. 

Some of the interns may be more skilled in some things than I am, so that will be the greatest value – learning from a peer, teaching the ‘buddy system’. 

I may well learn some things from you that I have not known or used before.

Does anyone have a cool thing to share regarding recording, transcribing, georeferencing?

You are the person who is living your life – live it – enjoy it – be fruitful, multiply, replenish, subdue, have [righteous] dominion – make a difference – be leaven in the loaf, light to others, salt of the Earth...

Thanks for being here

Attendance register and photo

Questions

I enjoy sharing things – I hope you were not bored out of your wits…. 

25 August 2023 - about 8 months after posting this blog, I watched this video shared by Rob Whittaker about choosing careers. In this case, he is discussing working with the disability of Bipolar Disorder, but I fully agree with each of these considerations in choosing your career - with or without a disorder - letting a long-term view guide you. You may find unanticipated less-than-ideal things as you go, but near the end he shares counsel that he received from a friend that proved to be very valuable for him in filtering out many careers that were less suited to his character, strengths, weaknesses, passions, and needs.

10 JOB TIPS -- (Living With Bipolar Disorder) - or Living with Life!