The Restory Retreat Centre

   Wider Than A Cough The Conversation Elements From The Conversation Video With love George and Matilda

Photos by George Angus    Welsh poet John O'Donohue spoke of the earthern wisdom possessed by the animals we share this earth with.  “The animals are more ancient than us. They enjoy a seamless presence—a lyrical unity with the earth. Animals live outside in the wind, in the waters, in the mountains, and in the clay. The knowing of the earth is in them.”  When we become more sensitive and attuned to them, through presence, awareness, listening and looking, by deflating our self-importance, we enter into their state of knowing. O'Donohue referred to this state of shared awareness and being as “interflow” . What I do know is that we are mostly missing out through the lives we live. George  

Photograph by Hanna Jacobs We’ve had a wonderful rainy season this year. One of the results is that the grass and everything else are growing at such a rate that Skhumbuzo cannot keep up. To help him get ahead a friend of his, Siyabonga (his name means “Thank you” in Zulu) comes in on Saturday mornings to cut the lawn. During the week he goes to school, grade 11. This morning, on arrival, he walks up to me and says earnestly: “Sir, I need to write a short interview with somebody on bees. I know nothing about bees, except that they are dangerous. Can you help me?” “Yes, I think I can help you. How long must the interview be?” “About a 100 words.” “Goodness gracious,” I think to myself, “the teacher doesn’t know much about bees either!” “Must you sit down and have the interview with me and Matilda, or do you write a piece on bees in the form of an interview?” “No, I only write it in interview form.” “You do know that bees are very important to us as h...

668 rhinos were poached in South Africa in 2012. The 2013 statistics - 249 already killed. It is so difficult to protect a wild thing. The growing number of rhinos lost despite a variety of methods implemented by authorities is a case in point. It asks for a multidisciplinary approach. It costs a lot of money. As ordinary people we can make donations and get involved in the work of a number of organisations such as http://www.kariega.co.za/about-us/help-save-our-rhino-project and http://www.savetherhino.org/support_us/donate to name but two. On Fridays we can wear our T-shirts to raise awareness about this very important issue. Despite the challenges we cannot give up trying. The haunting question remains: once the rhinos are gone, what will be next? Or deeper still – can the rhinos help us to become aware of and open our hearts to the rest of creation as well? Even to people? George