Paul Keursten comes to South Africa in 2010!

My good friend and colleague Paul Keursten is moving to South Africa in the next few weeks. Paul is one of the founding partners of our company in Holland and, not the first and surely not the last Dutchman to fall in love with South Africa, is taking the great step of buying a one-way ticket and will be setting up home with his family here from January onwards.

Paul is an entrepreneurial visionary. He has the wonderful quality of being able to see and appreciate the opportunity in almost any situation! He doesn’t see problems or blockages, and when he experiences them first-hand finds them completely intriguing, and as opportunities for change, growth and learning. We are so lucky that he will be joining us here in South Africa!

One of the initiatives that Paul has pioneered is the SEE Trust. The germ of the SEE Trust idea came from his engagement with Susan Rammekwa and the work she is doing with the Tshepang project in Roodepoort. Susan is another incredible person. She has established an incredibly vibrant community project at Princess – near Westgate in Roodepoort, Johannesburg This project has at its heart a crèche-school for vulnerable children (that has grown from a mere handful to over 200 children now) from the community, who are educated, fed and cared for every day. Around the school, Susan has mobilised volunteers from the community and has established a computer centre, a sowing initiative, a large vegetable garden, and a feeding scheme for elderly community members – above all a community centre that people can involve themselves in and make a difference.

Around the Tshepang project, the SEE Trust plans to build some low cost rental accommodation and a high school (currently children from the community have to travel great distances every day to get to school). The Trust mobilises investors who take a stake in these initiatives.

This is an exciting initiative that seeks to transform communities and peoples’ lives – assuming that people will take responsibility – and provides a new developmental model liberated from the normal constraints of donor funding and ‘service delivery’. It will be very exciting to see how the SEE Trust plans unfold in the next few years. Paul, Ineke and Florian – welcome to your new home!