As we navigate the complexities of hunger and humanitarian work, SA Harvest stands out as a beacon of hope. Their innovative approach to rescuing food waste and feeding the hungry is nothing short of inspiring, and today, we delve into just how a modest act of giving can ripple out into a sea of nourished lives. Shireen and Scott offer a personal take on the odyssey of self-discovery, sharing the wisdom they'd impart to their younger selves. Tanya's call to carve your own path, uninhibited by the opinions of others, pairs with Scott's belief in the lasting impact of every relationship you cultivate. Their stories are a testament to the power of individual action and the magic of connection.
Transitioning careers can be an Everest of its own, yet it's a climb that can reveal vistas of unexpected opportunity and personal revival. My own pivot from the airline industry to entrepreneurship post-retrenchment is a tale of taking chances in the face of uncertainty. It's about finding purpose when the ground beneath you seems to crumble. Similarly, we hear from my Airbnb host in Aruba, whose resilience in the face of political chaos exemplifies our incredible capacity to start anew. We wrap up with a reminder that we're all part of this wild journey together, inviting listeners to join our network and share in our continued exploration of life's twists and turns, remembering always to nurture the wild within us.
As we navigate the complexities of hunger and humanitarian work, SA Harvest stands out as a beacon of hope. Their innovative approach to rescuing food waste and feeding the hungry is nothing short of inspiring, and today, we delve into just how a modest act of giving can ripple out into a sea of nourished lives. Shireen and Scott offer a personal take on the odyssey of self-discovery, sharing the wisdom they'd impart to their younger selves. Tanya's call to carve your own path, uninhibited by the opinions of others, pairs with Scott's belief in the lasting impact of every relationship you cultivate. Their stories are a testament to the power of individual action and the magic of connection.
Transitioning careers can be an Everest of its own, yet it's a climb that can reveal vistas of unexpected opportunity and personal revival. My own pivot from the airline industry to entrepreneurship post-retrenchment is a tale of taking chances in the face of uncertainty. It's about finding purpose when the ground beneath you seems to crumble. Similarly, we hear from my Airbnb host in Aruba, whose resilience in the face of political chaos exemplifies our incredible capacity to start anew. We wrap up with a reminder that we're all part of this wild journey together, inviting listeners to join our network and share in our continued exploration of life's twists and turns, remembering always to nurture the wild within us.
Tales from the Wild, stories from the Heart A journey into the mind and soul of fired-up business professionals, where they share their vision for the future and hear from a different non-profit organization every month as they create awareness of their goals and their needs. Dive into a world of untamed passion. As we join our host, Shireen Botha, for this month's episode of Friends from Wild Places.
Shireen Botha:
Friends from Wild Places. We do love to support a non-profit every month. That's our way of serving the community and lending a hand to someone that might relate to the non-profit that we're supporting. So it works both ways this month, because we have two South Africans on the call today. This month I want to focus on a South African non-profit, so this month we're talking about saharvest. org. That is saharvest. org.
Shireen Botha:
In South Africa alone. Over 10 million tons of food go to waste every year. That's enough food to feed the 20 million people going to bed hungry in South Africa with three nutritious meals every day for over a year. Saharvist exists to tackle that gap. Its mission is to end hunger in South Africa by rescuing food waste and delivering it to those in need instead. Ali Khan, chief harpester at Saharvist, says that in South Africa, 39% of the country is food insecure and much of South Africa's food waste comes from farmers not being able to sell their produce to retailers because the food may not be visually appealing or because goods may have passed sell-by dates. By partnering with retailers and farmers, saharvist redirects what is nutritious, soon to be wasted food to soup kitchens in Yandiga and lavender hills and to non-profits dedicated to improving people's lives like a mercy aids.
Shireen Botha:
So I just want to get a little bit of an understanding for our listeners, because we've got listeners from all parts of the world right now and rescues and delivers 11,111 meals, which is transferred to $522.90. That's just $522.90. You can give out 11,111 meals. That is literally 90 cents in rands equals one meal. So if you donate $5, just $5, which is 96 rand, that equals 107 meals. That is amazing, just with $5. So I just wanted to share that with everybody, that this is definitely going to be the month for saharvist and if you have some time on your hands and you want to donate $5 to saharvist, please go to saharvistorg. Everything will be in the show notes. We really appreciate it. If you are living in South Africa, there's also ways to volunteer as well.
Scott Cundill:
That's intelligent. It's an intelligent non-profit. That that's exactly the kind of thing we should be doing. Yeah, we can solve world hunger relatively quickly. Unfortunately, it's doesn't have the political will in many cases, and that's a whole other story. If you got a YouTube assuming it hasn't been overtaken by bots now and if you got a YouTube and you type in Ted X and then my name, Scott Cundill, I actually did a Ted X talk specifically about growing your own food and how we should be growing our own food as well. That's something I'm a huge believer on. So we can stop a significant proportion of world hunger and even just from health problems. We can have a huge impact on our health by growing our own food. Thank you, Well done for that, Srin S-A.
Shireen Botha:
S-A Harvest S-A Harvestorg. So right, this is the time of the podcast where we either do something a little more lighthearted or meaningful, so I think we're going to go for the meaningful thing this time around. So I want to go around you know the room quickly and just discuss this question. So tell us one valuable lesson you have learned in life and one thing you could tell your younger self if you had the chance. It's a good one, right? So let me repeat that again Tell us one valuable lesson you have learned in life and one thing you could tell your younger self if you had the chance. So let's begin with Tanya.
Tanya Scotece:
Okay, all that glitters is not gold. That's one I wished I knew about, and I have a book in my head that I'm trying to get out of my head. So I am calling my book Chasing Glitter and I think it's, you know, really trying to understand our own vision, mission and purpose in our own lives and to not get distracted by other people's I'm going to use the word chatter, whatever that may be. And one thing I learned as a non-traditional student starting my studies at the age of 35 as a single mom, is when you ask someone their opinion, you are getting their opinion and that's all you're getting. So think about that.
Tanya Scotece:
I mean to our listeners out there. Sometimes we put so much emphasis and stock into other people's thoughts, ideas, and sometimes they're not in your best interest. So when you ask someone if you should go back to school, or if you should change jobs, or if you should get married or if you should get divorced or if you should fill in the blank, people are giving you their idea or thought and that may or may not be in your best interest. So that is my thought.
Shireen Botha:
That's a real good one, Scott. What about you?
Scott Cundill:
I think for me, it's looking after every relationship that you make in life, because little things can come back to you later in life that can really change it. People that you met 10 years ago suddenly pop up out of the blue and change your life. So every single person that you meet, no matter how trivial it might seem, needs to be looked after and really treated as if it really is gold and not just glittering like gold.
Shireen Botha:
Awesome, I like that. And how about you Shireen? All right, so I think some of you know my story. I was actually a chem and control in an airline before I became a business owner and when 2020 hit, I was, I took a retrenchment package, is the way to say it but that airline closed its doors and it liquidated. Oh my goodness, I don't know if you can hear the beautiful arty-dars in the background. This is really South Africa. I've got some great. I've just had vervet monkeys run past my window now as well, just so you know, Tanya. So we've had quite activity here, anyway. So excuse the weird noises, but I'm glad you can't hear it.
Shireen Botha:
So, yeah, I, the airline liquidated, and so, for me, I was forced out of something that I was comfortable in, right, and I would never have thought to start my own business never. And that whole situation of the pandemic and being, you know, let go. I was forced to think of what am I going to do now? You know I've lost everything. What? Where am I going to go? And so that kind of gave me the kick out the door to do what I believe now is my purpose. It's what I was meant to do. So I don't believe that if the pandemic never happened and the airline was still around, I don't believe I would have ever left.
Shireen Botha:
And it was a very toxic environment that I was in and I knew that. But I was comfortable because I didn't think at the age of 37 that you could change careers. I didn't think that. I thought that that was very looked down upon and is a no go. You shouldn't do that, because how do you start over at the age of 37? You know, I don't have my whole life ahead of me. So that's how I understood it, that's the message that I always knew, and so therefore I would never have left. So what I would tell my younger self now is absolutely, you can change your career three or four times in your life. You do not have to remain in a toxic environment because you think you can't change your career because you're too old or you think you're comfortable and you won't find any other job because there's not much jobs in South Africa and so you need to just suck it up, baby.
Scott Cundill:
And suck it up.
Shireen Botha:
Right, Suck it up but a cup and just continue it. Just continue working. No one likes their jobs. Everyone hates their jobs. We just do it because it earns us money. That is not the right attitude to have. So if I could speak to my younger self and tell her to get out of there and you can change your career as many times as you can there's no pressure to stay in a toxic environment and you can love what you do is what I would tell her.
Scott Cundill:
I'll tell you right now. In Aruba I've become friends with my Airbnb host and his little boy, which was the first to be just stayed with a week with a week. We've gone out a few times. He's introduced me to a whole bunch of locals. After about the fourth time we went to the boys playing in the pool. We were chatting and then he started opening up to me because he's originally from Venezuela. He pulls out his phone, he starts showing me photos. He used to have a private jet. He had a full boat, a yacht. He had this beautiful apartment that stepped on his boat. He was a boat captain, so he had this. He was on the ocean a lot. He had multiple businesses of all different kinds, from jewelry to construction to even car dealerships multimillionaire and the new Venezuelan government came in and stole everything, every single thing that he had. He basically had to escape and then it took him a few years to get his son out of Venezuela and he lost everything. Nice in his mid fifties and he's starting again from scratch in Aruba. So cute, this little boy, really great guy, just just amazing.
Scott Cundill:
So you talk about how vulnerable our situations are in this world and you really start to understand that you know everything can disappear in a heartbeat. So I think I guess if we could go back and teach human cells anything, it's learn the skill of being able to start over again from nothing, because if you are so reliant on what you have and anybody listening to this, or even in life, you need to be prepared. And if you learn the skills, start learning the skills right now of how to survive on your own If you lost everything. Even if that never happens to you is such a phenomenal skill to learn and that is relationship building, sales skills that you never had. I've started to learn Spanish now. Whatever skills that you need to learn in your life, you need to start learning them so that they can get you through, because at any time, something can happen and changes everything.
Tanya Scotece:
So true, scott, so true. And Shireen, it's so true. The words that come to me in hearing your story is the destination, is the journey. Sometimes we always try to strive for an end result of something where, if we think of our destination, it's actually the journey that we're on, and some of us have changed career multiple times. Sometimes we're faced with adversities and challenges. I teach death care at Miami-Dade College. I'm the program coordinator there, and we have folks coming in 30, 40, 50, 60-plus years old for career changes. And death changes people too. As you were saying, scott, it's like you know people you know like tangible things. Sometimes people are so close to somebody and then they die tragically and their life is shattered and they have to rebuild themselves.
Tanya Scotece:
So I think our conversation today is so multifaceted. From you know, understanding, relationship building what is at the core and the true philosophy of Giver's Game.
Shireen Botha:
I like that, I like that.
Shireen Botha:
Yeah, I think it's so important. This was a question that I really wanted to ask us, because it really is something that you had to think about, and this past week it was really something that I kind of realized that that is something that I've learned during this entire thing and, looking back, it was definitely something I wish to have shared with my younger self, if only. If only Because, I mean, that's not, we can't do that. It is what it is. This is reality. You know, this is the road that I've walked and the journey that I'm on, and I'm all for it and I'm enjoying every step of the way, but it is definitely something that I would have liked to have known back then. So, thank you guys. I appreciate you guys all being here.
Tanya Scotece:
I mean I got to ask you the million dollar question. Yeah, did that inspiration come from a bathtub too? Or where did your inspiration to go virtual bookkeeping? I know you said it was during the pandemic, but specifically when and where may I ask?
Shireen Botha:
When it wasn't in a bathtub. I can tell you that much, Scott, I think we're all going to try and get our most inspired moments in the future, I mean for a day, Scott, just based on this conversation.
Tanya Scotece:
So yeah, I'm going to make time for baths.
Shireen Botha:
I love that I love that, all right.
Shireen Botha:
So, yes, we have come to the end of this awesome podcast. It was so exciting to have Scott here and Tanya with me, so before we go, I just want to take a moment just to share where this is going to be. If you're interested in finding out more about where they can find you, if they felt inspired by you, or they want to find out a little bit more about what you do and how you did it in your journey, please just go and share a little bit more about what you do.
Scott Cundill:
Yes, look, the best thing to do is go to mymosttrusted. net. Obviously, you can find Scott Cundill on LinkedIn but mymosttrusted. net to get connected to it and there's a couple of videos there it explains it. But I would do want to mention that my team is available to assist, and here's what I am. I want to personally meet with anyone that owns or runs a business networking group or runs a community or a mastermind. Those are the people I'm really looking to get in front of, because you are the ones that bring humans together and we can really accelerate and support you. That's why our brand is very kind of nonchalant. It's very under the radar. We want to build your brand up and we support anyone that brings people together in business. So please chat to me if you want to partner, because that's how we work.
Shireen Botha:
Kind of a Tanya what about yourself?
Tanya Scotece:
Okay, as soon as I activate the count, you can find me also on mymosttrustednetworknet, is that correct, scott? Did I say it correctly?
Scott Cundill:
Yeah, mymosttrusted. net, yeah.
Tanya Scotece:
Mymosttrusted. net and currently very much on LinkedIn. I don't have a TV. I stopped watching TV almost 30 years ago. So if anyone is inspired by this podcast to perhaps consider a career in mortuary, becoming a funeral director or in bomber, please reach out to me. I also do senior placement. I match people with communities. So if you know someone that can no longer live alone because of physical or cognitive challenges, such as one of the dementias like Alzheimer's, lewy Body Dementia, it is a free placement agency with Sunshine Senior Placement. I also do expert witness serving for medical I'm sorry, funeral testimony with wrongdoings based with funeral homes and cemeteries. So if anyone needs any of these services, if I could be of any resource to anyone, please reach out.
Shireen Botha:
Thank you, Tanya. That's so awesome. Before I finish off, Scott, I just thought of something. Did I read incorrectly, Were you a virtual assistant before this?
Scott Cundill:
No, no, I ran a company that supported virtual assistants here.
Shireen Botha:
Got it sorry, just random thought questions. Am I hearing or not? Know. I wanted to ask you that, so thank you.
Scott Cundill:
All right, it's okay.
Shireen Botha:
Friends from Wild Places listeners. You can find us on the website friendsfromwildplaces. buzzsprout. friendsfromwildplacesbusbrowcom. That's friendsfromwildplaces. buzzsprout. com. You can also find friends from wild places Linked in page. And then we do have a TikTok page. We're still working on that, but if you wanna reach out to me, you can find me on LinkedIn, Shireen Botha. You can find my website, shireensbookkeeping. com. If you have any questions, my door is open as long as you're not a butt and you're not trying to spam me.
Shireen Botha:
That otherwise, my door is wide open Because now I am part of my most trusted network. So, yay me, Awesome. So yeah, thank you so much. Thank you so much for listening and we'll see you next time, guys, and remember you got this and stay wild. Bye, guys.
Voiceover:
You've been listening to Friends from Wild Places with Shireen Botha. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast from the links to catch every episode and unleash your passion.
