Christina Brett travelled down through Africa in 1984; she met me on my organic farm in the mountains of southern KwaZulu-Natal, and after knowing each other for seven days we decided to marry.
Three children and one grandchild later, and after 20 years farming and training organic farmers, I am teaching soil science at Nelson Mandela University.
Three links with the Guardian have bound it into our being: my father told me of the wisdom of the editor of the Guardian when I asked about whether it was morally defensible to tell pleasant untruths to children. Dad referred me to the Guardian editorial where a father, asked by his child “Is Father Christmas real?” replied “Ask the Editor of the Guardian – He will be able to answer that question!” The beautiful answer allowed me to continue to believe in magic, which I now see in the natural world.
The second link was the courageous marriage of our South African Rand Daily Mail with the Guardian.
Then Christina arrived in my life. Part of creating a stimulating home environment on our farm involved bringing critical journalism to bear on the problems of the world. Christina had subscribed to the Guardian Weekly from her time in Boston in the US in 1979 and since our marriage it became one of the resources that helped our family to examine the world through a wider lens.
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