Meet Clare and Indigo. They’re custodians of eco-living whose open hearts are carving a path on the South African green grid. Both strive to keep the balance between consumption and creation in their personal lives and are brave enough to bring this to others as a company called Bridging The Gap. When it comes to prompting people to live more consciously and holistically, they are the synapse that connects.
Clare’s gentleness is rivalled only by her sudden bubbliness. Under her generally calm lake of love and dreams is a deep desire to enable the earth and its residents to live in harmony and health, and she is unstinting in her commitment to encouraging this.
Indigo is cool, calm and connected. She can crack a whip as easily as give a hug and is a mistress of leading by example. Comfortable in herself and keenly aware of what it takes to contribute to the world, she effortlessly rebalances energy with her presence without trying.
Together, their generosity of spirit enabled an incredible winter journey around the Cape Province that I hope is the first of many more. They know and network with wonderful people who walk the talk, and introduced us to them with open hearts. They worked tirelessly alongside us on site and also behind the scenes. They took great care to make sure that we had as much access to info and insight as possible, sharing their own knowledge, and prompting our mentors for more.
The trip could be seen as a tuning in exercise, and the daily tuning in circle was designed to facilitate this on a personal front. Its effect was to integrate conscious and unconscious experience of others. It was a little awkward at first, but it soon proved its place in the process. When you’re sharing spades, basins, mealtimes and bus time with people you don’t know too well, hearing them say how they feel and what they need creates an awareness that builds cohesion in a collective. This was the first trip for the tour duo and while it wasn’t without its teething issues, it was well worth it and a wonderful project to be part of.
The biggest surprise for me was the warmth with which our hosts responded to us. I tried to take a similar but solo route like this in summer, and was met with scepticism, mostly. The success of the group initiative emphasised the need to bridge the gap between dream and doing, city and country and friend and stranger with good facilitators. Two weeks on a focused road trip under the care of Clare and Indigo and I feel I have a new network of sincere souls to whom I can turn for inspiration and motivation. They’re waiting to meet you…
