Today, I'd like to share an indigenous college with you. The story dates back to the 14 hundreds, and it speaks of a lone coy woman who lived in the constant tribal mountains in a cave called the elephant. These mountains overlook a lush wetland where this Khoi woman would journey through with her cattle. Her cattle would graze on the banks of this wetland, and she would bathe in its fresh water. On one particular day, when she was making this journey down from her cave to the wetland, she encountered a group of Portuguese sailors. These sailors assaulted her and murdered her and her spirit remained at the wetlands seeking revenge. Desperate to seek revenge for her murder and for her people. And she did this by claiming the life of one or two young men every year. The story was so impactful that it still circulates amongst surrounding communities up until today. We know this because some men from these communities are still too afraid to enter the water of the Witton because of the fear of the spirits of the princess. The Coogee legend was so profound that the Sweetland was named after her. It was named Prince's Play Play being a colloquial term for wetland, and she was given the title of Genesis because of the power that she held within the space. Today, I'm privileged enough to be working at the legendary Prince's play to restore the space, to be a custodian of the space and to facilitate custodianship within the surrounding communities. These communities are under-resourced, predominantly people of color and have been previously disadvantaged by apartheid. With this being said, I would like to share with more about the more recent history of Princess Flair and how it reached the point where it needed restoration and custodians. During a party, an act called the Group It Is Act was passed. This act spatially divided South Africa, according to race. People of color were forcibly removed from their homes and were forced to live in undesirable and often inhumane spaces within the country and within the city. Along with the spatial segregation of living spaces, natural spaces experienced the same fate. So rivers, beaches, parks and wetlands were allocated to people of color, and by law, they were only allowed to use those spaces. Like most spaces associated with black and brown bodies, they were often underfunded and experienced neglect by the apartheid government since display was one of these spaces. Prince's play was allocated to people of color and more specifically to colored people colored being a colloquial or term used for mixed-race people in South Africa, regardless of the fact that people of color had very few spaces to enjoy. They made the most beautiful memories at a space and display. Families celebrated first birthdays at the flower, baptisms were celebrated at the flower. Children learned how to swim in the fresh water of princess flow, grandchildren to their grandchildren, how to catch fish, they. Unfortunately, because Prince Display did not receive the funding necessary for environmental and recreational management, it's experienced severe neglect and slowly became occupied by gangsterism, drug use and the illegal dumping of harmful waste. This thing led to the city of Cape Town being willing to sell the land to private developers. These developers wanted to build a shopping mall entrances. Fortunately, the community found out they organize themselves and a protest movement was started. People from all walks of life came together. Because they knew the value of the wetland and the importance of the prince's multiple voices stood in solidarity against this development. Local members from the community, the schools, politicians, scientists, indigenous leaders and religious leaders, even Desmond Tutu, were against this development. The protesting took on multiple forms. People stood with placards alongside the main roads adjacent to Princes Flay. There were protest picnics, and there was also protest planting where thousands of indigenous plants were planted by local community members, plants that had been lost both during apartheid and post-apartheid. After years of protesting and perseverance, the people won and the city scrapped the moral development. In 2015, the site was declared a biodiversity agreement site, which basically means the government was now recognizing its conservation and recreational value in 2020. Display was declared a provincial heritage site and the cultural significance and the legend of the princess was finally being acknowledged. So why am I sharing the story with you and why is this a story worth knowing? Because it teaches us about the concept of custodianship. Which is an indigenous way of connecting to land and to water and to the Earth as a whole. Indigenous people have interconnected relationships with natural spaces that they call home. They are the founders of what it means to care for our natural spaces and our environment. Currently, indigenous people are at the forefront of protecting 80 per cent of our global biodiversity. I draw from the lessons of indigenous people as an environmentalist and also from my own ancestors. I use these ways of connecting to land and to water as a person of color and as an advocate with the access to safe environmental spaces for all. My work happens is Flay includes environmental education, where I work with local schools, from underprivileged communities to establish famous ecosystems or gardens. And also to reconnect these children back to the fly, I do this by teaching them about the threads that bind them directly to the land and to water and to natural spaces. And this is through the ends, so I teach them about the legend of the princess and how they are connected to her because of the ancestors. I also share some of the lessons that the princess has to teach us about how to care for land and water and for princess flair. One of the schools that I've been working with is situated on the Cape Flats. A space associated with gang violence, poverty and the symptoms of apartheid are planning. Lavender Hill. A neighborhood with little to no indigenous vegetation. Now has a thriving, famous ecosystem planted by our young Guardians of Princes Flow, a project that I started in 2018. This garden now has cave dwarf chameleons, mole snakes, sun birds and all sorts of pollinators as regular visitors and inhabitants of their school grounds. Well, anyone who knows Lavender Hill, you'll know that this is an out-of-body experience. My work at the flow also includes restoration we I mean, I am employed as the restoration project manager, which sounds glamorous but initially was not. I spent an entire year cleaning the flow. I picked up dirty nappies, used condoms. Jindal, waste and other unmentionable items, I did this with a team of about eight people from the local community, and we had 109 hectares to cover. It was exhausting, nauseating. It was smelly, but it was rewarding. Also, our mess cleaner, I then began facilitating the restoration of endangered vegetation and display. And I did this by inviting local communities and local schools to do the planting of endangered famous. They also removed alien vegetation like Joe Jackson. To date, the community and the schools have planted well over 25000 indigenous plants, appearances play. These people are single handedly rehabilitating the flow, which is the essence of custodianship. My hope is that through consistency and sharing the work and the word of custodianship appearances play that I will reignite, the sense of care that exists within all of us were natural spaces. With this being said, I implore you all to take on a challenge. A challenge to care and channel your inner is. I've put together a three step process that will turn this message into action. Step one is find a space that you love and care for. This could be your backyard, it could be a park, a wetland or a pipeline. Stick to sit with this space or with this pipeline and figure out why you care for it. Why do you love this space and what connects you to it? Then figure out what the space needs from you in order to be cared for. Step three Take action to care. And do this in community, find a local NGO or friends group, community members, family, friends, and then just get through it. Embody the fierce protective spirit of the princess and simply care. Thank you.