South Africa to Brazil, and home again!

Since I last wrote, at the end of my week with Bitcoin Ekasi, I drove back south to Cape Town to join The Maiden Factor on a transatlantic sail to Brazil, which took me on a 3400nm journey with 10 other women from around the world.

On the way to Cape Town, I stopped in the small coastal village of Witsand for a quick breather before returning to focus on a new project, thanks to a generous invitation from Bitcoin Witsand. Impressive that in a town of 500 people they have already set up a circular bitcoin project where you can eat out, buy groceries and even fill up your car with bitcoin.

When I arrived in Cape Town and met up with the crew I would be sailing with and filming with, we were working against the clock to complete the pre-departure preparations. The transatlantic crossing was an amazing experience, it is rare in our world to find yourself in a place where all your usual daily inputs disappear. After all the hustle and bustle of driving around the Western Cape filming this documentary and then preparing for sea, it took about 2 weeks for my mind to settle into the new rhythm of the boat, but when I did there was a tremendous sense of peace of a simpler life. In fact, life on land began to feel like a dream or a distant memory. It was very refreshing, but nonetheless, as we approached Brazil, I was excited to get back and resume my projects with a fresh perspective.

Since arriving back onshore, I have been fortunate enough to speak with Meron Estefanos, a very inspiring individual who is well known for her tireless anti-trafficking work helping fellow Eritreans and raising awareness of the plight of Eritrean refugees. Bitcoin has played an important role in enabling her work to continue in a country where banking is controlled by the government dictatorship. She will be one of the speakers at the Oslo Freedom Forum, which I plan to attend next month. I have set up a Geyser Fund to help with unavoidable production costs such as flights, accommodation etc. Any help would be greatly appreciated. You can visit my crowdfunding page here.

I have also really enjoyed starting to log and edit the terabyte of footage I collected from my time at Bitcoin Ekasi prior to the sail. Watching back the interviews, after the pause from being at sea, is fueling me with a new lease of motivation and excitement for this project I have begun.