Our trip to South Africa was wonderfully refreshing in many ways, but one of my favorites was being reminded of the simplicity of singleness and bachelorhood. Gary and I as a couple interrupted a group of unmarried guys that was made up of our fellow travelers, our host and the many surf buddies that stopped by at any time of the day or night. They had obviously created a pretty tight knit community within themselves so when one of their premier members, Genre (known to everyone as G-Man) announced on our very first night that he was engaged, the guys actually had to be told 3 times, and then confirm with his brother (our host, Red) before believing it. Turns out that when G-Man and Hele first met they immediately fell for each other and after a couple of months of flirting, they decided to skip the whole dating process and just get engaged. Their story reminded Gary and I so much of our own that we couldn’t help wanting to document this exciting time. We are extremely stoked for them and loved witnessing how well they are matched and deeply they are in love. Congrats you guys!
Courtney and I just returned from a very inspiring trip to South Africa. It was a media gathering/creating venture for a ngo called Themba International. Jeff Johnson is the founder and was kind enough to take us along as he returned to his “home away from home” to continue researching eco friendly ways to help the people of South Africa. We traveled with a small media team who’s goal was to capture imagery and create multimedia that would tell the story of the South African people living in a township called Thembalethu. The stories, imagery and content are meant to challenge the viewer to “Consume with Conscience” and provide opportunities for the viewer to be about positive change in their communities in The States while impacting and providing jobs for communities in South Africa. While in country, we branded Themba, started working on some print collateral and the website, and scripted/produced several informational videos. Our media team was filled with outstanding individuals, Jeff’s vision for Themba is right on, and the people we connected and shared stories with were inspiring beyond words.
Well, we made it safely to South Africa and back again. What a great trip! We have TONS of content to go through and edit for Themba International (the nonprofit organization that we traveled and worked with (photo/design/video) while in S.Africa – we’ll post more about that at a later date). 
When we weren’t shooting, scripting, dreaming, filming or creating content for Themba, we were spending time in/near the ocean (it’s their summer season down there, so the weather and ocean were downright pleasant). The casa we bunked at was literally on the sand of a small beach called Herolds Bay (shown above), we enjoyed the beautiful ocean on a daily basis… taking in the smell, the breeze, the warmth and the ocean critters - a shark was even sited in the water during one of our surf sessions :) We spent a morning cage diving in one of the sharkiest places on planet earth – Mossel Bay - those crazy slow-motion shark attack clips in the series “Planet Earth” were filmed in that very same bay :) It’s home to a massive population of Great White Sharks.
We’re hoppin’ on a flight this evening that’s bound for NYC, then Johannesburg, and ultimately George, South Africa (just a few hours from Cape Town, the southern most tip of Africa). South Africa has a population of over 50 million, and has the second-highest number of HIV/Aids patients in the world. Around one in seven of its citizens is infected with HIV. Even though S. Africa has the continent’s largest economy, the country struggles with a crazy amount of racial tension, widespread poverty, and high crime & unemployment rates. For this particular trip to Africa, Courtney and I are part of a small strategic media team (film crew included) traveling on behalf of a launching ngo called Themba International. Much of the multimedia we create (videos, websites, print collateral) will be geared towards educating westerners on the issues S. Africa faces and how Themba proposes to help.
Courtney has officially launched 
Although Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in Africa, its people are beautiful, trustworthy and full of hope. They take an enormous amount of pride in their country, and have good reason to do so (it is Africa’s oldest independent country… and not to mention, breathtakingly beautiful). When walking through the city streets of Addis Ababa (the capital city), or trekking through the “bush” outside a small village in the countryside, you can’t help but notice all the good that surrounds this people and their culture… a welcoming spirit, a strong work ethic, tons of new economic growth, joy in the small things of life, fertile land, beautiful weather, and some of the best coffee on planet earth :) It’s still a third world country with an overwhelming amount of need, but opportunity abounds and change is in the air.
Gary and I leave today for 
Way back in the day when we first started on 
by Courtney
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