I love diving. I love diving in the oceans, because it makes me really humble towards the earth: as a diver you are a guest in the underwater world, which is two thirds of our whole world. I am very much aware of that and the fact that we, as humans can have a tendency to overrate ourselves, thinking we are the most important living species. I can be totally in awe watching a whale, coral or a seahorse: they are all great teachers in how to treat our surroundings...

For the same reason I love going on safari. Being a guest in wildlife also humbles me towards the irrelevance we, people, have for wildlife. On the contrary: sometimes the only things we add to wildlife are bad things. You will never see an animals destroy things out of self interest. I love observing their behavior and learn from them. I find it the easiest to connect to my own nature in the overwhelming beauty of all that nature. It is all showing us, what Ubuntu truly means: I am because we are.

When I heard people speak about the strong Ubuntu in Mandela, during the broadcast of his funeral, I felt like many of my life experiences fell into place. Something shifted in me. Without knowing exactly what it was, I felt I belonged to this Ubuntu tribe. You could call it a ‘homecoming experience’. From that moment on, I was out of the 'Ubuntu closet' and it rooted very quickly in every aspect of my life. In 2016 VivU BuntU was born. Which, for me, means 'long live connection' and 'I am because we are' and is just a way of saying: hey world, Ubuntu tribe, I am here to collaborate wherever needed to make the world a better place again.

So with a lot of gratitude to Ubuntu and other native traditions, I feel I am on my true path. And while walking your path, it starts feeling effortlessly.

There is another reason why I love diving. I believe that human beings are like the world: only a small part (even less than a third) is what you see and the most interesting part is under the waterline. The more people become conscious of that and start understanding their own behaviour, purpose and values, the more people will live their own truth and walk their paths. And I think that is what the world needs.