In 2006 I was making three short films for the municipality where I lived. They were to highlight the business and cultural life of the township. I obtained the funding for the films by reaching out to local businesses and even though most of the amounts given were small, the wide support in the community allowed me to keep working with the project. 

Through working on this, I spoke to lots of people in the community and I also set up interviews with local politicians. I used some old medicine bottles as props, labeling them with different areas of development such as culture, knowledge and finance. I asked the politicians to place the bottles in order of how they prioritized them in the municipality.  Several things emerged from these interviews with the politicians that I reacted to. Although these sidetracked from my film project, I became curious and made further enquiries. 

This culminated in me doing a series of articles in the local newspapers about my discoveries. One thing I wrote about questioned them having closed political party meetings in the city council without the media or public allowed access. I questioned the legality of this and after a series of articles, another politician approached me, telling me that what they were doing was in fact illegal. 

The result of all this was that I became persona non grata. The municipality rejected all my applications for funding for the films and all my commissioned jobs from the local business community dried up. I persevered with the films and managed to finish all three, but the financial outcome was not great..  This all took its toll on me. By the time the news reached the regional newspapers, I was burnt out. I’d stuck my neck out and I was now paying for it. I was met with closed doors and cold shoulders wherever I turned. I decided to get out of the area to try to get back on my feet. 

Whilst being away, several ideas started to grow. Inspired by the medicine bottles I used in the interviews, an idea started forming in my head. It launched me into a whole new area of discovery that’s resulted in one book so far: “Timeless Medicine.” The total rejection within my home community was a hard pill to swallow. But on the other hand what I’ve been working with since all grew out of that experience, so I suppose I wouldn’t be where I am today without it.