Sustainability Institute

Founded in 1999, the Sustainability Institute provides residential accommodation for visiting writers, artists, activists, volunteers and scholars, and a learning space for participants in the Institute's various educational programmes. The Institute and the Lynedoch Primary School share a large ecologically designed building. This is why children seem so present in the daily life of the Institute. After the chattering and giggling children have gathered in the hall for the morning assembly, the Principal leads them in a prayer that often starts with a word of thanks for the beauty and wonder of the Western Cape's unique ecosystem which includes the grand mountains peaks, the exceptional diversity of the 'fynbos' plant kingdom, the ancient history of local settlement, and the wild and windy coast. Although the children come from some of the poorest families in the country, the Principal reminds them of the promise of a better life through education. He offers them the possibility of hope. And this, in essence, is what sustainability is all about.