Hello good people!
Last year, some friends hosted something called Merry Merkle. It was a Christmas donation campaign with a simple website and leaderboard that encouraged people from all over the world to donate a little crypto to those in need (in this case, it was a Children’s Home in Toronto). They were very, very successful.
I would like to propose that we do something similar this year at Status, and have just the place in mind which could really benefit from something like this.
As you all know, education is one of our major goals at Status. If we want to build a better web, we need to make sure that we’re taking people along with us on that epic journey. As you may not know, education in South Africa is my home country’s single greatest post-apartheid failing. Particularly where my family lives, in the Eastern Cape, the education system borders on criminally negligent.
As a response, my family and some friends started their own school, and have been educating around 100 local children for the last decade. It’s called, appropriately, African Angels. The school offers an independent curriculum and education, and is really the only hope these kids have of a better life as they grow up and look to expand their horizons beyond the rural village where we all live.
I think it would be great to set up a similar site and drive to what happened with Merry Merkle, but I want to get some of you out there, on the ground, meeting the kids and teachers, and hacking together in one of the most beautiful places on Earth.
. . .
There are a number of exchanges in SA who I can rope in through some personal contacts to handle the exchange, regulatory, and legal concerns here. I have also started looking for accommodation for however many people would like to attend and - for now, to get the ball rolling - have secured a shared house in a truly awesome location.
The Beach House is currently available for the first couple of weeks in December. We have a booking for the weekend of the 14th but I have blocked the dates up until the 14th for now so as to provide you with a bit of time to decide if the venue would be suitable for your requirements.
As you know, it is fully equipped and has uninterrupted ocean views. The house sleeps 10 across five bedrooms, three of which are en-suite. Conveniently located, the venue is a couple of minutes from the main beach entrance and the local cafés and supply store. Our housekeeper is available to give the house a service during the week.
Please note that the house has uncapped wifi.
More images are available on our instagram page @gillsbeachhouse for more images. We charge R2600 per night but offer a 10% discount for local bookings.
Let me know if you’d like to come and be a part of this in the first week of December 2018. The idea would be to build a site to handle the donations and set up all the admin required behind it to make sure it all goes directly to the school. We can also maybe do some Status-specific activities and meetings depending on who can make it.
Otherwise, once that is all done, the idea would be to have a week on what I guarantee you is the single best beach in South Africa, and likely one of the best in the world. I leave you with this to consider:
