Happy BC Day, Saffas!

Hope you’re all enjoying the long weekend, soaking up a bit of sun, and maybe even squeezing in a sneaky braai or two. However you’re spending it, here’s to making the most of this beautiful place we now call home. 🇨🇦☀️

On our side, it’s been a bit of a mix — some lekker moments, and then a whole bunch of chaos.

Saturday was Connor’s 19th birthday, so we hit the driving range for a bit and then grabbed some takeaways and sat on the cool stoep outside eating. Nothing fancy, but it was lekker.

Then Sunday came around and it was time for the big Costco run — our once-every-few-months stock-up mission. And let me tell you, I nearly passed out when I saw the price of Eye of Round. I use that for biltong, and when we first got here in Jan 2021 it was around $8 a kilo. Now? $16.99. I’m not even joking. I’m starting to wonder how we’re gonna afford the amount of biltong we go through. If anyone’s got a hook-up for cheaper Eye of Round, let me know — I’m all ears.

The rest of the weekend’s been full steam ahead on the mobile tire van and everything that comes with it. Tools, gear, planning, ordering, trying to keep it all moving forward. It’s a lot, but I’m loving it.

I guess the fact that I’m filming the whole thing for YouTube also helps a lot. Knowing I need to post something every day kind of forces me to keep pushing forward — even when I feel like I’d rather just lie on the couch and eat Ghost Pops.

If you want to help, go give the channel a follow. It’s free. I like it, YouTube likes it, the universe likes it. You don’t even have to watch the videos — you can skip them, ignore them, or just put them on double speed and laugh at me sounding like a squirrel on Red Bull. But hitting that subscribe button? It really does help.

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In This Week’s Newsletter

• Upcoming Events: From markets to pub nights to Afrikaans is Lekker — there’s a lot going on.

• Thought of the Week: The Shit Pile Theory.

• Founding Member Shout-Out: Ria from Serengeti Trading

• AI Tip of the Week: My AI Agent Just Saved Me Two Days of Work!

• That’s a Wrap

Upcoming Events

August’s a bit quieter on the events front, but there are still a few things happening across the country. If you’re up for a casual hang, there’s a chilled kuier planned at Centennial Beach in Delta. But the big one to plan for is definitely the Netvleish Boere Fees up in Dawson Creek at the end of the month. I know it’s a bit of a mission to get there, but it’s properly worth it — spitbraai, kuier, and a good old-fashioned Saffa jol.

• Summer Saffa Kuier at Centennial – Delta, August 9

• South African Pub Night in North Vancouver – North Vancouver, August 18

• Disney’s The Lion King – Vancouver, August 20

• Hemingway’s SAFFA Pub Night – Toronto, August 20

• Netvleish Boere Fees – Dawson Creek, August 30

• South Africans in New Brunswick – Fredericton, August 30

Thought of the Week: The Shit Pile Theory

Here’s something I came across this week that really made sense — it’s called the Shit Pile Theory.

In the story, one oke left a busted-up plastic chair on the corner outside a community clubhouse. Just one piece of junk. But then more people started dumping their stuff there — broken umbrellas, scrap bits, old garden tools. Before long, you’ve got a full-blown mess. And that’s the Shit Pile Theory: shit attracts more shit.

It made me think about how it plays out with people too.

You’ve got one oke who’s always complaining, always negative, always in a bad mood — and that stuff spreads. Before long, the whole group is sitting around moaning, feeding off of each other’s bad vibes, and spiraling down the tunnel of gloom.

Turns out, it’s not just a theory either. Researchers at the University of Notre Dame actually studied this. They looked at what happens when you put a generally positive student in a dorm with someone who’s got a really negative mindset. Six months later, even the cheerful ones were showing signs of that same negative thinking. Just from being around it all the time.

But here’s the lekker bit — it works the other way too.

If you’re spending time with people who are upbeat, positive, and pushing forward, their attitude rubs off on you as well. You bounce back faster. You start seeing solutions instead of problems. The energy lifts you.

There’s an old saying that goes, “You can’t soar like an eagle if you’re surrounded by turkeys.” And it’s true — it’s hard to fly high when you’re surrounded by people stuck in the mud.

So the thought for today is this: don’t be that first broken lawn chair.

Don’t be the oke who starts the shit pile. Be the one who breaks the pattern. Help lift the mood, get others unstuck, and spread positive vibes.

Bring the light, not the rubbish. And look, I know it’s not always moonshine and roses — we all have off days. But that’s exactly why it helps to be surrounded by people who are bringing the light. On the days I’m down, your energy lifts me. And on the days you’re struggling, hopefully mine does the same for you.

That’s how we keep each other flying.

Founding Member Shout-Out: Ria from Serengeti Trading

Just a quick shout-out to someone who truly embodies the spirit of community — Ria from Serengeti Trading.

From the very first time we visited her shop after arriving in Canada, she’s been amazing. I still remember that first visit — we bought a bunch of stuff and she slipped a box of chocolates into the bag for free. Just because.

Ever since then, she’s been there. Helping where she can. Supporting the South African Institute. Letting us host Boerewors Roll Days. Helping us raise funds. Always giving, always kind.

And the best part? She’s not doing it for the attention. I’ve tried to get her on video, do a little interview, put her in the spotlight — and every time she just laughs and says, “No thanks, I’m fine.”

So Ria, even though you don’t want the fuss — this one’s for you. Dankie vir alles wat jy doen vir ons Saffas in Kanada!

AI Tip of the Week: My AI Agent Just Saved Me Two Days of Work

Last week I told you AI’s about to get freaky. This week? I actually tried one of those new ChatGPT agents — straight out the box, nothing fancy — and I was blown away.

We’re rebuilding the Women of the Future website, and I needed to load a ton of profiles from PDFs. Normally, that’s a proper admin slog. Copy the content, check the links, upload the headshot, format everything in WordPress, add SEO stuff… rinse and repeat. Honestly, it would’ve taken me two or three days to do the lot.

So instead, I opened ChatGPT in my browser, gave it a solid prompt with login details and step-by-step instructions, and then dropped in the PDF and the image.

And off it went.

It read the content, filled in the fields, checked the social media links to make sure they still worked, uploaded the image, added a caption and alt text for SEO — the whole lot. And then asked me if I wanted to publish.

It’s not perfect. Sometimes it forgets something small. And I did have to tweak the prompt a few times to get it just right. But still — I loaded 40 profiles in the time it would’ve taken me to do maybe five or six manually. It’s like having a junior staff member who actually wants to do admin.

And the best part? This isn’t some wild future thing. You can do this today. Right now. Just by asking nicely.

👉 Watch the video and see it in action 

That’s a Wrap

Alrighty, that’s it for this week.

And hey — if you’ve made it all the way down here, you clearly don’t hate what I’m saying. You might even like it a little. So do me a solid and go subscribe to the YouTube channel if you haven’t yet.

It’s free. It helps me out. And it makes the algorithm happy — which apparently matters now.

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Also let me know how I did in this week’s newsletter. I respond to all replies, so shout if you’ve got feedback, suggestions, or even a lekker biltong tip. Always good to hear from you.

Cheers,

Callie