Introduction to South African Projects Mpumalanga Province in South Africa All of Seeds of Light’s South Africa projects are located in Mpumalanga Province. This is a particularly beautiful part of South Africa with a huge variety of terrains—mountains; forests; a vast, wild canyon, the Blyde River Canyon; and rolling savannah lands. Its climate is mild in most areas and the vegetation ranges from sub-tropical to bushveld. Mpumalanga is a land of plenty and of huge potential. There are many private game reserves with high-end lodges, which support tourism, and where people can view the African animals in their natural habitat in five-star surroundings. Mpumalanga also contains a vast section of the world famous Kruger National Park, which is South Africa’s largest game reserve, renowned for its enormous size and huge variety of African animals. Mpumalanga province is also the site of some of Apartheid era “homelands”, the reservation-like areas where many Black people were required to live. These are inherently third-world areas, forgotten and neglected up until very recently. However, through the efforts of organizations like Seeds of Light, these impoverished areas are beginning to blossom.   Introduction to Brazil Projects Recently, Seeds of Light co-directors Leslie Temple-Thurston and Brad Laughlin went to the Brazilian rain forest in the state of Acre to get a firsthand look at how things work in the town of Cruxeiro do Sul (Southern Cross), a remote town set deep in the forest. Doing research is an essential part of knowing how to help, and while there they made a commitment to do whatever possible to help preserve the forest and assist some of the indigenous people who are most at risk from the ongoing destruction of the forest. These are the people who live on the edge of the forest and are exposed to Western ways. In association with a local grass roots organization that provides material assistance to forest dwellers of the region, Seeds of Light is supporting a literacy training program to help those without access to schools to gain this basic capacity and skill. To empower the indigenous people and rural forest dwellers with the tools of being able to read and write is a primary strategy for empowering these communities to choose their own destiny and resist the pressure of industrialization which leads to habitat destruction.