Excerpt
I interview René from Simply Sow, a foster care project in Mossel Bay, South Africa, that has embraced Bitcoin as a lifeline. She shares how the organization transitioned from fiat to Bitcoin, how foster moms use it for daily essentials, and the challenges and successes of building a circular economy. Watch to learn how Bitcoin is making a real impact!
Transcript
I’m here in Mossel Bay in South Africa and here on top of the hill you can see Bitcoin Ekasi, the circular economy that has been started three years ago. I’m talking with René. She’s the founder of Simply Sow, an organization that takes care of abandoned and neglected babies. So she’s finding foster moms and parents for these babies and she’s also using Bitcoin. We’re going to talk about the experiences in the usage of Bitcoin for her. So hello! Hi, I’m René. We are here in Mossel Bay. Right over there is Bitcoin Ekasi. I was visiting Bitcoin Ekasi about three years ago when it started out and I’m here to see what the progress is and how they are doing and it’s great to see you here because the last time we didn’t meet because you haven’t been into Bitcoin at all. Please introduce yourself. What are you doing and what is your project? Okay, so I’m René. I am here in Mossel Bay Station and we are from Simply Sow. We started this organization in 2022, September, and it’s an organization where we look after abandoned and neglected babies. We actually, we didn’t start with Bitcoin because totally fear we only was helping in the community and by involvement through Bitcoin Ekasi and certificates we got more involved with Bitcoin and me and Herman spoke one day and he asked if there’s a possible way where we can introduce Bitcoin into our project that will be helpful for our foster mothers, for the children and for the whole project’s benefits. And yeah, that’s where it all started. So we started with a small project and to introduce Bitcoin to some of the foster mothers we would understand the fan and the wallets and everything and we started giving them bitcoin so that they can use that funding to buy nappies and milk and clothing for the babies. That’s where we started and that’s what we’re doing at the moment. Okay, so and how’s your personal journey in Bitcoin? How did that start? I mean because you don’t start an organization and just because someone tells you start implementing Bitcoin. So how was it for you personally? So Bitcoin started for us as a lifeline. When lockdown happened we were at home, my husband started doing project work and he started working for Bitcoin Ekasi or for Surfer Kids and Herman said at one stage he said well he can pay us in bitcoin and that was the only thing that we had. So we had to make it work. We didn’t know anything about this Bitcoin way of payment method. We know about the trading and everything but this payment method was different but it was money and we needed money to put food on the table so we had to do it and we started making it work. We were in fact with Bitcoin Pay, we started getting other people to buy bitcoin from us and we cleared. So yeah that’s how we got introduced in Bitcoin but it was difficult. I can imagine but it was important actually for your start that you were able to spend your bitcoin at pick and pay. That’s what I understand. Yeah if it wasn’t for that I think it would have been much more difficult and yeah if it wasn’t for that it really would not have helped but we at least we could buy some food and then when Bitrefill came out it was a lot easier. You can buy Petrol, you can buy at other stores as well. So yeah that makes it easier. So it was important that you were able to spend your bitcoin. Why is that? Well we have certain things that we pay it in the market and I can’t have money that just lie somewhere and I can’t use it. So yeah. But a lot of people say I will never spend my bitcoin because they are waiting for the price to go up. Their savings to go up. That would have been nice if I didn’t have things to pay. Yeah you earned in bitcoin that’s the point right. And I don’t have fiat and I needed to make it work for us. And I think that’s a great misunderstanding of most people. They are staying in fiat, they are earning in national currency, they just spend national currency, they don’t actually use bitcoin in that sense. But you only earn bitcoin, you have to spend it and then it is money. It’s a savings instrument and a payment method and the money. And I think that’s a great to see that here that with Bitcoin Ekasi when it started here the first project where the trainers, the surfer coaches earned in Bitcoin. And I think it’s the only way to make it really happen. And a lot of adoption from Bitcoin is coming also from spending and not only from holding it. And also the value that people see in Bitcoin comes when they see okay I can make a living of it, I can earn it and I can spend it without any problem. But a lot of people then will say yeah but then you earn it and the next day or a week later you have lost value. How do you cope with that? At first it was difficult but luckily with Apps like Blink you can put it in a stable sats if you need to. But we try to manage it and see what we can if we have it now let’s pay it now. Pay it right now, we can pay it upfront. And there’s a lot of times that it actually goes up so sometimes you lose, sometimes you can. You have to see the long horizon right? Yes. You have to focus and it does make it difficult. But we’ve been doing it for two years almost and I won’t go back. Yeah we made it work. That’s great. I mean you had two years, I mean okay the first of those two years was still hard. Yeah. But the last year of course was wonderful. Yeah. Much easier. It will go the other way around again. Yeah there will be a time. But you know that you look into the long horizon. Yeah. And I think because we are doing it in such small pieces it’s literally we get it in week. Every week we get a piece of our salary and so if I can pay something now I pay it now. I don’t wait. And you also you can count on that that you get it each week so you can plan for it. You go to pick and pay to buy food when you get it on that same day so you don’t lose or you don’t gain anything. Yeah. Yeah so we do it week by week. We live week by week and that’s our plan. So it’s doable. Yeah. Yeah definitely. Okay great. So basically on the personal side you live and spend you earn bitcoin you don’t have fear anymore. No. No. 100% bitcoin. Okay cool. Yeah. And so simply sow is an organization that takes care of babies who are being left alone basically. Yeah abandoned or neglected. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. And it’s in Mossel Bay in the Ekasis or where is it? Yeah it’s close to the Ekasi center as well with Bitcoin Ekasi but we have a baby hunter who’s opening very soon in a month or two. It’s just close to yeah and then our foster mothers is also in the in the rural areas the township areas. So they are from mostly on the other side of Mossel Bay’s rural areas on Guanacuaba and then we move up to Grape Rock. How was your experience with the mothers at the beginning because I think you started giving them satoshis and installing wallets right? How did that work out? I think the mindset for me was very difficult because I realized I have to work with these mothers that either doesn’t have a phone or its phone is always off or something and now I have to explain to them this Bitcoin thing and I’m using words like decentralized and all that and they have absolutely say yes yes yes absolutely no idea what I’m saying. So that was a mindset I had to take and to say well I’m just gonna start doing it. I’m just gonna open it and even if they say they understand whatever I’m just gonna start and when I did that we started with Wallet of Satoshi the easiest most simple app and some of them actually I was amazed at what they accomplished. They quickly cashed on because that was also a lifeline for them. That was the money they received and they wanted to use that money. They had to use that money so they made a way. I think it was a month or two then we had four or five mothers already on board it and when we got some merchants to accept bitcoin they were very happy so they can actually just go there and spend the Saturday. Yes because they don’t have the means to save. They need the money immediately. Yeah they don’t save. So they can’t. I mean okay so one learning is don’t go into these places and explain Bitcoin in a technical way. So all the slogans all the memes we have all the importance that we see in decentralization and non-governmental money and I mean no inflation is really important but still if you can’t save for the long term then it’s not important to you. For them it’s basically they earn something they get something gifted from you. They need it for the babies for their own food for everything for their livelihoods and they need to spend it immediately. So here also the merchants come in. Yes the merchants which are very important because it doesn’t help us accept all of this Bitcoin and there’s no merchants to buy from. Exactly. So you gave them satoshis at the beginning but then you stopped why? Well we are going to stop now because we feel that we were just giving and now it’s just I want some more because now I can get something at the shop with it. So we want them to explore a little bit more about the real Bitcoin behind it and to make it work for them in the long run because we know that funds run out. We know our funding is not going to last forever and then what’s in them that turns with all those children just to stay with nothing. You made them depending on Bitcoin and then they don’t get any more. Yeah. So and that’s not the point. So we want to help them learn more about the Bitcoin backside basically the story behind everything and then earn in bitcoin. So that’s a new project we want to start so we’re going to implement education at first come to the classes and then you get some sats or do this and then you’ll get some sats and hopefully we can educate them first. And then maybe find some projects while learning them, getting to know them better, see what they can do, what they can make, what the services they can provide. And then we can use that and get them a living, making a living in that way. Yeah, that would be great because it’s sustainable in the long run. And you told me you now have an organization called Simply Sow BTC. So that’s basically the one part is focusing on the foster care and the moms and the children. And the other part is focusing on the education. Yeah, we started with Simply Sow, doing this because it was a powerful tool. We used Bitcoin to fund ourselves and to help our cause. But now it became much more. So we really want to focus on the Bitcoin side, but we realized that we have to split. So our resources and everybody make a shift. And we’re going to do Simply Sow BTC, which does the Bitcoin part, education, on-boarding and all that. And then the other part is just for the parents and the babies. And you told me you found a young man living here from the city who is very interested in Bitcoin and is going to help you with that. Do you want to tell us a little bit about him and what his tasks are basically? Yes, he is a very energetic young man. He is from Graeprack. So our Bitcoin circular economy that we are going to focus on is Graeprack area. And he’s a local there. He’s been living there forever. So he knows all the people there. He knows the shops. He knows the people and the connections and how life is working there. Yeah, he’s living there. Yeah, he’s part of a community. And so he’s going to onboard some shops. And while we get some new foster mothers and onboarding them, he can get some shops. But the tasks that he actually has to do is he has to visit the shops. He has to visit with the mothers. We can’t get to everybody. If we expand like that, we can’t get to everybody. And then somebody’s wallet is outdated. Now he’s stuck. He can’t do anything. Or the merchant wants to know how to use this or this or how to improve this. So he’s on his thoughts will be mainly with that onboarding merchants and explaining to them, keep them updated and also helping things to learn more about Bitcoin, saving or spending or whatever that side as well. I think that’s very important because what I see on all my journeys to the different circular economies and and educational projects is that it’s very, very important that people have someone on the ground in the community who can come and explain things to them and help them out because there’s so much changing also in the Bitcoin space with new wallets or new functionalities of things, how you can save on fees or where can you spend bitcoin like telling people, yeah, you can use bitrefill to fill up your tank here, you know, and things like that. And so I feel that’s very, very important. And I think you’re catching it up on the on the right way, you know, like you I assume you’re also working a lot with Herman and Luthando from Bitcoin Ekasi. And what I hear from you is that the learnings from a car see basically go into fully into your project. So you basically supporting each other. It’s like a not a symbiosis. What do you see? Yeah, basically, yeah, no, definitely we’ve learned so much from our man. He really saved the train and he’s opening a lot of doors for us. And with the time as well, we can use him as an example and exactly bring out the new kids and work, let them work with him. And onboarding the shops and everything. So it’s actually a very good help. It was great when did you see the talk of Luthando at the conference adopting Bitcoin Cape Town? Like two weeks ago, Luthando gave his talk about his experiences, how he started out using bitcoin, earning it as a surfer coach and going home to his community and onboarding the first merchants. And I’ve seen him three years ago and he’s completely changed. And he’s very proud, very. I made that happen and he knows that and he wants to support his people. And he knows he does that. And I feel that’s so great. And also then there was this politician, Helen Sille. I think she’s called. She was the former mayor of Cape Town. Yeah. And she heard Luthando speaking. And the first words she said in her speech was, Oh, that’s great. Now I know that Luthando is using Bitcoin in Ekasar. And I think that’s great. And she learned that there’s another point to Bitcoin than just being a trading and investment tool. Yeah. And that’s exactly what’s so important in our work, basically, to popularize Bitcoin as money, as something that really helps people and also supports the so-called poor people. Sorry to say that way. Yeah. But it’s like, you know, in many European countries or in the US, it’s like full glory, you know, you have for the poor people. But they live in Brifia and they are more than we are in the Western world. It must be much more. So from that perspective, I really love to hear what you’re doing. And I wish you all the best for it. What would you say? What was the biggest learning for you in the whole journey? I think the thing is it’s easy to get a person to adopt Bitcoin, putting a wallet on a phone. But for the merchants, it is difficult. And you’ve got a whole back end with stars and your accounting and all that that comes into mind. But the innovations has been amazing. So there is really some tools that you can use and you can actually make it happen. You can live with only that. They can work with it. So I think that was that’s the biggest hurdle we have to have. The merchants, right? Yeah. What you told me before, like some merchants, what do they do? They adopt it first, so they accept it. But then why do they stop again? Because nobody comes to buy in bitcoin anymore. So if you only have a merchant and there’s one or two people that uses Bitcoin to go and buy them at the shop for once a month, then they forget about it. Oh, it’s just a Bitcoin wallet and they got 100 round or 200 round maybe. So then it’s not important anymore. And that’s why we also have this boots on the ground guide that can actually go there and talk to them about it and keep them updated. And exactly. Yeah, it stands and falls with the context you have because we were in Sveilndam yesterday at the Republic of Sveilndam restaurant, they accept bitcoin and we came and we said to the waitress, we would like to pay in bitcoin and she disappeared basically. And so the boss came out and says, OK, you want to pay in bitcoin? Great. Let’s do it. And then we said, where’s the lady? Why is she not coming back? And he said she’s scared. She’s so nervous. She thinks it won’t work out and she doesn’t know how to do it. And but all the way, I mean, in that sense, she only would have needed to show us the lightning address. So it’s not much really, but people are so scared of it because it’s new and sometimes it doesn’t work. And then what do I do when it doesn’t work? You know, you feel you lose your money and stuff like that. Yeah, you feel you’re incompetent, maybe, or something. And that’s a quite a hurdle, I think. And also helping the merchants to understand, OK, yes, at the moment, there will only be one or two people who are coming. Maybe I mean, if they come every month, then it’s quite good. But I see a big mistake of many Bitcoiners who are very enthusiastic, traveling to countries like South Africa and Kenya or wherever. And they are going to the Uber driver, onboarding them, sending them one thousand Satoshis and they are gone. Yeah, what? That’s you lost your thousands of Satoshi basically. Yeah, so you get it. But I think that’s what people in projects like yours, what you learn on the way. Yes. But the thing is, if it’s not for that merchant, we can’t get people to adopt that. Really? Yeah, exactly. We need them, even if it’s just for once or twice a month. Yes, exactly. They just have to wait a little bit. Yeah. And you mentioned it also before, earning is the most important thing, actually. Can you repeat why you think that earning is the most important thing? Yeah, our funding isn’t going to last forever. We are going to stop certain funding. Yeah, so we need to know that that person that got the funding from us can move on and that that mother can provide for a family, even though we don’t support them. Yeah, no, it’s also a great thing to earn bitcoin because then you also spend it. That’s why I meant circular. One person’s circular economy in a way, you know. I earn my money in bitcoin. Of course I spend it. I’m not going to exchange it back to euros or something. Why would I? It costs me and I don’t want to do it. It’s a hassle, actually. And also, if I do it in a regulated exchange, I have KYC on it. But when I earn it, there’s no KYC, which is also great for privacy. Yeah, yeah. So what are your plans for the next, let’s say one or two years? Well, yeah, focusing on great work. We are going to set the Bitcoin circular economy on that side and see how we can. We are more into artists and music and so on. So we are really hoping to keep the artists in a Bitcoin area focusing on that. And on our side, with the baby home and everything we’re doing there, we are also one to trying to get them salaries paid into the bitcoin and so on. So that money also gets into the circular economy. So that is at the moment our main focus. So yeah. And how can people donate towards your organization? We have a lighting wallet. We can always give you the lighting address for Bitcoin. And then we also have the banking details and so on for something. So yeah. So what’s the lightning address? Do you know it? Simplysow@blink.sv. So, simplysow@blink.sv. OK, cool. So everyone, put your satoshis where your mind is. This is a great project. Thank you very much. Thank you, Anita.
