When I was six, my parents, brother, and I moved from the Netherlands to South Africa. Growing up surrounded by nature—in a way that felt "wild and free" to me—was a stark contrast to life in the Netherlands, where I sometimes spent months cocooned indoors by the weather. My routine consisted of waking up to the song of African birds and swimming with my mother in a wild ocean toward the amber sunrise. With a bit of luck, surrounded by hundreds of dolphins. Sadly, my father suffered from a long illness and died when I was in my mid-twenties. My mother followed shortly after. Through this experience, I began to understand the power of the ocean. The ocean became my sanctuary. It taught me how deeply healing nature can be, even under the most difficult circumstances. Through this experience, I also began to understand systems theory: the interconnectedness of all aspects of a living system. When one aspect fails, it impacts the whole, and a cohesive approach is needed to restore balance.

In addition to collecting pledges, Ocean Pledge focuses on education and women empowermentIn South Africa, issues like poverty, crime, and youth unemployment are considered far more urgent than plastic floating in our oceans. To initiate greater conservation efforts for nature, it is effective to equip and empower our disadvantaged youth. Our #VoiceoftheOceans program aims to grow a network of Ocean AmbassadorsWe do this by teaching speaking skills that can be used in all aspects of life, exposing these young people to thought leaders in marine conservation and by creating a love for the ocean. You only protect what you love, and many of these young people have never played in the sea. So far, we have 96 graduates Ocean Ambassadors who use their leadership skills in community projects, while building self-confidence, work experience and more climate-resilient communities.

I'd like to encourage women to pack their bags and seek experiences in the wild African wilderness to rediscover our inner WILD, pause, and recharge. Healing ourselves also means healing the earth. The indigenous San peoples, who have lived in harmony with nature on these African lands for tens of thousands of years, teach us that everything is rooted in gratitude and reciprocity between ourselves and nature.

The journeys we will make are an opportunity to remind ourselves of the interconnectedness of everything and to feel the WILD awakening within us again. A journey of realignment and rewildingA helpful step if we want to continue living in harmony with ourselves, each other, and nature, especially now that many of us feel we are increasingly losing that.