Sean Privett – co-ordinator

Sean leads the program and has a wealth of plant and conservation knowledge. He completed his Masters degree in fynbos ecology under the guidance of Professor Richard Cowling at the Institute of Plant Conservation, University of Cape Town.

As Conservation Manager at Grootbos he has had the opportunity to develop his enthusiasm for conserving, promoting and growing the Cape's plants and has strived to find ways of integrating people into conservation. He recently took a year’s sabbatical to the United Kingdom where he was responsible for developing the South African flora section at the Eden Project in Cornwall.
  

Susan Lochner – life skills teacher

Susan comes with many years of teaching experience in a local Gansbaai school and has been working at Grootbos since 2000. She has had an interest in adult education and skills development for many years and has been involved in a variety of community projects. Susan has recently completed a diploma in Nature Conservation and runs the life skills program at Green Futures.

SHARLENE DE VILLIERS – horticulture teacher

Sharlene studied Horticulture at the Cape Town Technicon from 1990 – 1992 and qualified as a Horticulturist in 1993. She worked for Stodels Nurseries for 7 years before she and her husband moved to Gansbaai in 2000.

She started to work for Grootbos Private Nature Reserve in September 2000 as a receptionist and left in December 2007 when she started to work for Green Futures Horticulture and Life Skills College. She teaches the students about plant identification, sowing seeds, caring for seedlings, watering, fertilizers, soil types, pruning, pests and diseases and many more. In 2009 she had a little baby girl called Marissa, and hopefully someday she’ll be able to care for her own little vegetable garden.

CELINA DANISA – horticulturist

In 2005 Celina left the Eastern Cape and travelled to the Western Cape hoping that she would get a job. She started work at the Barnhouse Grill as a cleaner and then left the job after hearing about Green Futures. After the course she was employed as our Nursery Manager where making sure everything runs smoothly.

VIOLA SIYOTYWA - facilitator

Viola came in Gansbaai in 2003 to look for a job in the hope of furthering her studies. She worked in the shark diving company for three years where different people from overseas used to come and see the sharks and whales. She was also a waitress. From August 2006 she left the company to come to Green Futures. She is now the facilitator at Green Futures and is currently busy studying with Unisa to be an ABET Practitioner.

Kutala Vula - nursery assistant

Throughout her course at Green Futures Kutala topped the class when it came to plant identification and theory tests. Upon graduating from the college, she attained a diploma in horticulture from UNISA. We were very happy to employ her on a full time basis after this, as the manager of the Grootbos vegetable garden which supplies fresh produce to the lodges.