Our Team
A bit more about the team behind Zingela Ulwazi
Zingela Ulwazi’s leadership model is built on principles and actions taught to us by exemplary local leadership, blended with research and methodologies we have proved transformational.
Our team leaders bring their extensive experience of the local region and their exceptional skills in communication, problem solving, leadership, educational innovation, research and learning, collaboration for solutions, as well as their wide-ranging life and work experience.
Trygive Nxumalo
Director of Permaculture Education & Community Development
Trygive Nxumalo is the Lead Permaculture Educator for Permaculture Explorers and 10 Trees. He established Rooiboklaagte B Organic Community Garden in 2015 with his wife Suzan Mashego.
Together with their community, they have developed it into a spectacular permaculture garden, with a beautiful thatched boma that serves as a classroom and event space, a kitchen and office space.
Not only is Trygive responsible for working with 300+ community members to develop and maintain their own home permaculture gardens, but he has generously travelled to communities far and wide, sharing his expertise, advice and grace. Trygive brings tremendous joy to the world, and to our classes, in the form of kindness, generosity, great empathy, wisdom and an infinite supply of song and dance.
He graduated from Avuxeni Computer School in 2020, and with Suzan, the women of his community and partner organisation Seeds of Light, runs a feeding scheme for over 250 children in his village, using vegetables from the garden. Trygive is the recipient of the Presidential Award for Leadership and a member of Rotary Hoedspruit.
Quentan Marule
Founder and Self Defence Coach : Sekwanele
Quentan Marule is the co-founder and Project coordinator of Sekwanele: Enough is Enough. She is passionate about women’s empowerment, and fierce about doing something to change the status of women in her area, advocating for women’s power and independence.
Her motto for Sekawnele is OWN YOUR CROWN. Quentan says, “My experience with Zingela Ulwazi has been amazing because I feel it is a journey of self discovery.
This gives me time to polish my skills and learn new ones, accelerating me to reach greater heights. My passion is seeing that I have had a great impact in fulfilling something that was beyond my expectations, and that is why I am a leader of Sekwanele, and why I am fierce.”
She resides in the Orpen Gate Village, and is the fourth of six children, raised by her lovely single mother, Lillian Marule. She completed the program in Electrical Engineering at TVET in Acornhoek.
Lillian Marule
Manager of The Centre for Women's Independence / Community Liaison
Lillian Marule lives in Orpen Gate Village in Acornhoek and is the Manager of the Centre for Women’s Independence and the Community Liaison to Permaculture Explorers and 10 Trees. She is the community liaison to the other women participants, civic and traditional structures in the area. She is a highly respected member of her community, having volunteered for many years in various projects serving orphans and vulnerable children.
She is a child magnet! Lillian has completed her Level 4 Certification for Early Childhood Education, worked at Ekurhuleni Centre for Orphans and Vulnerable Children and at Sibonile Day Care and Primary School Centre. Lillian is also the co-founder (with her daughter, Quentan) of Sekwanele, a courageous project which aims to change the culture in Orpen Gate Village and put an end to the relentless violence that women and girls are subject to.
Lillian is developing her own Spaza shop in Orpen Gate Village, and is also part of a collaborative business with local women, creating cleaning products. She is passionate about building her own and other women’s businesses and loves to grow and learn. She is an invaluable part of our team and a champion of women in Acornhoek, and is absolutely key to the design of Zingela Ulwazi’s programs. She brings exceptional commitment, wisdom, humour and love to all that she does.
Joel Sithole
Tree Expert and Permaculture Educator
Joel Sithole is a dedicated and passionate professional in the field of wildlife conservation and community education. He was the Community Education and Wildlife Manager at Koru Camp, an NGO located in the Greater Kruger National Park, dedicating himself to promoting environmental awareness across a wide spectrum, from school children to elderly individuals in the community. Joel’s mission is to nurture harmonious connections between local communities and the natural environment.
Joel’s journey in the world of conservation and education began in 2007 when he embarked on an adventure as a Nature Guide with Siyabona Africa Travels. This pivotal experience ignited his profound love for the wilderness and led him to transition into the role of Research Assistant at Associated Private Nature Reserves in March 2008, working closely with Elephants Alive.
In this capacity, Joel played a vital role in significant research endeavours aimed at gaining a deeper understanding of our precious natural resources and ensuring the conservation of elephants.
In 2024, Joel established the African Indigenous Academy. As the founder and Managing Director of this vibrant NPO, he dedicated himself to educating community members, both children and adults, about the significance of indigenous trees and the importance of tree planting.
We are currently contemplating the following quote from Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, with which we feel strongly aligned : “A 1994 statement from the Indigenous Environmental Network puts it best: Western science and technology, while appropriate to the present scale of degradation, is a limited conceptual and methodological tool – it is the “head and hands” of restoration implementation. Native spirituality is the ‘heart’ that guides head and hands … Cultural survival depends on healthy land and a healthy, responsible relationship between humans and the land. The traditional care-giving responsibilities which maintained healthy land need to be expanded to include restoration. Ecological restoration is inseparable from cultural and spiritual restoration, and is inseparable from the spiritual responsibilities of care-giving and world-renewal.”
Winie Shongwe
Self Defence Coach and 10 Trees tree mentor
Winie Shongwe is a long time participant in Zingela Ulwazi’s programs, a graduate of Permaculture Explorers and Sekwanele: Enough is Enough!
Winie is passionate about girls and women’s safety and building their abilities to protect themselves from the dangers in South Africa, so much so that she has graduated as a Self Defence Coach under the training of Coach Xania Swart.
Winie is a passionate and very successful home food gardener, and has an exemplary home garden, where every space is taken up with growing food or medicine. Winnie is a much loved teacher and runs fitness sessions which the girls of the village love to attend.
Winie is one of the original tree mentors for 10 Trees, teaching women in her neighborhood how to grow and care for food and medicinal plants and trees in their yards
Becky Harmon
Special Projects Co-ordinator
Becky Harmon comes to Zingela Ulwazi with more than 30 years of experience as a Non-Profit Director, including 15 years in South Africa. She has a Master’s Degree in Social Work and holds a Clinical Social Worker license. She has also worked on international HIV projects in Botswana, Lesotho, and China and loved every minute of it.
Throughout her work history, Becky has always been hired to be “the first”, or the one to come in and build, or rebuild organizations or programs. She has a unique ability to connect with and build meaningful relationships with people from all walks of life–all races, ages, and ethnicities–and to share joy and humor, even in the most difficult life situations. She learns new things very quickly and is a calm, adept problem solver.
During her time as the Director of a Non-Profit Organization in South Africa, Becky was approached by a community group who wanted to start an Orphan Centre to care for the hundreds of orphans and vulnerable children in their village. Becky orchestrated the fund raising of over $400,000 U.S. and oversaw all planning and construction for the creation of a unique, landmark Orphan Center. It now serves over 200 children per day with meals, homework tutoring, and arts and sports activities. It is fully owned and operated by the community. She also developed and established the Acornhoek Leadership Forum, a yearlong program to develop leadership capabilities among bright, committed South Africans who were dedicated to uplifting their communities.
Suzan Mashego
Community Liaison
Suzan Mashego gained a wealth of experience in cooking for large numbers of people during the years she worked in the busy kitchens of A1 Fisheries in Acornhoek, which she now brings to the feeding scheme she runs with her husband Trygive and community at their permaculture garden and training site, Rooiboklaagte B Organic Community Garden, feeding over 250 children every day after school.
As well as developing her own organic food garden and catering business, Suzan prepares delicious food for Zingela Ulwazi events, and is the community liaison for Permaculture Explorers in Rooiboklaagte Village.
Suzan is the mother of three wonderful children and brings her phenomenal singing voice, her dance, kindness, generosity, wisdom and traditional grace and respect to all that she does.
She says that during her time with Zingela Ulwazi, she has learned “how to communicate with others, how to start her own business (and how business works), team work and more about love. I have learned to be independent and NOT dependent. That as a woman I can do everything, and it is possible!”
December Ndhlovu
Water Activist and Educator
December Ndhlovu has decades of experience as a community and environmental activist, and brings his skill to our learning programs to help women know, understand and exercise their rights, and processes necessary to such engagement.
December has been passionately advocating for water rights, sacred sites and indigenous knowledge systems and is a member of the South African Water Caucus and Mpumalanga Water Caucus.
A graduate of Changing Practice (EMG/Rhodes University), December researched and co-authored the booklet “Saving Moholoholo“, which explores how the eucalyptus plantations that cover Moholoholo mountain affect stream flow of rivers that run through Bushbuckridge.
The impact on close to a million peoples’ water supply is devastating, also affecting traditional healers’ practice by destroying sacred pools and reducing the availability of medicinal plants.
Qhamani Magugu
Resource Mobilisation Coordinator
Qhamani Magugu is part of Zingela Ulwazi's resource mobilisation team, supporting the organisation's fundraising, partnerships and donor engagement. He is passionate about helping community-rooted organisations access the resources they need to grow, sustain their work and deepen their impact.
At Zingela Ulwazi, Qhamani supports proposal development, communications and relationship-building with partners who share the organisation's commitment to women's empowerment, rural livelihoods and community resilience. He brings thoughtfulness, care and a strong belief in the power of local leadership to create lasting change.