Haling from sunny South Africa, born and bread, I reside in the capital city Pretoria, also lovingly called the Jacaranda City on account of the thousands of trees spanning our streets and suburbs. Bursting into picturesque bloom at the start of spring each year, turning the world purple around you. Local folklore proclaims, that should a flower land on your head while studying under a Jacaranda tree, you are sure to pass your exams. With my birthday also in October, I get to enjoy nature's celebration, a reminder of the beauty of life, and just how much we have to be grateful for. There truly is no other place like home.

Not without its challenges, with the current regime of looters and thieves being set on completely destroying everything we once had. Opportunities are sparse in a hostile environment where unemployment is rife and the number one occupation is crime. It makes you appreciate community, everyone looking out for each other, giving support where you can, and helping those in need get back on their feet. I want you to be a part of my GitHub community, be a friend, be a neighbour, be a sponsor and help me to focus more of my time on open source. Every $37 sponsored guarantees 1 hour more that I can stay on the grind, any less and I am forced out to go hunt in the wild, away from the safety and comfort which I've come to call home.

Been coding since the 80s, wrote my first program on a Commadore64, it was copied from a textbook but had a syntax error and wouldn't run until I made sense of what I typed and could spot the problem. It only took fixing my first bug and I was hooked, line and sinker. Got introduced to Pascal through a friend of my father's which later became Delphi and the rest is history. I always loved taking things apart and putting them back together again, the screws that got left over was prove that it is optimized. =)

The commit tracker claims that I have contributed to 52 projects over the years, but my main focus currently lies with BeanShell and getting it to a stable release. Coding for me is like breathing, it gives sustenance, in times of stress it is an escape to take my mind off of worries. If I see something broken I can't help but fix it, spending my free time on open source is not a chore but a pleasure and I don't see that changing. I joined this program because it can really help me, work is scarce, but success is not a requirement for my continued sharing.

1 Peter 14:10 "...serve one another with the gift each of you has received."

If you are unable to sponsor I understand, if what I do is useful to you that is reward in itself. A simple kudos or thank you goes a long way so feel free to drop me a line. It can get lonely in the trenches, and sometimes patience runs dry, just like at home I believe having a community around you makes a world of difference. So what do you say, want to be my friend? Thank you for spending time with me, may God bless and keep you always.