Adopting Bitcoin Cape Town

Community Project Lead at Bitcoin Ekasi

MD and Owner of Jabulani and Founder of Hoedspruit Elephant Rehabilitation and Development (HERD), Adine Roode has dedicated her life to supporting two of Africa’s vulnerable wildlife species, namely elephants and rhinos.

Adine is recognised in the conservation industry for her past work with rhinos at the Hoedspruit Endangered Species Centre (HESC), however, her most significant work has been in elephant conservation, which began in 1997, when HESC successfully hand-reared their first orphaned elephant.

With the growing number of elephant orphans and displaced elephant calves in South Africa, at the hands of poaching and human-elephant conflict, Adine saw a need for an elephant orphanage that would take in, rehabilitate, and integrate elephant calves in need of a herd and a safe home. This led her to establish a dedicated elephant orphanage, HERD, where orphans can be rehabilitated and eventually released into the welcoming embrace of a herd that they could call their own, giving them a second chance at life.

Adine will attend the conference to deepen her understanding of Bitcoin adoption and explore its potential contributions to securing the elephants' future through conservation efforts.

Valeria van der Westhuizen is the Media Manager at Transfrontier Africa, a non-profit conservation company that runs The Black Mambas All-Women Anti-Poaching Unit and The Bush Babies Environmental Education Program in Olifants West Nature Reserve, Greater Kruger.

Originally trained in Anthropology (Arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas, University of East Anglia, UK), she is currently studying towards the National Diploma in Nature Conservation via UNISA.

Besides media and PR work at Transfrontier Africa, Valeria assists Craig Spencer, founder and CEO of Transfrontier Africa, with fundraising and currently helps Craig manage The Black Mambas Alliance, a group of organizations that fund The Black Mambas salaries.

Valeria and Craig found out about the Adopting Bitcoin conference through their fundraising partners Izindlovu Fund, and are looking to explore the ways Bitcoin can be introduced into their work with The Black Mambas and The Bush Babies.

Journalist. Building @BitcoinCowries, @MySatsFarm @BitcoinStreetStore & @BitcoinBrite

Bitcoin For Fairness & Bitcoin Victoria Falls

Bitcoin Victoria Falls was inspired by The Hope House's Bitcoin Beach project in El Zonte, El Salvador. The Free Haven Community Initiative in Livingstone, Zambia is very similar in its philanthropic nature and community initiatives. These community and educational ties inspired a Bitcoin Circular Economy in Zambia with a focus on education and merchant adoption. This project will be led by two teachers who are a part of Bitcoin for Fairness Zambia, Mabvuto and Humphrey from Lusaka, Zambia. They will travel to Livingstone for 2 days each week to teach the My First Bitcoin curriculum, onboard merchants, and host Bitcoin meetups. We are ready for launch!

Emmanuel is one of the founding members of Bitcoin for Fairness in Lusaka, Zambia. He is co-organizing regular meetups in the capital city Lusaka and doing educational work with university students.

Founder and the Project Manager of The Bush Babies Environmental Education Program. Lewyn Maefala joined Transfrontier Africa, the founding company of The Black Mambas APU, back in 2015 as a Tshwane University of Technology student doing her Work Integrated Learning for her National Diploma in Nature Conservation. In 2016 Lewyn started the Bush Babies Environmental Education Program with the aim to educate the local communities about the tireless work being done by the law enforcement team (The Black Mambas) and the research team (Rhino monitoring). The program started with 4 local primary schools and grew to adopt 6 more primary schools within the first year of operation. To date Lewyn educates over 2000 and 30 bush grannies in the rural villages of Phalaborwa area. In 2019 she trained 7 new Environmental Educators who has been working in Communities up to date. In 2023 Lewyn, as the Adult Leader at the Scouts South Africa, went to the Scouts training and upgraded her expertise, having received Wood Badge, which equals Level 3 in Scouts Leadership. Lewyn represented The Bush Babies EEP and Transfrontier Africa at the national and international events, including the recent Girl Child Conference in Johannesburg and The Global Gala for Rhinos at the Royal Geographical Society in London.

Sergeant of the Crime Prevention Unit, The Black Mambas APU. Tsakane Nxumalo joined The Black Mambas APU team in 2019. In 2022 Tsakane was trained to command the drill, and received a designation as a Physical Training instructor. In 2023 Tsakane was appointed as a Sergeant to lead the newly recruited Crime Prevention Unit of The Black Mambas All-Women APU. In the same year she received bursary for Ranger Training at Southern African Wildlife College and successfully graduated. When not in the field, Tsakane acts as one of the Ambassadors for The Black Mambas APU and is represents the unit in media and at events. In between her responsibilities as a Sergeant, Tsakane studies Education at the University of South Africa.

A community-driven initiative, encouraging dialogue, spreading awareness and sharing insights on hedging against irresponsible monetary policy.