About us

I was born in Adelaide, South Australia. As a lad I spent the best three years of my life in a Javanese village. In the morning I did correspondence studies, in the afternoon I went barefoot and did what village boys did. I learnt the practical wisdom of peasant life and knew that the color of the skin is an insignificant difference between East and West.

After studying agriculture and theology back in Australia, Sandi and I spent nine years in Java focusing on training Indonesian young adults for serving needy villages with compassion. This led me to community development work and eventually I became a facilitator of programs of change and peace building with World Vision.

This work took me to Asia, Africa and Latin America. My last 17 years have focused on Rwanda where I have mentored healers and peacebuilders.

In Melbourne I work as a spiritual companion, a volunteer Garden Ambassador and a resource person in the development of study guides for Alexander Shaia’s book ‘Heart and Mind’.

I am married to Sandi and we have two daughters and three grandchildren; plus a surrogate daughter with two children; and we have a Rwandan daughter, an orphan who adopted us.

I am also linked with Dave and Sally through our common interest in offering youth educational material based on stories from Rwanda.

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You’re welcome to get in touch. Email 2live4give@gmail.com

John

Born in Adelaide, South Australia Grew up in Java, Indonesia Educated high school and agriculture in Adelaide Theological education in Brisbane Overseas experience in Asia and Africa, North America and Europe