My journey to Africa started with dreaming about Australia. I grew up in a big city of Saint-Petersburg, which is in the north-west part of Russia. I clearly remember that as young kids my sister and I watched a TV series about the kangaroo named Skippy, who would always find itself helping some human in a trouble. I was totally crazy about the kangaroo, the country and the lifestyle in Australia. After school I was not sure what I wanted to do and I had no desire to go and study Law or Economics like the majority of young adults did that time following their parents’ advice. So I went to an English College to improve my English skills. Among the subjects we had I loved Country Study because I had an opportunity to talk about Australia. Later in university where I studied Art History, I made all my projects about Australian Aboriginal Art.

Where is Africa then, you may ask? Africa started in 2007 when I met a person who changed my life forever. That person opened up Africa in me. Yes, I know its trivial, but stories are written because people meet other people. To cut a long story short, my first trip to African continent happened in March 2009. Spring in the Northern hemisphere and autumn in the Southern hemisphere. What a beautiful time the Earth was going through! Twenty two hours of flight in total and my feet stepped down on the land of South Africa for the first time. That very second my life began.