Living the dream

Two women tired of the rat race and big cities face down their fears and go off-grid to find a simple, happy rural life. Sally Cranswick visited them

21 January 2024 - 00:00 By Sally Cranswick

There’s something about daily load-shedding and burst water mains that’s driving me to declutter my house as I try to find a lighter way of living. The more I get rid of, the more I feel drawn to a simpler life, but the truth is, I’m afraid. Pulling the plug on the suburbs might sound attractive but I don’t want to be uncomfortable or feel irrelevant or left behind. So when I met Kathleen Abdolaziz and Abby Shalabi and they told me about their off-grid lifestyle at their property, Sakura, just 40 minutes from Cape Town, I was intrigued to see how it works.  ..

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