Happy, simply South Australia – Birth & Builder

Is Easter a celebration to be thankful? If it’s not it doesn’t matter because I am full of gratitude and a lot to be thankful for.

Happy, simply South Australia has a builder! Charlie Carpenter is our builder, a wonderful retired builder who is keen to share his skills, experiences and knowledge and I definitely know anyone who is involved in this project will be better for it.

The place we found Charlie was at the Aldinga Arts and Eco Village (AAEV) which isn’t that surprising and keep an eye on the next blog that explains the magic and common sense that is AAEV – and also the home for the Happy, simply SA home!

But first let me take you back to the birth of Happy, simply South Australia…

I had just returned from New Zealand having completed a Happy, simply home in the small community of Paekakariki. I kind of looked at maybe seeing if there were others interested in the concept in my hometown of Adelaide. Eventually someone told me about the Aldinga Arts and Eco Village and sure enough having spoken to a few people there some interest was raised. At that stage we didn’t put anything into plan as I was keen just to hand over the concept for others to use, and I headed off to Africa to do some work with UNICEF for the rest of the year.

However not long after I had lobbed in Uganda a resident of AAEV got in touch with me. Beau had missed out on hearing about Happy, simply while I was in Australia but he enthusiastically emailed me to get some ideas. I passed over the concept and all the info (as I do for anyone) and wished him luck with making his own Happy, simply home at the village. Unfortunately not long after Beau was diagnosed with bowel cancer, he’s under 40 years old, so the Happy, simply idea was put well off the back burner.

In February this year I returned to Adelaide to visit family for a couple days and went and met with Beau as we had kept in email contact. After finally meeting and in that conversation we decided we would hold a community get together and see what interest there was and if we could get a Happy, simply build off the ground.

I was still a little at arm’s-length and happy to hand it over to someone to do for themselves but at that community meeting people were enthusiastic and I started to get a good vision and practical plan of a Happy, simply home in my hometown just 10km from where my mother and some other family live.

Sharing the Happy, simply idea with a group at Laneways Learning in Melbourne

That meeting was about a month ago and since then we now have!

• A caravan to use the base for building
• A builder – Charlie Carpenter!
• A few materials that are increasing each day
• A band of core volunteers who will be there each day of the build
• A bunch of interest from a number of other volunteers
• A school keen to be a part of the deconstruction of the caravan and build
• A few designers and architects wanting to add their skills
• A wonderful location with wonderful people at the Aldinga Arts and Eco Village (AAEV) and let me tell you all about them in my next blog…
• An incredible man who has a lovely wife, young daughter, fortnightly chemo treatments and is the absolute driving force behind the project – Beau!

Basically we are good to go for Happy, simply South Australia! Just have to wait till May 15 to kick it all off with the official build period being 24 May – 8 June.

Be sure to join in or keep in touch on the blog and Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/groups/happysimplysa/ or the Facebook event page https://www.facebook.com/events/382302941912081/