Steve:
Welcome to the second edition of Wonderspace which was originally released as a video orbit on September the 7th 2020. Since then we've been asking the same 6 questions to people from around the world. Our questions revolve around life and wonder, places of reset and stories of hopefulness which I think we need more than ever. The setting for all of our interviews is a virtual window seat on the space station, from where we see everything from a different perspective. This week our orbit takes us over the coastlines of Yemen and Oman.

Steve:
And joining us in this ultimate window seat we welcome Marlon Parker who is the co-founder of R Labs in South Africa. R Labs is a non-profit company creating environments where hundreds of thousands of people are empowered and transformed through innovation, technology, training and economic opportunities. Making hope contagious is their aspiration and organisational strapline. I start by asking Marlon, from this window seat 250 miles above earth which place city or country would you want us to fly over and why?

Marlon:
In 2011 I remember being in a city called Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. At that time, I had just left my job at the local university and starting on this journey of art labs, which is what I'm doing today. All of a sudden, while in the midst of chaos, in the midst of busyness, the words 2 billion in 1 lifetime came to mind. I didn't quite know what it meant, but this for me has since become a life's mission. Could I, through the work that I do and the people that I know, impact 2 billion lives in my lifetime?

Marlon:
So flying over Malaysia is always such a beautiful reminder of that moment.

Steve:
Marlon, give us a glimpse into your life story so far with an emphasis on what you are doing currently.

Marlon:
The story of Marlin started on the Cape Flats, a place where there's a lot of social and economic injustice and inequalities. But In the midst of all of this, my mom, who was a single mother, living in challenging circumstances, always sought to give me hope. And for me, hope has always been something that was very crucial on my journey. Today, I am part of an organization called the Reconstructed Living Lab, better known as R Labs globally. And we are on a mission of making hope contagious by providing opportunities of learning, opportunities where people can create and innovate as well as trying to support small businesses in the most challenging places.

Marlon:
And we do that by creating spaces and environments that reflects hope. Because I'm a firm believer that your circumstances should never determine your future or your destiny. And that's the mission and the work that I'm currently involved in. And to date we've equipped over 200, 000 people with skills, providing almost half of those with economic opportunities. To make all this happen, Ard Labs has created what we call an innovation lab, where people from the community can turn their ideas into reality, both new technology solutions or create new systems and processes that can make a social and economic impact.

Marlon:
Through these innovations and technological opportunities what we've created, we've impacted over 15 million people simply by creating environments of hope and believe where people can make a difference in their communities. We have also provided support for those that want to venture into starting their own business to create livelihoods. We've supported over 3 and a half thousand businesses over the last 10 years creating thousands of jobs by just supporting those entrepreneurs who want to create these opportunities. So that's what we are about. How do we make this hope contagious and by doing that, impacting 2 billion lives in this 1 lifetime?

Steve:
Where on earth is your place of reset or recharge?

Marlon:
My place of reset is when I stand in front of the ocean. It does wonders to me because I see endlessness, which reminds me that in life our potential is limitless.

Steve:
What wonder of the natural world excites you the most?

Marlon:
I am a bit biased but Table Mountain in Cape Town is the greatest place of wonder for me. There is nothing more beautiful as being able to appreciate 1 of the great natural wonders of the world and whenever I see Table Mountain again I'm reminded of possibilities.

Steve:
Marlon what is your story of a hopefulness that's not your own about a person business or nonprofit who are doing amazing things for the world.

Marlon:
Whenever I think of people that are doing amazing things for the planet, I'm reminded of endurance swimmer, Lewis Pugh, who draws attention to the plight of the oceans through swimming in places like Antarctica. I'm always so inspired by his story and work. But in the same breath is another person that inspires me and gives me hope and that's a lady that very few people know but known as Bernadine Moses who is a wonderful humble lady living with a disability living at the heart of a community on the Cape Flats. What she does on a daily basis is amazing through small acts of kindness. She takes care of small plants and small trees and through a relationship with various organizations ask them if there's anything she can do to help recycle and I think for me those are the stories and the heroes that are around us.

Marlon:
People that can do small actions which brings together and can make a big difference to our planet.

Steve:
Finally as we prepare to re-enter what insight, wisdom or question would you like to share with us?

Marlon:
This is such a beautiful planet and the question that I want to ask is, what are we doing with the hope that we have? Are we willing to share it with someone else who really needs it? Because all of us have the opportunity in making hope contagious. And I think that's the mission. That's the dream.

Marlon:
To share the little hope that we have. So that someone else's life can be changed forever.

Steve:
To find out more about the work of R Labs you can go to rlabs.org. And in his story of hopefulness Marlon talked about ocean advocate Lewis Pugh and you can find out more at LewisPew.com If you want to find out more about Wonderspace, join the community or listen to our other episodes, the website is ourwonder.space I want to thank Marlon for joining us on Wonderspace and I hope

Marlon:
you