Sonja Kruse also known as ‘The uBuntu Girl’ is blessed with a well-developed sense of adventure and enormous faith in humanity. In 2009 she embarked on a year long solo trip around South-Africa on foot and by thumb.

She set out with a 33lt backpack, a camera and a R100 with an open heart and an open mind.

She hitch hiked and walked for 351 days, experiencing the generosity of 150 families, from 16 cultures, throughout 114 towns.

Sonja did this without a back up team, tent or bank cards and without pre-planning the route.

She wanted to collect the goodwill stories that are often omitted from our newspaper headlines.

She is the author of ‘The uBuntu Girl’ – a book about this epic journey and of the remarkable encounters she had along the way. View full list of Speakers Q-Z

Her wish is that it will help us build social bridges and equip the next generation with the tools to write the stories we want for our future.

As well as being an international presenter and speaker, including stages in Europe and South America, she was a 2011 Feather Awards Finalist and currently facilitates uBuntu youth development workshops.

She also facilitates reading & writing workshops for FunDza Literacy Trust.

Sonja Kruse did what many thought impossible and took to the streets and national roads of South Africa embarking on a journey that led her to the heart of that country’s collective spirit — Ubuntu.

Sonja Kruse | Inspirational Speaker

In October 2009 she quit her job, gave her car away and left the familiar behind to embark on a yearlong journey around her country. She became known as the uBuntu girl.

It was to be a journey of discovery – discovery of the sincere hospitality offered by complete strangers and the uncovering of her own fears, apprehensions, preconceived ideas and, finally, changing perceptions. Sonja Kruse left without a tent, sleeping bag or bank cards. Instead she carried a deep belief that she is because of others.

The astonishing reality is that along the unplanned route, 150 families from 16 different cultures opened their homes and hearts to, in essence, a stranger. She stayed in affluent suburbs and dusty townships, in shacks and in mansions. She met pensioners, school children and students, farmers and labourers, rich businessmen, poor widows, artists, housewives, truckers and curio sellers.

What they all had in common was the spirit of uBuntu that compelled them to reach out to a lonely traveller. In doing so they filled Sonja’s journey with extraordinary stories, teaching her about humility and grace. From her first night spent in the home of a Scenery Park mother who slept on the floor so that her guest could sleep in her bed to meeting the only white induna in the history of the Zulu Royal House on her last day. In 2014 she returned to the families with a copy of The uBuntu Girl for each of them by way of thanks.

This is the story of Sonja Kruse journey and of the remarkable encounters she had along the way.

Sonja is an Inspirational Speaker on building South Africa through the uBuntu Spirit

In October 2009 Sonja Kruse – Inspirational Speaker quit her job, gave her car away and left the familiar behind to embark on a year-long journey across South Africa to prove that the spirit of uBuntu was alive in the country. She became known as The uBuntu Girl.

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