Where it all started

It all started in my Grade 9 year. We walked into our science class when the teacher handed out a few worksheets, and then told us that we had to start thinking of some ideas for our science projects, which would count for quite a large amount of our science mark.

We were allowed to work in pairs, or by ourselves, and in the end I decided to go by myself, because then I would be able to work on my project in my own time, and even on the farm when I would go home.

What took a long time, was actually trying to find an idea for my project. I didn't want to do something that had already been done, because I wanted to find out my own results, and investigate as much as possible.

It was nearly time to submit what our idea was to our teacher, and I still had not found an idea.

I remember sitting in my room and thinking so hard, but I just could not think of anything. I then became side-tracked, and started thinking about the farm, and about how we had been in such a terrible drought for so long, and about how our dam was constantly leaking, which made it was even more stressful. I then knew that I wanted to do something to help the farm in some way.

Days passed, and the deadline to submit our idea became closer and closer. I started thinking about just doing a fruit testing experiment, and then, while flipping through an old agricultural magazine, there was an advert in it that stood out.

It was about something called a "polymer" being used to fix ponds and other leaking facilities. I was curious about this, and then researched about these "polymers". It was all so interesting, that I knew that I wanted to do my experiment on the polymers.

My dad helped me contact the polymer owners in Australia, and we asked them if we could get a sample of the polymer product, so that we could test it on our leaking dam in South Africa. They said yes, and then I finally had an idea!

Once I submitted the idea of using a polymer to seal the leaking dam on my farm, I could not wait to get started.

This is where my incredible journey began.