This is my last blog entry from these shores. It isn’t an assessment of my time as a worker at DCA, but a tribute and a brief narrative of the most remarkable time in my working life.

A friend once told me that I was the only person he knew who loved going to work. True most of the time. I have been one of those lucky people who has somehow stumbled across jobs that suited my ideals, values and aspirations. I have also been one of those lucky people able to walk away from many positions, irrespective of how prestigious, highly remunerated and comfortable they were because they didn’t go well with my own principles. But I don’t leave DCA because it doesn’t suit my principles, it is for personal reasons instead.

For me DCA could well stand for Dream Create & Affect, or even Dare Change & Aspire. In the short nine months I have spent here I have seen the implementation of practices and projects that I have been dreaming about and advocated for in more than 20 years of working with and for communities.

This small organisation with a big heart is guided by a Board of Management that encourages its people to dream, create, defy, pursue excellence, transform, dare to challenge conventional thinking and support the full development of the human potential.

DCA practices a collegial system of management that abolished most forms of hierarchy, and where its workers assume full responsibilities for the day to day operation and administration with equal authority, but with the wherewithal not to abuse the power invested in them.

A place that values people, their desires, struggles and ambitions, supporting those who come through the door with a commitment to see their visions come to fruition by assisting with tangible approaches, rather than erecting barriers projected by the real or perceived difficulties of implementing any plan.

A community organisation that uses a scooter as its company vehicle, and where debates, exploration, humour and pranks are the staple diet for getting through the day. And importantly, an organisation under funded but courageous enough to return money if the conditions of grants don’t correspond with its ideals and principles. In short, a community organisation that walks the talk.

All of this has been possible because of the vision and commitment of a few individuals set on establishing a hub of ingenuity, an incubator of ideas from the grass roots and a cutting edge benchmark for others to imitate, while relentlessly looking for ways of doing it better.

It has been my utmost honour and privilege to share a time, lock horns in debate and practice my work with these remarkable individuals. And while together we fought many battles, won many and lost a few, I am happy to accept the full responsibility of any defeat and acknowledge that any victory would not have been possible if not for the gigantic shoulders I have been riding upon.

To DCA thank you for the opportunity to share a time with you all, thank you for the well-wishes and thank you for the accolades at the end of my spell, but it would be a travesty of justice if I would not admit that I take more from this place that I could ever dream to leave behind.

A truly remarkable time. My heartfelt best wishes for a bright future. May DCA continue its work to bring dreams into the sight of all who come on its doorstep.