Believing that life doesn’t come with a manual, the Marks family have chosen to let whim determine their unconventional journey
I’d heard about a “nomadic” family who had recently settled in uMhlanga, but when I call Daniel Marks, he’s in Australia. “Sorry, I can’t talk now. We’re looking at the moon and catching fish on the Great Barrier Reef,” he says. “You can catch me back in South Africa next month.”
I finally meet Daniel, his wife Samantha and sons Gal (11) and Kai (eight) at their apartment overlooking the uMhlanga lighthouse. While they all talk to me in English, they chat to each other in either Hebrew or Portuguese.
“We’re not being rude, it’s just the way we communicate so the boys can learn our home languages,” says Daniel.
Born in Joburg, Daniel grew up in Israel before moving to London. It was here in 1999 that he met Brazilian Samantha, who had come to the city to study English. “I was only meant to be there for three months, but when I met Daniel everything changed,” she laughs. “We discovered we had the same interests and shared the travel bug.”
Their first big trip was a year later to Africa. “We started in South Africa and then drove to Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Zambia,” says Daniel. “We fell in love with Africa and knew we would be back some day.”
They lived and worked in London for 10 years, taking every opportunity they could to travel around Europe, Asia and South America.
Gal was born there and took his first trip to Brazil at the tender age of two months. He was still a toddler when they decided to pack everyone – including their Labrador – into a camper van and drive through Europe to Israel. “We wanted to get away from the city life, but I also wanted to learn about my husband’s culture,” says Samantha.
“Unfortunately, we were not allowed to enter Israel then, so we had to go back to London.”
After selling their camper van to a castle in France, the family sorted out their papers and flew to Tel Aviv where they settled down, worked “really hard” and welcomed Kai into their life.
It was here that they began forming their idea of what they call “unschooling”. “We bought into the concept that formal education kills creativity,” says Daniel. “We believe more in education through travel and real-life experiences than learning from sterile textbooks.”
Four years ago, when Gal was seven and Kai four, they decided being stuck in one place was not ideal.
“We sold everything, and because we didn’t have a lot of money we chose to come to South Africa,” says Daniel. “It was easy because I had the passport and we loved it so much on our previous visit. With just four backpacks each we set off and landed in uMdloti in July 2015 – mostly because we wanted good weather, a surfing village and somewhere that
was safe.”
Two months later they were back in Israel, visited Brazil and then returned to SA, this time to uMhlanga where the boys could enjoy playing sports and interacting with other kids.
“We found our little bubble in this seafront apartment in uMhlanga,” says Samantha. “We love the view, the village feel, the amazing people and how easy it is for our boys to do the things they love.”
Gal is into lifesaving, swimming, surfing, boxing, waterpolo, running, chess and music, while Kai enjoys boxing, swimming, running, chess and hockey.
Daniel baulks at defining the boys’ education as home schooling. “We believe education is about what makes a kid happy rather than turning them into what you want them to be.
“Gal and Kai are different from Tom and Harry so how can they fit into the same system? Rather they should be educating themselves about the things that are significant in their lives.”
While Kai has currently chosen to be at Ocean View Montessori school to get a “solid grounding”, Gal is enjoying Daniel’s “unschooling”. Their days have a flexible structure which usually starts at 5am with an activity like running, surfing or swimming (or just cuddling in bed if they feel like it) and then time at home studying, before afternoon extra-murals.
“An example of how we work is if, for instance, Gal was interested in a particular surfer, we would find out more about where he’s from and its geography and history.”
He says it’s about asking questions and finding the answers. Not negotiable is eventually being able to read and write in English, Hebrew and Portuguese.
“We learn from reading books and online stuff,” says Gal. “I also love maths and am currently doing Grade 10 exams, but I’m not very good at drawing.” Which is where Samantha steps in to teach the boys an appreciation of art, her home language of Portuguese, and cooking.
“She also teaches them how to be kind,” smiles Daniel. “We want to grow up with our kids as opposed to bringing them up.”
The boys tell me how much they love travelling, especially when their parents pack them into the Landcruiser for adventures across Africa, including recently Mozambique, Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe.
“This is one of the most beautiful countries in the world and we love the wildlife,” says Gal.
The family is planning a trip to Rwanda soon and then will see where the fancy takes them.
“As long as we have internet we can work and therefore live anywhere,” says Daniel. “I work for a finance company and Samantha for a marketing company, but both our jobs are very flexible.
“For us home is where we are together, so that could be anywhere in the world.”