My sister Lorraine and I in 1987.
I was born and raised in Harare, Zimbabwe to Argentinian parents. By the end of high school Zimbabwe was deteriorating under mismanagement, corruption and government sanctioned violence against it's own people, so my parents sent me to study abroad in Canada. I attended George Brown College (GBC) and studied Hospitality Management, graduating in 2005 as the class president and two-time program award recipient.
After a stint working in hotels, and back at GBC running their front desk, I returned to Zimbabwe to help my family relocate to Argentina to escape what was by that time a terrible situation in Zimbabwe. After returning to Canada in 2007 and working for a few years, I decided that I could't settle down yet, and so sold or gave away all of my possessions and attended a meditation retreat, worked on organic farms in Ontario and Botswana, and travelled.
After a stint working in hotels, and back at GBC running their front desk, I returned to Zimbabwe to help my family relocate to Argentina to escape what was by that time a terrible situation in Zimbabwe. After returning to Canada in 2007 and working for a few years, I decided that I could't settle down yet, and so sold or gave away all of my possessions and attended a meditation retreat, worked on organic farms in Ontario and Botswana, and travelled.
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During those travel years I met a group of environmental activists and we moved in together into an intentional community. We screened documentaries, attended marches, Occupied Toronto, and gave many free hugs! From these invaluable and life-changing friendships would be born the Institute for a Resource-Based Economy, a non-profit and later charity dedicated to accelerating a transition to a more just and fair world (as we young idealists defined it at the time).
Over time this idea morphed into a physical representation: The Toronto Tool Library. In 2013 the first location opened and over the next 6 years would expand and grow to include an entire network and several locations in Toronto. |
Free Hugs in Kensington Market, 2012
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3 tools in one pic! Toronto, 2015
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I gave many speeches, talks, interviews and helped other cities all around the world to open their own sharing libraries. I am intensely proud of the work that I did, though as of 2020 I am no longer involved in the project.
In was in 2010 that I met the woman that would change my life. At a meeting at the University of Toronto discussing peak oil, in walked a gorgeous Swedish woman. A week later we had our first date and dumpster-dived for strawberries that we ate together. In the light of her head-lamp, while literally inside a dumpster, I fell in love. Helena and I have travelled through South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Sweden, Norway, and hitch-hiked from Toronto to Vancouver. In 2019 I moved from Toronto to be with her in Sweden. We live in Gothenburg with our newborn son. |
I'm so grateful you've visited my website and learned a bit about me. Please reach out to me if you have any questions or want to get in touch.
Warmly,
Lawrence Alvarez
Warmly,
Lawrence Alvarez
