Thomas Budge

Thomas Budge was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1953. With a sheltered childhood growing up inside the Jehovah's Witness faith, life was principled and lovingly naive. Then, all hell broke loose around the age of nineteen when he refused military training under the South African apartheid regime and was incarcerated in solitary confinement in army detention barracks. Finding solace in the faith during those long years of imprisonment would have worked, had he not been deeply conflicted by his sexual orientation. These were impossible choices for a young man to make: serve the Witnesses and deny self or accept what is and lose everything. He chose to honour self. After his discharge from detention, the Jehovah's Witnesses hunted him down and excommunicated him. And, so began a longer period of solitary, this time separated from family and friends through the process of shunning, the Witness's punishment for disobedience. Where many would have dishearteningly capitulated, he seized life and is now one of South Africa's leading transformational therapists. His book, It Is What It Is, tells his story with brutal honesty. It gives his readers hope that there is more to life. Thomas devotes his life to teaching others by finding grace through acceptance. He received international, award winning respect for his work.