Monday, June 29, 2015

Kilimanjaro is coming!

I figured that my next adventure deserves its own blog post...even though I think I have written about it in previous posts, but here's a major update. Are you ready?

After doing various cycling and running events, I wanted to do something that was slightly more challenging, so the idea of summiting Kilimanjaro arose. And with the idea, planning began...

Mountains are challenging things and you need many people to become involved to make it possible. We had initially intended for the expedition to take place last year, in 2014, however there were a number of issues that made us reconsider and it was decided that we would postpone the trip to August this year (2015).

After many dilemmas and logistical challenges, we have overcome them and we are now, today, 9 weeks away!!

Our team consists of 7 amazing, and diverse people, each of whom will no doubt add value to the team with their own unique skills. Here's a quick overview of the team:

We have Adam, who is a ships captain, and he is a very practical, level-headed person which is going to be immensely important when we are climbing. Taylor, is a university student (studying politics and other stuff at UCT with me) so we will be able to argue about university gossip or management or whatever else as we make our way to the summit. He is also a musician, in his band Forefront, so he can sing our way out of the deep-blue-funk if we find ourselves there. Sally is an experienced climber having done a number of other mountains, but never Kili. Her experience as well as her training as a physio will be invaluable when the bodies start moaning at us. We also have some hardcore businesswomen :) So, Anne is the Managing Director at Nordex Energy South Africa and her quiet strength will be crucial in the tough moments. Thembi is the Managing Director at Global Business Solutions and supports many other organisations and companies with her expertise. Thembi is a beast on the mountain and is always ready to get involved and get the job done. Her determination and grit will help all of us get to the top of Kili. And finally, Carel, is leading our expedition and his role is keeping everybody in the team happy, healthy and most importantly, alive. No pressure.

So, with 9 weeks to go, there is so much excitement and much planning going on. Right now, we're working on things like getting gear sorted for the team, team hikes, sorting out the last issues with the wheelchair and doing some altitude training (just to see how everybody in the team feels at different altitudes). This has led to some very interesting team discussions... #maybelater

The other major aspect of our climb - aside from reaching the summit - is raising a good amount of money for The Chaeli Campaign's Inclusive Early Childhood Development/Enrichment Centre :) I feel so privileged that I get to witness these beautiful children learning and expressing such compassion, empathy and just love. Disability is not a thing for these kids and that's the attitude we hope to spread to every person that interacts with them.

As we grow older, we become so much more judgemental and we see difference and immediately think it's negative. What we need to do is focus on our similarities because that is where amazing things become possible and can be achieved. This, I think is something that our Kilimanjaro expedition expresses through the fact that we all have different skills and needs that have to be acknowledged and supported, but at the end of the day we all want to reach the top of that mountain. And we need each other to make it happen.

Til next time
Peace out
x

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

apologies and updates.

Ok, so I know that I haven't posted in almost a year... I realise that this is a major problem and I plan on rectifying this right now.

My life is clearly much more busy than I am willing to admit to myself - not that it's going to get any less hectic than it has been and I don't really want that to happen. Let's face it, I'm an adrenaline junkie of a different kind where I'm not jumping out of planes or running with the bulls, but I love having 5 different things to do in a day and not really knowing that they're all going to get done. And then, you do get them done and all of a sudden, you're a boss at life.

However, key to this plan is procrastination. It's important to procrastinate just enough, so that it is still humanly possible to achieve the goal. You have to have a good amount of pressure on getting it done (like a deadline in 20 minutes or a plane leaving in 30) because otherwise there's way too much time to get distracted by other things.

This is how I get through life. Admittedly, people do try and tell me that I need to plan better or have better time-management, but this system has proven pretty successful thus far.

I do appreciate sleeping though, but this is something that one says goodbye to when you enter university. And you only say 'hello' again during mid-year vacation (which is now, so I have been vegetating for the past week and it has been glorious). I have no real concrete plans for this vacation period because this last semester was the most insane one yet and I just need to detox from uni a bit.

Plan sorted.

Let's just do a quick run-through of my life - more important bits/what I remember - since my last post, so I don't feel like I'm leaving you guys out of the loop...here goes

UPDATE...
Global Youth Peace Indaba
amazing collection of young people in Cape Town when the Nobel Peace Youth Summit was postponed and moved to Rome. I'm still in contact with many of the people who attended and the Indaba has led to many other opportunities too

Eden
my first service dog from SA Guide Dog Association; she is a yellow labrador (quarter retriever) and she's beautiful. No doubt there will be many a blog post about her and what she gets up to...

Youngsters
all the International Children's Peace Prize winners got together and we came up with the plan for the Youngsters - it's like the 'Elders' but with young people and our views because we are the ones who are going to shape the future :)

This was also the first time I went overseas (Netherlands & London) without my mom or a family member, I went with my PA, Nthabi, who lives with me in res. So that was also really exciting step in my journey.

IkeyAbility 
UCT is an incredible university of diverse people from almost every walk of life and disability is included in this, but to a lesser extent it seems. So, along with a group of amazing ability activists (disabled and able-bodied) we have begun the process of establishing a society that focuses on raising awareness around disability - or ability rather - on our campus. We want to make disability a part of the mainstream discussions on campus and not just for certain ears to hear. Now, we're awaiting approval from the university after being monitored for the first semester of 2015...will keep you posted.

I think those are the more "public" things going on in my life. On a more personal level, I know I've shared about dancing before so I'm going to do it again...

World Cup 2015
Over Easter, we travelled to Cuijk, Netherlands to compete in the Wheelchair Dancing World Cup in the Amateur Class 1 section. This year was much more exciting for us because we went with our team mates, Chantelle and Mukkie and this made it so much more memorable. My mom came with us as 'Team Momma' :P This year we also had something to prove as we had placed last year. We went onto the floor determined to make a scene and show Europe how we do it in Africa - granted, our style is a bit different to Europe...

We succeeded at our mission, and we actually won both the Latin American and Ballroom section and we are now WORLD CHAMPIONS! So, that's amazing to us. What made that victory so much sweeter is that Chantelle and Mukkie competed in Class 2 (different levels of ability) and they also won both their sections, which means that they are also world champions. We came back to home soil double title holders. Africans showing the world how it's done. Yes, please.

Pressure is now on because when you win a section, you get promoted which means that we now have to compete in the Elite section (made up of pretty much professionals and now us).

Bring on 2016!

In other news...
my sister got married! To an incredible man, Warren, and they are the most beautiful couple and I'm so excited that I now have a big brother :) Couldn't have asked for a better one...

That's all.

Until next time - I promise it will not be in a year's time. Soon soon

xx