The insanity of the past few weeks. Deep breathing.

Ok, so looking back on the past while (since I last posted) it is clear that life has been a bit much of late, and things need to chill out.

First. My mom ended up in hospital with hypertension and atrial fibrillation. Naturally, I and my sibling freaked out a fair amount until we were told that it's not necessarily the biggest deal - your heart beating out of sync is apparently a manageable condition. So that happened. We are all attempting to be healthier humans and I'll keep you posted on how that is going.

What happened after that? Oh yeah, a couple weeks ago, I ended up in the hospital too. Our family is getting well-acquainted with these places now. You see, when we do things we generally have a motto of go hard or go home. This was no different. My ailment, we had thought to be allergies (pretty chilled right, take some antihistamines and you're fine) were not allergies this time. When my chest got crazy tight unlike ever before and I woke up with the worst headache I've ever had, we figured that getting a doctor's opinion may be a good idea. And the next thing we knew, I was in a hospital bed getting tests done.

In this process, there had been a few misconceptions on my part. I was somewhat convinced that I had Meningitis or something like that but turns out I had a crazy drug-resistant infection. This was not part of my plan. I was also under the impression that I would be there overnight/two days max, but with this too, I was mistaken. Five days later I was discharged and so, I had to find something to fill my days with because hospitals have pretty limited entertainment options. I think I caught up on 4 years of sleep deprivation, so I guess that's a perk. Hospitals are also phenomenal places of undignified dignity.

I had a few good peeps visit me to alleviate some of my boredom. Thanks Stiney for the flowers, and props to Handke for sneaking in the cheesecake! You made my day. I think our conversations may have been a bit too loud/too energetic...hospital noise standards = hushed tones. Oops. Sorry not sorry.

That was kind of void when you have a 90-year-old roommate with dementia. All I'll say is that he had some interesting conversations.

After getting out of the hospital, I had to take it a little bit slower (granted, this is 'Chaeli slow') just because antibiotics (three different types to try and kill this bug I had somehow acquired) tends to take their toll.

Then we get to last weekend, where I (without being on antibiotics) participated with Devon Coetzee in the 2016 Gun Run, and it was AWESOME! Got my PB - 2:10 - and it's always an epic event and I love how inclusive it is. Two wrists up for the organisers :) I did sleep for the majority of the day thereafter - I think I've rekindled my love affair with sleep quite sufficiently now.

In the last week, I finished my Honours degree in Social Policy & Management and it was crazy in the end, but I'm super excited about! I now need to keep myself occupied until next year when I get in at the deep end that is a Masters...I'll be helping out at The Chaeli Campaign though so there is plenty for me to do.

I'm hopeful that things will calm down to a manic pace, and that hospital visits do not become a norm for us. Only time will tell...


Kbye.
x

Training Dragons and Imperial Duck.

Good evening, everybody! All things considered, I have had quite a chilled week. Although, I think 'chilled' is a relative term. It's also been a week of reflection with it being a year since we made history when we reached the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro.

What's been happening?

MY BORNDAY! I don't know about you, but I'm feeling 22...
Birthday celebrations are always great, and as I've mentioned before, I like to extend these celebrations beyond the usual 24-hour vibe. So, to keep up this tradition, I had a celebratory/reunion dinner with a few of the cast members from The Chaeli Campaign's productions and we went to Chef Pon's Asian Kitchen - go there, try the Imperial Duck. That's all.

When my birthday actually arrived, I woke up pretty early - as one does - and went with my mom to co-present at BNI (as one doesn't generally do on a birthday). Thereafter, my sister took me out for breakfast at Open Door. There were so many little people there, I actually couldn't contain myself. Toddlers are just the best version of a person - so much curiosity, with no inhibition. To end off my official birthday, we had the traditional Banana Jam dinner and it was wonderful. It's probably one of my favourite places in the world. The problem I've had with my birthday though, since getting to university, is that it generally falls in the midterm vacation, which means many of my friendles have gone home and can subsequently not celebrate with me on my actual birthday. This also gives us another reason to get together and have a good time. So, that works for me. I love that I'm able to surround myself with phenomenal human beings, who make me question things, appreciate things, and just have a great time on this life journey.

For my birthday, my sister got me a book called 'Thoughts & Reflections', it asks a question a day, and has space for 3 years worth of answers. I think this is awesome, because it is easy enough that it's totally doable and not time-consuming. I'm committed to this book - just like my blog - and keeping on with filling it in every day. We're seven days in and still on-track, so things are looking promising.

The most exciting thing (don't judge me) for the week before my birthday was that my Dragon arrived :)

I guess that needs some explanation, right. I ordered 'Dragon Naturally Speaking' which is voice recognition software, two weeks ago, and it has arrived! This may seem silly, but I can't explain how rad it is to be able to speak to your computer, with a speech issue, and have it not only understand what you're saying but also listen to you and do what you say. So legit. But in order for this to happen, it has to be trained. So, I've been training my Dragon for the last while and it's seemingly working quite well, and saving so much time.

Now, there's time for a quick university update. Last week, I once again, vastly underestimated the amount of time it takes to finish an Honours assignment. I'm having some serious procrastination struggles, you guys, but I'm working on it, at some point. I realised at 7pm, when I wasn't even halfway through it, that Friday night was going to be a long one, had a minor meltdown, and then continued walking the line between denial and hopeful success. I then contemplated at 4:43am whether it was worth my while to even make the mission to go to sleep or to just bite the bullet and simply stay awake. I got hysterical with laughter at basically nothing, and with that I realised that maybe the former would be a better life decision. Eventually, I only got like 35 minutes sleep (at the most) before waking up to do some last-minute edits. Please can we now acknowledge that me pulling an all-nighter on a FRIDAY means that this assignment was made due on a Saturday. Yeah, welcome to Postgrad studies, where work weeks are not a thing and other normal social understandings don't apply.

When I got to campus to submit my assignment and do my presentation (I was determined to be awake for my presentation), I got into the lift to go to Level 4, the doors closed, and the lift went nowhere. So, at that point, I was ready to admit that it wasn't going to be my day. I messaged my friend Lara that I was in the lift, but stuck. After a bit of a miscommunication it was determined that I actually required assistance to get out. After that everything was relatively chilled. But due to extreme exhaustion and not remembering what day it was, I (along with my mom) went - after my university commitments were sorted - off to Stellenbosch University to present leadership workshops that were actually scheduled for yesterday, that being Sunday (not Saturday). My mom was less than impressed, to say the least. There is a silver lining to this story however, because after realising that we were functioning on the wrong day we found a really cute cafe, and bought a lot of cheesecake because it looked amazing. And it was!

So, my advice for the week is that when you find yourself in a trying situation, go in search of CHEESECAKE and all will work out. Because you know, life is just better with cheesecake.

That's it for now.

Kbye.

x

Enter Silas Ramsbottom

IT'S ALMOST MY BIRTHDAY!!

Ok, I've only recently had a chance to realise that my birthday is on Tuesday, so I'm excited about it. I've never really understood why people don't like celebrating their birthdays. I mean, it's the day the world was gifted with your existence and that's totally something worth celebrating. Every time.

Now that I've got over that realisation, I can share some stories.

The unbelievably talented Daniel Mpilo Richards, has been a part of the Chaeli Campaign family for a while now because he's been a part of a few of our professional productions - most recently 'No Functional Language'. This is actually all just back story because the real reason I'm talking about him is because he has a new show that's on currently, 'PAY BACK THE CURRY', and errybody should go see this show. He's the only one in it, it's a one-man show, it's everything. *enter that guy from Despicable Me, Silas Ramsbottom* Hilarious. It's still on until 27 August sooo go do that! K, plug done.

Daniel and I, and some other pretty cool people are planning something LEGIT, but that's all you're getting for now because greatness takes time to develop. Keep your peepers peeled for that one.

Friday, I spoke at Due South because they were key supporters for the Comrades Marathon and Kilimanjaro. So I was asked to share some of the stories from those experiences. It was awesome to be able to do that and to have a company that wholeheartedly backs what we do is something really special. I also met some pretty cool people there who are keen to get involved in some future adventure plans. Yay!

Saturday was awesome because we had a surprise Kitchen Tea for Tarryn (co-founder of The Chaeli Campaign, as she's getting married in September! Exciting times...

I think now is a good time to chat about the whole "Kbye" declaration in my last post. Last year, along with a group of incredible people and activists in their own rights, started a society at UCT called IkeyAbility where we raise awareness for disability issues on our campus and hold the university accountable for the commitments it makes to differently-abled students. Throughout this process I've had the privilege of meeting and working with some epic humans, (Jess, Yuvini & Robyn) who happen to be Deaf (with a Capital "D", this is important), as well as some pretty legit able-bodied peeps.

I've learned so much over the past year about Deaf culture and how life as a Deaf person has its own challenges that are not properly understood because they're rarely seen/visible. I've also learned that it doesn't take all that much effort to sort out these challenges, all that is needed is some logic and the willingness to find a solution. Let's talk about communication for a bit, because we all know how important it is, but when people don't speak the same language as you it can be problematic. This is an ongoing problem for people who are Deaf, but there has been an increase in people wanting to learn Sign Language and have pursued it. I too, have been learning the language.

Granted, it's a smidgen difficult for me to actually do most of the signs, because of my hands being quite uncooperative, but I can still learn to understand what is being said, and we can work out the rest. So, I've been working with Yuvini & Robyn to somewhat adapt certain signs to make them Chaeli-friendly and it seems to be working out quite well, most of the time.

Robyn is one of the most unbelievable people I have the privilege of knowing. She is possibly the sassiest person I know and stands up for her rights but also advocates for the rights of other people, and constantly shatters people's concept of what Deaf people are able to achieve. There are so many things I've learned from her and it's always with a sense of humour.

Whenever you speak to Robyn - and she agrees with you, or disagrees, or doesn't care -  and you expect an in-depth response, all you get is "K". Don't worry though, it's always said with mostly love. So that's wonderful. And whenever Robyn is done with a conversation, you get "Kbye" and she walks away dramatically.

Tomorrow, IkeyAbility has its first AGM where we will elect a new committee and continue raising awareness and supporting students with disabilities in the year to come. I'll blog about it when things happen.

So, without further ado, Kbye.

I'm back and ready to blog!

Ok, I just signed in to this account for the first time in... *bows head in shame* I know, it's been over a year since I last posted. I apologise.

Since we last spoke, I climbed Kilimanjaro, graduated with a Bachelor of Social Science majoring in Politics and Social Development (I dropped the 3rd major at some point in that journey...but I'm cool with it), I started my Honours in Social Policy & Management, and I 'ran' The Comrades Marathon. I think those are all the big things. Just doing this update makes me realise that my life is slightly insane.

I wouldn't have it any other way.

If you're wondering what gave me the urge to write this post, I can't tell you. I just feel like this is a great place to process life's happenings, and maybe share some insights I've gained and hopefully sometimes get some insight from you guys.

So, generally I would only post when I've had an epic event happen. I have decided that life is just as much about recording and taking notice of the small - some may say mundane - things as it is about the big moments. Often, those small moments and happenings are where we learn the most about life and ourselves. Here goes with the normal everyday life update...

Today, after going to bed at 3:something, and about 5 hours of sleep, I woke up to get back to the grind that is writing my Honours thesis. This is the beauty of having a first draft, you guys. It's ok to not get things right the first time and I'm expecting many adjustments and fixing to be done in this process. I'm looking forward to the guidance of our most-legit supervisor, Andre.

I worked on it for a good few hours yesterday and I quickly realised that I dramatically underestimated the amount of work I still had to do, and overestimated how much I had already done *self-righteous pose retracted as soon as the document is opened*

I did not move from my desk in my room from 08:00 (ish) until 3:45, when I left for uni to hand in my thesis. I had coffee, so that was a perk. This is where my friends get grumps with me because I apparently have a high turn-out rate when it comes to working under pressure. The problem with this mode is that motivation levels are relatively low until there is no more time to procrastinate, and then things get real for a second (or a few), and you have to get it together and get it done! I'm generally successful with this strategy, and the people around me are aware that this is how I work - so, that's cool. I'm trying to minimise the procrastination though, so I'll keep you posted.

Notice how writing my blog could possibly be viewed as procrastination too, but I'm claiming it as productive time.

With that declaration, I'm checking out for now. I'm recommitting to this blog and my plan is to post once a week, even if nothing particularly interesting is going on.

Kbye. (more on this later :P)

xx

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

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

Open Letter to President Zuma.

11 September 2014

Dear President Zuma

I am a Madiba baby – a child of freedom - born in August 1994. I have grown up in an era where every person in South Africa has the freedom of choice: I have the right to be who I wish to be and hold whatever views I have, even if they oppose the views of others. Even if they oppose your views, Mr President. I have learned throughout my life of the immense efforts made and the struggles faced by so many people to create the incredible country in which we live, a democracy for which people fought for so many years. I am a wheelchair user and an ability activist and I have dealt with my fair share of challenges and discrimination but this has never caused me to lose faith in the power of the South African people to be a society where we can say that our lives are shaped by Ubuntu.

Much of the fight for democracy was initiated by young people, passionate about the rights that ensure democracy, fairness and justice. The voices of the youth of South Africa need to be heard in each generation to continue a national dialogue that remains relevant and it is in this spirit that I add my voice today.

I’m confused. I find it difficult to understand why granting a visa to His Honourable Dalai Lama to attend the annual Nobel Peace Laureates Summit in Cape Town in October, is seen as impossible.  The Dalai Lama is the global image for peace. Everywhere he goes a core message is spread – Peace. Peace for all people. Peace no matter your religious beliefs, your socio-economic standing, or your geographical location. Peace should not be determined by political alliances but by the power of people and an unwavering mission for equality in a society where everybody has a place. Is this not what the Struggle for a democratic South Africa was all about?

This occasion marks the third visa refusal in a period of five years whereby the Dalai Lama has been denied entry to SA. The reason often given for these refusals being that it is not in the best interest of the South African people. Or delay tactics are employed so that through unspoken means the ‘message’ is sent that he is unwelcome. How difficult is it to issue a visa? Ordinary people get theirs within a week or so – one would think that a world leader would not have to jump through hoops and wait this long for a visa to be issued. There has been a massive outcry from members of the public and prominent leaders, whom you profess to serve as President of our country. Is now not a time to take note of the voices of the people whom you represent?

As a member of the ‘Born-Free’ generation of South Africa I am so proud of how far our country has come and am so grateful that I was born in 1994 at the dawn of our democracy. But bearing witness to actions like the refusal of a visa to an iconic man of peace like the Dalai Lama, I have concerns about the future facing this beautiful place we call home. It makes me wonder how sincerely our leaders and you, Mr President, truly cherish freedom in general terms and more specifically freedom of speech, when a man of peace like the Dalai Lama is denied entry into South Africa.

What saddens me most about this visa application debacle is that it denies the South African people a chance to learn from The Dalai Lama’s peaceful leadership and to experience his wisdom. In denying the Dalai Lama, you are also creating the possibility of other Nobel Peace Laureates refusing to attend the Summit in solidarity with the Dalai Lama. And in doing this you deny all of us an opportunity to learn from these inspiring global heroes of Peace – right here on home soil. No winners – many losers.

I fail to see how His Honourable Dalai Lama poses a threat to our nation. How can he be considered an undesirable visitor to our shores? He is a world icon who holds strong views about the right to freedom of his own people. Is this not what our people fought so fearlessly against for so many years? Are these views not in line with the South African struggle for freedom from oppression and the right for self-determination?

I’m sad, given our proud fight for freedom, to think that our political leaders are creating the global perception that South Africa has become a submissive nation, bending the knee to foreign powers with their own political agendas. Struggle leaders, many of whom now sit in Parliament, along with you, Mr President, could not remain silent on the issue of human rights and freedom decades ago: the freedom gained through the struggle out of apartheid into what has now become a free and democratic South Africa. Is this not what the Dalai Lama wants for his country?

I implore you to fast track the process whereby a visa can be issued to His Honourable Dalai Lama and show South Africa and the world that as a country, and as a people, we still stand for the same ideals that you fought for twenty years ago. You fought for a country where every person has a voice that can be heard. You fought for a country of freedom, equality, self-determination, and ultimately peace. We want to learn from the Dalai Lama – we have a right to hear his voice.

Chaeli Mycroft

2011 International Children’s Peace Prize

2012 Nobel Peace Laureates’ Medal for Social Activism

2013 World of Children Youth Award

First epic adventure of 2014...Cape Argus Pick n Pay Momentum Cycle Tour

I realise that my last blog post was quite a while ago - this makes me realise, too, that my life is somewhat ridiculous and whilst busy living this crazy, amazing life I am lucky enough to lead, I forget to document what's going on. So, in a slightly exhausted state as I procrastinate studying, I can shed some light over our Cycle Tour experience - granted it's kinda a month late but still ;)

If you remember, in 2012 I began posting about the crazy adventures of 'Team Beastie'...and so the craziness continues.

We decided that it would be a great idea to attempt a second Cycle Tour due to the fact that last year's ride was such a success. It's important for all parties to remember that weather impacts properly on performance. People who rode the race and spectators who had the staying power will understand. But let's go back just a little bit for the sake of context...also, because I can.

Let's start with training shall we?

This year we were ahead of the game because this year we already had our buggy! We had our trusted buggy, Beastie and he was so ready, sitting in the garage he was suffering from a bit of cabin fever, I rate. Grant tells people that he was unfit this year - I have trouble believing this. Maybe that's because our time this year was almost an hour faster than last year...but we can examine this idea just now. Back to training, we had a pretty hardcore weekend training schedule this year and what made it epic was that we were joined by more Buggy Buddy teams (Brett and David AKA 'Team Turbo' in their 'ship', Anita and Etienne and last but certainly not least Tina and Boeta). It was amazing to know and realise that we have started something that can give other disabled people an opportunity to participate in big things.

I can now officially call myself a cyclist - Beastie got his first puncture, and I was totally involved in a near-collision. Nope. It was a legit collision, with our buddy, Bodii. Grant felt it was important to shake Richard's hand...he semi-forgot that I was attached to him and Bodii was on the left side of us. We drifted across the road and I almost lost fingers in his spokes and he ended up in a bush/tree. Official cycling injuries...winning.

One thing to note, is that every ride seemed to be on a windy day. Probably the universe's joke about foresight or something...

If any of you reading this were in Cape Town or anywhere near a TV on Race Day and watched it all go down, you will remember that it was quite the windy day by any standard. When we left the house, it was pretty cold but we continued to lie to ourselves about how bad the wind was right up until we got on the bikes. From that point. Shit got real.

Waiting at the starting line, still ampd, Ipad at the ready, everybody sort of realised that it was going to be a long day. I think when we started the race, the entire goal was to make it under the first bridge (like 60m from the start). Grant pedaled like a boss under that bridge - first goal...conquered! While that was happening I almost got concussed by the Ipad when the first gust of wind decided to hit the buggy. So, that was awesome. *Insert sarcasm here*

The next landmark was Ladies Mile bridge. Many important things happened on our way to that milestone...we bettered our top speed, to around 70km per hour going down Edinburgh Drive. Please recognise how fast that is, and the faith and trust required (by me) and the skill required (by Grant) in not killing us. No thank you, death. Team Beastie 1....

The other perk was that Gary's bike was solid this year and no punctures were had. This also meant that we had a less insane decrease of speed than last year - worked well for our time as well, so that was cool.

We had an extra team member this year - Richard Scott. Richard, it was awesome to have you ride with us, even though you realised that you could help G out a little late in the race (Smitswinkel), your support was so appreciated by all of us. Thank you for being so respectful to the team dynamic and adding your personality to our crazy mix was awesome!

In our team, throughout the race, we had sense of humour failures...more on my side, but still. Let me explain one such instance. Hout Bay has a beach. There was wind. I ended up with the whole beach in my buggy. I was not smiling in that moment. Not smiling.

But then I have to remember that Grant is busting his ass cycling so I need to get it together and get the Conqueror spirit back. The support of people on the side of the road was helpful but I also did some soul-searching in my buggy and realised that so many people don't have the opportunity to do what I do. So, I began again appreciating where we were and just taking it in and sending all my gees to Grant because we were heading towards Suikerbossie and he needed it more than I did.

We finished the race, after the longest 5km stretch I have ever experienced in my life (we're convinced that the signs telling us how far we still had to go were lying to us), in 4h42min! This is when I realise once again that my cycling partner is such a champion, in all ways. The way he helps me with everything I need while we're riding, nevermind all the other times, tends to blow my mind on a regular basis.

I'm excited that we get the opportunity to blow people's minds by what we do. I'm excited that we have other people joining us on this journey of slight insanity and we can blow minds together.

:)

The conquering madness continues: Momentum 94.7 Cycle Challenge

We conquered the Pick n Pay Cape Argus Cycle Tour in March 2013 - the beginning of our Conqueror journey. We decided shortly after we finished that we wanted to continue and do other events to raise awareness for The Chaeli Campaign, but more than that we wanted to spread the Conqueror spirit! So, we entered the Momentum 94.7 Cycle Challenge that happens in Johannesburg. The event was on the 17th of November 2013.

So, this was pretty close to our returning from New York...

We wanted to go up early to do some awareness raising stuff and acclimatise (getting all sporty) - getting used to the different oxygen levels that Jozi peeps live with when you need to cycle in it is not the same as just going to visit. But we were all good :)

Because it's in Joburg we clearly had to travel, seeing as we're Capetonians. Grant and the rest of the Kruger Conquerors began the journey to joburg by road - with the bike and the wheels and pins and stuff for the buggy - the Monday before the race. This was also the Monday after I got back to Cape Town. I went up with my mom by plane on the Tuesday. Turns out 2 hours is not that long in a plane ;)

We couriered the buggy up so that it was safe and so that airport personnel don't think we're completely insane. The logistics around travelling as a differently-abled buggy buddy are sometimes challenging. We learned that at the start of the race, in a big way, but I'll explain a little later.

We organised a couple of things to promote the fact that we were there like speaking to the kids at Waterkloof Primary School. What an amazing group of young people to interact with - we had so much fun spending time and sharing our stories with them and we look forward to working with Waterkloof in the future :)

We also had lunch with Sara, who is a wheelchair user and she raises awareness around Cerebral Palsy in her school environment as well as anybody who meets her. Sara is a Conqueror in her own right and inspires us to keep doing what we're doing.

Now, onto race day:

The night before the race, my beautiful friendle Kristina stayed over and we went to the race together. We woke up at 4ish. Well, the alarm went off at 4, and Kris got up and ready and proceeded to send messages to Grant about her unsuccessful missions to get me to vacate the bed ;) Eventually it happened.

So, we left home at 5, as according to plan. We were all set to meet up with Grant at 5:30 - Grant had the bike and we had the buggy and at some point we had to meet up to unite Beastie and his bike buddy. This then proved more challenging than initially planned. Officials who were supposed to guide people to the right place were not as helpful as they should have been, and we were directed to the completely wrong place.

I was still calm at this point - our start time was 6:51, so at 5:45 I was still calm. It didn't last long though. We were in communication with Grant the whole time trying to figure out where one another were...It is not as simple as you would think, especially when officials are telling us 500 different things. Kristina had to leave because she was also cycling, and we didn't want her to miss her start time at 7:00. Eventually we got to a point that was 900m away from where we were meant to unite. We were initially not allowed through the barricades BUT THEN Vernon (an amazing man who rode the Argus for The Chaeli Campaign last year) came to the rescue!

Vernon found a security guy or something and came to get us and escort us to where the rest of my team was. In that moment, Vernon was my hero. The time at this point in the experience is around 6:47, so I was pretty justifiably stressed out. I realised then that we were not going to make our start time (I knew, rationally, that it wasn't the biggest deal because we could just start later, when we got there, but in the moment rationality was not a trait I was practicing entirely). I was on the verge of tears and having a meltdown and I kept it together quite well, until I saw Grant. Then I overflowed.

So, I was sitting in the car crying while Grant sorted the buggy out. I need to clarify that I was relief crying. I could not believe that I had finally reached my partner after such a frustrating start to the day. Relief crying.

Grant came to put me in the buggy, I was still crying (pulling myself together, though) and when I reached the buggy, the music was already playing - Taylor Swift, 22 :) - and everything was ok. We rode the almost 4km to the start and with that our 94.7 Cycle Challenge was underway.

These are the moments where I know I have the right cycling partner, because he knows how to get me out of meltdowns and freaking out and focusing back on what we need to do. I appreciate so much that he can distract me from the stressful things that often happen and remind me that the things we cannot control, add to the fun and give us really good stories to tell afterwards.

That having being said, we started the race - half an hour later than intended - and a man cycled passed us, looked at me, and said "Well, someone's getting spoilt today" expected me to smile and wave. Considering the morning we had just had, I wasn't 100% in the smile-and-wave kind of mood yet. So, I replied slightly sarcastically with "Ya, this is such a party". People around us were shocked that I could/would make a comment like that. Grant just smiled and did a sort of "good chirp"-thumbs-up to me.

This was an interesting race for us for various reasons. Firstly, in the fact that Grant had never done the race, so we were completely unaware of the route. The race goes through Johannesburg and has an unfathomable number of uphills and seemingly fewer downhills. G was such a champion on every uphill, he did have some help on some of the more hectic ones. Gary (Grant's dad) who is always by our side, making sure that everything was fine, was doing just that - the dad to team Beastie :) and for this race, we had a couple new members of the team which was awesome! Kerrin (Grant's brother who lives in Johannesburg) joined us too and it was really special to have him share that with us. And then, the man who saved the day...Vernon. Vernon became a Conqueror that day and forever more. It's amazing to participate in an event like that when you are sharing it with such incredible people. Thank you to everybody that helped us out :)

The second thing that made the race interesting and a little more stressful and challenging was Johannesburg November heat. This was challenging because of my body's unco-operative temperature gauge which tends to fail to inform us of when I'm getting too hot. It became clear that I was overheating when we stopped at the beginning of the N14 - the LONGEST road I have ever traveled on, by the way - and we realised how hot I actually was only when we stopped moving and when I objected to Grant taking the Ipad away so that he could cool me down. We did have a plan for this - we had ice-packs and cold water in ziploc bags with us in the buggy, so we were prepared. Grant put one ice-pack at my neck and subsequently, unbeknown to me, had the bag of ice-cold water in his hands, above my head and poured it all over me. I was definitely awake after that.

Just so you don't think that I'm exaggerating and overreacting about the heat situation...it was around 33 degrees where Grant was on his bike. I am about 8cm above the road which is made of tar and tar gets very hot and heat rises...so, it was super hot. But, we sorted it out - keep calm and carry on. The women who were on the side of the road, supporting the race, got rather concerned about my well-being, which we appreciated, but G had it under control :)

Heat levels sorted, we continued on the seemingly-endless road that is the N14 and the uphills that come and go and come again. We rode passed many cows, chickens and other animals which was kind of the extent of the scenery to be expected on a highway.

When we reached what everybody calls 'heartbreak hill' we got excited because it's apparently the last uphill of the race. But here's the thing, it's the last recognised uphill of the race. It's quite a hardcore one, too, and when you finally reach the top there is an amazing downhill (you know, what goes up and all that). Followed by the soul-destroying final uphill. It's almost divine intervention that the downhill is so massive and you can pick up the amount of speed that you do, because you need the momentum to get you almost half way up. Again, heat became a problem.

When we finished and throughout the race we got a lot of support. Especially tandem teams - they can relate to us. The guy riding in the front gets how much work G is doing, and the guy at the back understands how much trust and faith I have to have in G. It was awesome and refreshing to have people who actually understand the way our team works.

We crossed the finish line with a time of 4hr17min! Grant looked back at me with a "Woohoo!" And don't get me wrong, I had that too, but I was so hot that I kinda just wanted to cry. So, Grant went into action...it is kind of amazing to me how tuned in he was to everything that I needed.

Because I was close to tears with heat, Grant was off his bike next to me - this is logistically interesting as you aren't allowed to stop the flow of people finishing, which meant that he was next to me with ice and stuff and Gary was steering the bike and Kerrin had Gary's bike. It's easier to move two bikes than a bike attached to the buggy. Logistics like a boss.

It's interesting the comments we get when we cycle and the case was no different at the finish of the 94.7. A lot of people congratulate us and tell us we're inspiring, and then you get other people who blow your mind with their comments.

One guy asked us whether we swap who is in the buggy...Now, I wasn't sure what that meant. I am a cerebral palsied wheelchair user, so clearly I'm not gonna get out of the buggy and cycle in Grant's place; and it's not like we have differently abled people strategically placed along the route. So, we said no, and he asked if the guys cycling with the buggy swap places. Gary proceeded to explain that I won't cycle with anybody else. Not a lie.

I trust G probably more than any other person in my life. I trust him with my life. The relationship that we have is special the way it is because he has an understanding of what I need with all the nitty-gritty details of disability that people forget to mention - and a couple of experiences that make those nitty-gritty details very real - and none of those things are a big deal. He's taught me that these details are just something in life that helps you be more creative around the solutions that you find. I'm so inspired by him to show other people how powerful a person can be when you have a great friend by your side who helps you find the positives in life, and even when you can't find them, will sit in the negatives with you.

xx

Crazy travels

It has been a crazy 6 months, to say the least - I think that's evident from the time between my last post....I cannot believe the things that have happened since my last update. So, to make up for lost time, the next few posts will be made in relatively quick succession just to make sure we're all on the same page.

The closest thing to my last post was my travelling to the Netherlands in September to handover the 2013 International Children's Peace Prize to Malala Yousafzai. It was an incredible experience to have had the opportunity to speak to Malala in a way that not many people get - I'm so grateful.

Being able to just spend time with Malala and her family was a very special gift. Malala has wisdom that is far beyond her years and I have a changed perspective on my activism because of the perseverance and determination that she has in hers. The fact that she carried on fighting for the rights of girls to an education even after being attacked and having her life endangered, shows a level of courage that few people have and it inspires me to have more courage in my life.

I'm so happy that I was able to welcome Malala into the Children's Peace Prize and I hope that we can grow our relationship in the future.

So, that was my epic September.

But this year has held some amazing experiences. And in November I was awarded the 2013 World of Children Youth Award!

The award ceremony took place in New York City. I know right, how amazing??

So, I traveled to New York with my mom - a week after writing my final exams for first year, which were possibly the worst-timed exams in history. I promise.

4 exams, 48 hours. Nuff said.

This scheduling resulted in illness but it's ok, we're hardcore. We can handle it. So, we flew to New York via Amsterdam which is a pretty long trip. And I had a cough, but not a regular cough people, a proper cough. This, in a plane with hundreds of people is really not ideal. However, having a free seat next to me for the first 12 hours of our trip really is ideal.

We were in New York for 4 days, but they were 4 amazing days. We had a lot of work that we were doing for World of Children Awards so we couldn't do all the touristy things but it was still an epic place to say I have seen.

Through the experience I have met the most passionate and incredible people that I will no doubt be working with in the future.

I am very excited to see where all of these relationships will take us. I guess time will tell.

Stick around to see it too
xx

Vacation..

My vacation is basically at its end :( but I guess I need to appreciate that I have had a six week holiday. Not much to complain about, I rate. People say that university students are always on holiday, but I think those people have forgotten how much work we do when we are actually at university.

My holiday started early because I wrote my last exam early (yay me), so that was awesome! The problem with that, though, is that you have longer to wait to get your results than most people. Not the greatest situation, but hey. Half-way through the vac we received our results...I passed.

There were moments where I was doubtful. But alas, 4 subjects passed, no stress required about making up courses for lost credits. Yay!

So, getting back to the holiday vibes

My holiday started with doing nothing, as all good holidays should, and then something that I have been working on making happen for almost six years happened. My friend, James, who I met at the Wheelchair Dancing World Cup in Holland in 2008, came to see South Africa!! It was amazing to have him with us for two weeks and we had the opportunity to show off our beautiful country. Whoop whoop!

We had also organised to be a back-up vehicle for Elton Davids who is in training to participate in London-Edinburgh-London cycling challenge at the end of July in support of The Chaeli Campaign. Now, we are not being back-up for the trip in the UK (just to clear that up), we were back-up for one of Elton's training rides from Knysna to Cape Town which happened over three days. What a champ! It just so happened that this cycle was scheduled for while James was with us. This meant that James experienced a slightly different view of our country, as opposed to the usual touristy experience. We made so many memories on this trip - many of them are quite random "you had to be there" moments.

After James left I, once again, did minimal energy-consuming activities. I really believe that doing nothing is quite a tiring thing to accomplish in itself. Don't judge - it takes concerted effort to be lazy.

However, my personality is not one where this mindset lasts for long, because I get bored of being lazy and end up being a multi-tasker of note. So, I am pretty ineffective in the laziness department.

 I think that brings us up to last week....

Last week I went to Johannesburg to attend and speak at the SAALED Inclusion Conference. It was the first time I had attended, so it was quite cool to be there. I was co-presenting with my mom and we spoke about our lives and how my disability has made it an interesting journey but that it is a choice to be positive about disability and attitudes.

Now, it's my last week of holiday - I don't think the last week of holiday counts as proper holiday because you are mentally always aware that your holiday is over in a matter of days. But, it's ok because the semester promises to be a good one and many new things are to come. Pretty exciting things, so here's looking forward...

:)

A little bit of everything - university life

I realise that I haven't been blogging in a while. Okay, fine, a long while. But things have been insanely busy.

University took over my life a little bit. They always tell you "life is about balance", but hello, where is the guy to tell me when I'm supposed to execute this balance? I don't know but I am figuring it out.

I just finished my first session of university exams...

Quite the intense experience, I must tell you. Especially when all your exams are all scheduled in the span of a week. Quite intense.

Here was my life over the last week:

Friday - Sociology
Monday - Politics
Tuesday - Anthropology
Friday - Philosophy

Let me break this down for you a little bit...putting politics and anthropology on consecutive days is a special form of evil. What makes it more evil is that they weren't even 24 hours apart, they were 16 hours apart - I decided to work this out when I was wondering why I was so tired on Tuesday afternoon. Then, I practiced one of my newly acquired university skills...

Napping.

I have subsequently decided to stop judging the nap and start embracing it. Embrace the nap, it's a key element to survival at university.

Some other things key to my university existence...
1. Caffeine - either from coffee or Coke depending on availability of cash as well as proximity to a coffee stand or vending machine
2. Meal vouchers - as a res student, you get meal vouchers when you're on campus for lunch. These are little pieces of paper valued at R22,60 of pure winning
3.  Highlighters/tags - do not attempt a humanities degree without purchasing extreme numbers of highlighters and tags. This is not a joke, people, the reading for humanities is real.

here's some advice...don't kid yourself into believing that you will ever be on top of the readings. It's kind of an unrealistic dream.

But, having said that, next semester - after a six week holiday, I know, let the jealousy level rise - I will be more organised and more on top of my life, I will get more highlighters (there are many many fallen soldiers) and more tags (leading hopefully to more organisation). This is my pledge to myself and my degree.

Something that I heard about people doing and never thought I would be doing is changing minds and changing courses. Yet, I have done this...twice. But it's all good because this is (I hear) the purpose of first year - figuring out what you like, and what you never ever want to take again. I have sorted this out for myself and now I'm all set. Bring on next semester, after six weeks of course ;)

The thing I have to mention about my life and how it's changed is the people in my life, the friends I have made since being at university. These people are, in some ways, a foreign concept to me. I am getting used to having my disability not being such an issue for people. I have friends who are very willing to do whatever needs to be done.

I think I have found my forever-friends and I'm really excited about all the memories that we're bound to make. You guys will, no doubt, hear about some of these.

:)

Cycle Tour...Conquered!

I was going to write everything from the Cycle Tour in one post, but I figured our race day deserved its own.

So, after the two-day-craziness that is the Double&Again, it was time.

We had a start time of 6:54 - amazing! Amazing because we got to finish a large part of the race before it got properly hot. This was a really important thing for us because of my heat regulation issues.

The other thing about an early start time is an early wake-up call. My alarm went off at 04:00. When my eyes opened there was a feeling of disbelief that I was awake at 4 in the morning. Then there were the slight heart palpitations at the realisation that we were about to do 109km with 35 000 other people.

Grant arrived to fetch me at 4:50ish. He was so excited he was jumping up and down...literally. This was his attitude so early in the morning

I took a little bit longer to get on the same page but I got there. Early wake-up call...

One of the things the race organisers did was arrange for us to leave from Greenpoint Stadium with the handcyclists with the traffic escort. We felt super important that we had an escort. We got there at 5:30 (Grant was stoked cause we arrived on time) and we started getting ready for the race.

We left the stadium around 6 and this is the point where I stopped freaking out and I started getting excited.

the start

I have only ever been on training rides with Grant and max 5 people, so the idea of riding amongst 35 000 was insane!

When we reached the start, we had to negotiate a few pavements (interesting with two more wheels than usual) but we sorted it out. Grant helped a few of the handcyclists as well. I was quite impressed at not only his gentlemanness but the fact that he was doing all that whilst keeping me and the buggy upright along with his bike. Beast.

The vibe at the start, actually the entire race, was unlike anything I have ever experienced. The number of people screaming support was amazing - people lining the streets and cyclists.

What I loved was that because I'm in the buggy, I have more of an opportunity to take in all the reactions. Many people shouted recognition at me but the best thing for me, especially when we're going uphill, is that focus changed to Grant - he's the one who deserves the props, he's the one doing the hard work - it's the way it should be. So much respect.

While Grant was cycling, I was mostly tweeting (apologies for not being as good at updating the Facebook page, I was a little preoccupied). Tweeting in motion is not as simple as one would think...much co-ordination is required - I'm actually kinda impressed with myself that there weren't more spelling errors. I got really excited when people retweeted and replied and commented. Successful social media mission! I also got to tell Grant when people did this, then we both got excited!

One thing from Edinburgh Drive that was awesome, aside from hitting 68.8km per hour - my faith in Grant's ability to keep us alive decreased slightly at this point, and then we didn't die, and my faith was properly restored...but 100% more than before - was that we rode passed a little dude on a tandem with his dad, and he told us to have a great ride and that he'll see us along the route. I just can't deal with that level of cuteness. I just can't.


Along the route we had planned on having more photos to share but plans change when you're actually in a situation...so, here are some that we managed to get for you guys

Gary and myself in Simonstown

Here's my attempt at showing the world my view of Kommetjie.
Winning.

Taking a break at the base of Chapman's Peak.

Chappies conquered!!
G still strong

Supporters from ET Systems on Suikerbossie was unparalleled.

Huge THANK YOU for giving us (Grant) the gees to get up that mother of a hill!

:)

Getting to this point meant that we didn't have far to go to the end. It also meant that we were, once again, me anyway, in unchartered territory (remember, bakoven marks the end of where we had trained) which meant more trust in Grant required - all good!

We got to the finish line and crossed it with a time of 5:29:43!

Cycle Tour Conquered!
Oh yes!!

When we got to somewhere to stop it was pretty close to the finish and it had a nice little patch of grass. It was our place.

They gave us our medals and with that I think that was the moment we realised what we had accomplished. After all the preparation and planning, we finished it. I think there was a hint of relief for all of us that we were done, and nothing went wrong - let's face it, there were many bad situations that could have materialised, and nothing did. Success, good and proper.

Both myself and Grant were emotional at the end. Both crying.

For me, finishing was so much more than getting a medal and ticking the Cycle Tour off my list. It encompassed everything that I work at achieving through my activism - inclusion, awareness, everything. But more than that, I think the reason I was as emotional as I was, was Grant.

G, you are so amazing that you gave me this opportunity. It would've been so much easier for you to just be a Chaeli Rider. But you didn't, and you aren't just a Chaeli Rider. There are no words to adequately explain how much I appreciate everything you do for me. The fact that you help me with whatever I need help with and do the not-so-polite-things-to-mention that disability entails, like emptying catheter bags into energade bottles on race day (oops, mentioned it. Oh well) make you that much more amazing. Not many people are willing to do that for someone. I have so much trust and faith in you it's unreal. You're the captain conqueror. You make so many things possible.

I feel so privileged to have you in my life. Thank you.

Here's to next time...

:)

Cycle Tour...almost

It's been a week and a bit since we did the Cycle Tour. I'm only blogging now partly because life has been insane, but mostly because it was such an epic experience that it's taken me a while to process everything.

The Chaeli Campaign has a sort of lead-up event to the Cycle Tour - the Double and Again for Disability (cycling from Hermanus to Somerset West, then to the Clock Tower at the Waterfront over 2 days. The two days before the Cycle Tour). For a little extra training, Grant decided it would be a good idea to take Beastie with, and I would ride when the route was ok for us to. I needed some convincing, but I'm sort of becoming a cyclist...

We got to Hermanus and it was hideously windy - in terms of Beastie and wind resistance, etc. But the eighteen of us who were cycling, purposefully ignored that fact. We got on the road and we had a police escort out of Hermanus - pretty legit, I rate.

Then weather took a turn...for the worse. It started raining. Not too badly to begin with, but then.

Now, keep in mind, we have never trained with Beastie in the rain. Interessant.

I'm in the buggy behind Grant. It's raining. The road is now wet. Being in close proximity to a back wheel of a bicycle when it's raining, I discover, means that the water on the road, ends up on you. I really thought the weather was SO much worse than it was, because it rained on me twice! Once, when it actually fell from the sky, and once, from Grant's wheel. Fun times.

There are benefits though...

We now know that Beastie can also dominate in bad weather. We now know that Beastie does not fill up like a cup when it's raining. We now know that I can be hardcore and ride in the rain. We also now know that my 'waterproof' jacket is not so much and we need to invest in a more durable one. Valuable lessons.

We reached 42-ish kilometres of the 94 that were happening on day 1 and decided to stop. This turned out to be a good decision because the rain got worse. I would have drowned.

I got in the car, we put Beastie in the car, Grant carried on like a champion. I went back to my usual Double & Again duties of screaming "WOOOOOHOOOOOO!!" out the window. Much warmer.

We got to the hotel, got warm, and sat in the success of 94km of the route being finished.

What was really cool, was that Grant and I were being featured on The Dr Mol Show that Friday, so everybody got together and watched it. Good team bonding moment, right there.

Day 2...

Everyone was much more optimistic about the cycle that day...well, most of us (Graeme and Jamie...). Looking outside and seeing that it wasn't raining put a smile on everybody's face. Well, most of us (Jamie...)

I didn't go in Beastie for the first 24km because there were pretty hectic roadworks and traffic was insane. Both of us were stoked that I started in the car. Grant still had the buggy on his bike and it was really weird for me to watch it instead of being in it. Stressed me out.

When we got to Bottelary Road, all was clear, and it was time for Beastie domination.

There are a few hills to climb on day 2...but also some really nice downhills. We had some help going up though. Thanks to everybody who gave us a push. Grant's legs appreciated it.

We made it to the Waterfront and got excited that we were finished, took a couple of photos and then went home to prepare for Sunday and then pass out.

Double and Again...

It's 5am and we're about to leave for Hermanus to start the Double and Again for Disability. 17 cyclists doing 300km to raise awareness of ability.

It's always interesting and the memories we create are incredible. Here, you'll be able to experience them with us.

Hope you'll enjoy them!
:)

New exciting experiences

This week was insane!

I'm gonna start with Sunday because that was when the madness began. Sunday was Moonlight Mass. What an amazing experience. Grant has done it quite a few times before. It was my first time - not only for Moonlight Mass, but my first time in Beastie whilst moving. Before Sunday, I had sat in the buggy. But never had I been in it with the purpose of going for a ride. So that was super exciting and super scary all at the same time. We went around the block at Grant's house first so that I could feel and get used to how it feels and what I need to do to balance myself and the buggy...before we had to do it in front of other people ;)

The vibe at Moonlight Mass was amazing. For me, it was amazing just to be a part of a movement like that. It doesn't matter who you are, where you come from, what your limitations may be, you can be a part of it. We were the only ones doing it with a buggy. We weren't expecting anything different, but watching people's reactions to us was priceless. We got so many different reactions. Some got excited and shouted encouragement. Some got really confused seeing Grant on his bike and later seeing me attached to the back of his bike - the facial expression on one man's face was indescribably hysterical. Some people got really jealous...because I was just getting pulled around by Grant (sense the sarcasm...). One woman got really annoyed and said "you know, she really could just cycle". Really? So I waved at her and smiled and she promptly apologised. We even got an 'ag shame' face from a passing car. My best was a little boy on the back of his dad's bike saying "Dad, I want to do it like that". So cute.

When we got to the end, they were handing out 1st birthday cupcakes. I got excited and then that excitement was quickly dashed when I realised that I couldn't get one because I had stopped eating at 8 o' clock in preparation for my knee operation Monday morning.

Monday.

It was an early start. We had to wake up at 5 to get to the hospital by 6. Considering that we only got to bed at 1:30, this was a considerable challenge. But we did it. Proud moment, right there.

I went into surgery at around 8. I only freaked out a smidgen, an acceptable level of freaking out. I don't know when I came out. I was kinda out of it and miserable. Apparently my reaction to aneasthetic is over-emotionalness.

Once I'd gotten over myself, it was pretty chilled. I got a really rad bed that guards against pressure sores (not that I've ever had a pressure sore, but I wasn't complaining). How it works is like this: it has different pumps at different points in the mattress and air is pumped through the various parts of the bed at different times, and this changes the pressure points in the bed, lowering the possibility of pressure sores. Cool, hey? I felt like I was medically knowledgeable just now. Yay!

Anyways, I stayed overnight at the hospital. I got SO bored I can't even explain. There really is nothing to do in a hospital. You just lie there, waiting for time to pass and the walls are all beige. It got better when people came to visit. Grant arrived bearing McFlurry's. It was right at the point before you give yourself over completely to boredom - a well-timed McFlurry can change everything. Thanks, G.

Tuesday.

I went home on Tuesday morning. That was cool. I was chilling at home for a while and then...we started packing up my stuff so that I could move into Graca Machel Residence later. I can feel the judgement coming as you read this. But my thinking was that I will be sitting in my wheelchair, no walking around required. And last time they did my knee I was sitting outside at the braai the day after my op. I figured that being at the residence and chatting with new friends would be no different to sitting at the braai. So, we went to Graca Machel (armed with pain killers for my knee) to start this new journey.

This last week has been one of so many new experiences. I have been locked out of the res twice without a student card - the first time was on the first night. We were sitting right outside the door to Graca Machel and my friend Jenna (with her recently acquired student card) disappeared into the res. We had to call her to come back. We only got to bed at like 12 and we were woken at 3 in the morning by the Kopano first-years serenading us outside. Aww moment.

Wednesday.

Woke up super early to walk to Upper Campus. This was a subsequently unsuccessful mission when we reached the stairs to the bridge. So, we decided to walk a different route through Middle Campus which turned out to be a lot further than we had initially thought. But, not to worry, because we came across the disabled Jammie and asked for a lift and we were sorted. My plan was to register for all my courses and get my student card. This plan was only half successful. Registration is a notoriously long process and we came prepared. We waited around for 3 hours or so and when we got into Jameson Hall we were told that because we were first years we couldn't register that day and we could come back on Thursday. Seriously? What a fail.

The second part of the plan was a success. I have a student card!

Later that night we had a karaoke and pizza night at Baxter (the female res across the road from Graca Machel) and it was so much fun. Even though it is not the most accessible of buildings. There are a lot of stairs. But, with plenty of girl power we made a plan and showed those stairs who's boss!

Thursday.

I actually registered on Thursday. Woopwoop. It took an hour and a half to do the whole process - my disability does have it's perks...like not having to stand in the line at registration!

Thursday night we had the Fresher's Braai. It was on the rugby field and almost all the first years were there. There was quite the vibe. The problem was that it ended at 8 and we had to find something to do for the rest of the night. We ended up going to tin roof with 7 of my new friends.

That was an interesting new experience. The first thing we had to figure out was getting there. After a while, we found a taxi that we could get the wheelchair into without too much effort. We got there and stood in the line that was all the way down the road. We were in the line, waiting, and the security man came to us and asked if we wanted to go in and obviously we said yes. Here again, you see the disability perk of not waiting in lines. Yeya.

We misunderstood what he meant because when all 8 of us went forward to go in, he got concerned and said "Oh no. I meant just you". What? He wanted me to go into the club and party by myself. I was like "dude, are you serious?" and we ended up having 4 of us being allowed in. The others came in later. We partied and danced and it was cool. We got home at around 1 and again I got locked out of the residence. Twice in one week. Gosh.

Friday.

Nothing crazy happened. I almost missed breakfast because I was sleeping. Breakfast ends at 8:30 and I got to the dining hall at 8:23. That's what you call a close-shave. I came home for the weekend. So that's where I am now - catching up on some sleep.

I'll hopefully update you more frequently next week. Keep posted and I'll keep posting.

:)

Crazy days, crazy people

Today is a smidgen busier than the usual Sunday. I think my life is a lot busier, in general, than it used to be. I'm definitely not moaning - I like the chaos, it means that there's stuff happening and that's really exciting!

It's Sunday today, which means there's dancing practice - so excited that Damian has recovered from his back injury and is ready to put his dancing shoes back on. It's going to be interesting getting back into the swing of things after such a long break, going to rediscover muscles in my body that have forgotten they exist. It will be tough but this is going to be our year.

Today, before practice, we are planning on getting some more modern music together so that we can dance to our own music. We'll see how successful this is, as we tend to get a little bit sidetracked with random stories. What can I say?

The thing that I'm really stoked about today is Moonlight Mass. We, myself and Grant, have decided that this would be an amazing thing to do - just for gees, but also to raise awareness around 'Chaeli Conquers Cycle Tour 2013'. We have also gently coerced some of our people to join the Moonlight Mass Movement. Yay us!

Before we do this, since I haven't actually been in the buggy while it's in motion, we figured it would probably be good thinking to feel how that feels before we have to do it with other people around. So, a tiny training ride will happen today - pictures/videos will be posted so keep your eyes open for that.

That's all the exciting news.

The not-so-exciting news is that I'm having knee surgery tomorrow. Fun times. Remember, a while ago, I told you all that I have misbehaving kneecaps that refuse to live where they are meant to? We did the one knee to test it out, and now it's time for the second one. I'm not really stressing about it, it's just coming at a time when there's a lot happening...I'm moving into res and starting university and then also the Cycle Tour is in 41 days - Grant seems to be superchilled about this piece of information, so I'm attempting to reach his level of chilledness, not sure it's working out.

I'm just going to tell my body to deal, because I have stuff to do.

:)

A whole lot of firsts

This was an amazing week. So many new things happening it's kind of hard to keep track, but I'm gonna try remember so that you guys are fully aware of the level of chaos going down in my life.

So, pretty much the most exciting yet simultaneously mind-numbing thing of the week has been university orientation. It's really cool because everything is a new experience and you meet amazingly different, new people. It's also not so much fun when you sit in a one-and-a-half-hour lecture on 'curriculum construction' entirely confused. Silver lining...hysterical conversation with prior strangers about very random epiphanies. I guess that's a crucial lesson of university life survival.

While we're still on the topic of university. I have to say. Setting up a timetable/curriculum for a Social Science degree is NOT simple, people. Not even a little bit. I was working on it today, and it took me like two hours to organise my first year subjects - you have to do your entire degree plan, so that you know that you're actually going to graduate in three years time. It's all very complicated. I'm doing it in sessions. Because my brain might disintegrate if I attempt it all at once.

The other exciting things that have happened this week have been Conqueror related. Smiley face.

Monday saw our first photoshoot. We have been asked to be featured in the Cape Argus Pick 'n' Pay Cycle Tour Magazine and they needed an epic photo to go with it. It was a really awesome experience. I got really excited when we found out that Andy Lund was the photographer because he had worked with the five founders of The Chaeli Campaign previously. It was a little reunion vibe - so good. Funny story...sort of...Grant was putting me in the buggy and did all the seatbelts (there are a few) and tightening them so that they were snug. And then, the seatbelt bit me. It bit me, and now I'm bruised. Grant felt really bad but I was kinda excited...My first 'battle wound'! The first of many...

Another awesome thing that we are getting into is talking to companies and schools to spread the conqueror message far and wide. So, on Thursday, we did our first 'Conquerors Talk' with ET Systems staff members. It was very exciting and different for me. I'm used to doing talks with my mom and speaking with Grant has a different vibe. Something to get used to, I guess. I'm super excited that our speaking aspect of 'Chaeli Conquers Cycle Tour 2013' is starting to grow wings. It will hopefully have a lot of impact with many people having their perceptions challenged by what we are doing.

Here's a random piece of information: I am extending my vocabulary. I have learned many many many new cycling and bicycle related words. I feel much more at ease when I can nod in agreement with authority and not just pretending to understand what's going on. Props to Grant for his patience in helping me with this vocab development!

Everything is happening at once and I kinda like it. I like the drama and hysteria that goes with being a conqueror. Hopefully many more people will enjoy it as much as I do.

Epic day

Okay, so, it's a really exciting day to be a conqueror!

It's been quite slow and quiet with our 'Chaeli Conquers Cycle Tour 2013' initiative because we have been waiting for various things to happen before we can properly attack this challenge that we have embarked on. Things like gears and stuff for Grant's bike to make it easier to ride with me and foam for Beastie so that it's comfortable for me to sit in for an extended period of time - seeing that the Cycle Tour is going to be a 6-7 hour feat, these things are crucial!

They are happening now.

We have also, with a little help, figured out how Beastie fits onto Grant's bike. Can I get a woopwoop? So, Grant has tested it out with a different bike just to get the feel for it...minus me.

Now, we are starting to make some more noise!

We are sending our story out to everybody we can think of, tweeting and facebooking like cray people, and just having general Conqueror gees! It's working, because other people are getting excited about us too...and this is the whole mission...getting people excited about life!

Today is a good day because we have just been given a sponsorship of R50 000 from ET Systems! This is an amazing gift to so many differently abled young South Africans who will be given the opportunity to take control of their world. We cannot express the gratitude and happiness that these young people will be feeling when they receive their devices that will change their lives.

So, we want to say to Gary Vink and everybody at ET Systems a HUUUGE thank you for believing in our initiative and joining our mission to grow Conquerors!

Here's to 2013!

I apologise for missing the whole "Happy New Year" boat but we are now solidly into the new year and it looks promising!

I really love this time of the year - everybody is still excited about the prospects of the new beginning that is the new year vibe. Everybody is relaxed and has destressed and is ready to take on the world with fierceness. I am currently in this state of mind and I like it.

This year is going to be EPIC!! It holds so many new experiences for me. I am now a student, which is kind of weird that I haven't got teachers telling me when to do stuff, day by day. I am also moving into res at the end of January and I'm really excited about having an opportunity to experience university as a fully involved student. Life is going to be cray!

And then, of course, we have the Cycle Tour in March! It's quite quiet on this topic as we are waiting for things to happen before we can actually go out with Beastie the Buggy. However, stuff is definitely happening behind the scenes. We are working on our marketing strategy and looking for platforms to share our story.

Our fundraising goal has changed...slightly. Initially, we wanted to raise R50 000 for The Chaeli Campaign but we decided that we were thinking too small. So, our new goal is to raise R109 000! Seem like a random amount? It's not really. Let me explain. The Cycle Tour is 109 kilometres long and we figured it would be awesome if we can raise R1000 for each kilometre!

If you want to join our journey and make 2013 a year of conquering fears and making change, leave a comment or spread the word or whatever you feel like doing.

Go out and conquer!

:)