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Tuesday, 09 September 2008 |
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The connectedness of all things is so profound in its simplicity. When you give you receive. Simple really. My relationship with quiet little Michelle has enriched both our lives immensely.
I first caught sight of her sitting with her dad outside the screening room at the hospital in Mount Frere. Her deep dark eyes peered at me from under her hood. She seemed frightened as she snuggled closer to her dad. I smiled at her and her eyes smiled back at me. She was covering her mouth with her hand.
 I saw her again around lunch time. She was sitting with her dad, away from all the other people against the hospital boundary fence. I approached and offered them both an apple juice. He had heard about Operation Smile some months earlier and had brought Michelle all the way from Cradock in the hope that she would be helped. Looking at her unfortunate face, I hoped so too. This shy little soul did not even go to school. She would not be accepted there.
Later in the afternoon I was watching as the doctors and staff prepared the operating schedule for the next few days. I looked down the line of names but there was no Michelle. Curious and concerned, I asked why her name wasn’t on the schedule. I was told that perhaps there had been a medical complication which prevented surgery. Her file would then be in a different place. On going through the non-op files, we still could not find her name. The operation schedule was complete and full. I felt a hot flush run through me as I frantically went around the hospital looking for her. The security at the entrance had not seen anyone leave with her description. A few of the volunteers joined in the search. After about half an hour I found her, sitting quietly with her dad, file in hand, in the ward she had slept in the night before.
 I asked Anil and Olivia if they could still operate. Anil, an amazing miracle-worker, said he would operate on her as the last patient the following day.
I spent time the next morning chatting with her. I told her she was
going to have a long beautiful sleep and that when she woke up she was
going to be just as beautiful outside as she was inside.
 I carried her into operating theatre at about 5pm and stayed by her side watching as Anil changed her life forever. He had performed four procedures back to back. I was in awe of the miracle happening in front of my eyes. He drew lines on her mouth like a puzzle and then made her beautiful.
At 9pm I cried with her dad as he looked in disbelief at his daughter’s new face.
 Michelle has humbled me. She has also shown me, yet again in my life, just how much I have to be grateful for. And she has reinforced my belief that ‘nothing is impossible’.
Warm wishes,
Wild Child (on the Wild Coast)
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Monday, 01 September 2008 |
Dreaming is easy. Living the dream is the difficult part. When I was a child I believed the world was perfect and would be that way forever. A long time ago, lying on the back seat of my Oupa’s old Austin as we drove down a tree-lined road, I saw rays of sunlight shinning down in silver streams between the trees. My Ouma had told me they were ‘Angel slides’ and that the Angels used them to slide down for fun when they weren’t working. I clearly remember asking Ouma when I was going to be able to fly. Her reply shattered me – “no my boy, humans can’t fly; only Angels can”. I chose not to believe her. No one was going to take my dream away!
When I was nineteen I realized my dream. I jumped out of an old Dakota and flew. Not once, many times. Free falling at 220kms per hour allowed me, simply by stretching my right arm out at 45 degrees, to move in that direction. I felt a bit like Superman. Since then, I have flown softly and hovered high above a mountain in a hang glider. See, nothing is impossible. You just have to really believe it.
I’ve met real Angels too.
 Last week I was privileged to visit the hospital in Mount Frere in the Transkei to be part of the Operation Smile mission there. It has been an extremely emotional and uplifting experience. I met children and adults with terrible facial disfigurements. I witnessed miracles in the operating theaters. I literally saw children’s faces change beyond recognition in the space of three hours before my eyes. I cried softly as I carried little frightened Michelle into the operating theatre. I watched, as the fear in her face faded as the anesthesia dropped her into deep sleep. I watched as Aneil’s skilled hands drew lines on her face before he cut her. I cried as I watched the transformation. With the focus of a precision scientist and the vision of an artist in front of his canvas, he quietly changed her life forever.
As I watched her waken and open her deep dark eyes, I wept with joy.
I want some of the children that have been given the gift of a smile to join me on one of my Natural Transformation camps in the next year. I feel it will further enhance their inner beauty and help them reach their fullest potential. Also, it will show them that the greatest gift in life is giving. I strongly believe, that to complete the cycle, they must ‘pay it forward’.
 To all of the Angels who volunteered their time, skills and gifts to make this mission possible, I say a special thank you. You have so positively changed so many lives, including mine.
To the children who have received such special gifts – long may you smile. And to my amazing son, Benjamin – it was such a gift to me to see you there. To watch you give so much love so freely makes me so very proud. As we both know; ‘real is rare and the best things in life are free’.
Best wishes,
Wild Child
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Tuesday, 26 August 2008 |
 When Charles Darwin first proposed, in his ground-breaking theory, “The Origin of Species” that we modern day humans, Homo sapiens, evolved from the ocean he was ridiculed and scorned by many. Today, his view is generally accepted by most of us, including top scientists and even many religious leaders.
As I journey the coast-line of my country, running the sandy shores or experiencing the rock pools, I am often between the spring-high and spring-low water marks. Here is where marine plants and animals have evolved, and continue to do so, in the most adverse conditions – twice, every twenty four hours, the tide is out and twice during the same period, it is in. Here, in this inter-tidal zone, is where we as a species first explored terra firma.
Gazing out at this vast expanse of water I often see only the rippling surface with the sun dancing forever to the horizon. Other times I imagine what lies beneath her depths. What happens there, in that deep silence?
Either way, we are utterly dependent on her. She provides us with life. Through evaporation, condensation and precipitation; we drink fresh water. Something most of us take for granted. As James Lovelock so succinctly put it; “How arrogant we are. Two thirds of the planet is covered by water, yet we call her ‘Earth’. Perhaps ‘Ocean’ would have been more appropriate.”
To run ‘a smile’ around this coast line and create an awareness about children less fortunate than ourselves is laudable, but giving children a gift of a smile is short-lived if they cannot drink water. We need to drive the message home, firmly and directly, that without a vibrant, living planet, we all die!
 When I started this journey I made it clear to everyone I spoke with that I wanted to ensure it was a ‘green’ journey. With this in mind, I approached my friend, Jan Olivier, who had developed a portable water purification system. I asked him if we could test it and use it on our journey. Jan delivered his prototype to my home and explained that he had gone a step further – not only could we clean polluted river water but we could “drink the sea”. Well, it is an amazing thing to run along the coast, appreciate the oceans beauty, and let her sustain me, literally physically!
 Jan’s system is befittingly called Eco Aqua. It works by reverse osmosis. Complicated to explain but simple to use. We fill a ten liter bottle of sea water, hook it up to the unit by way of garden fittings, start up the generator and we have ten liters of pure drinking water in literally five minutes. John, my second, keeps a twenty liter jerry can in the support vehicle and tops up my pack’s water bladder as I need it. I am having a unit fitted at my home to clean grey water. We all need to recycle and accept it as a way of life. Selfishness only depletes. The goal is to live off what nature provides and show others that it is economically viable and way healthier.
Just like those hardy species that live and evolve in the inter-tidal zone, isn’t it about time that we too evolve by adapting to Mother Nature, instead of trying to get her to adapt to us?
If you would like to know more about Eco Aqua, or would like to comment or chat, please feel free to contact me on
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Warm regards,
Wild Child
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Saturday, 23 August 2008 |
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At what point does the body give up? Are there in fact, limits? It’s a big question and an on-going debate amongst people of faith and practical scientists. Perhaps there is no one absolute answer. Perhaps we determine our own? I believe there are no limits, except the ones we create in our minds. Mind over matter is what matters. I am an ordinary guy who embraces life and has grown from the challenges it offers. I have the choice to take on a new challenge or leave it alone. I have grown from tackling things head on but I have also grown from letting go and sitting quietly and watching. The trick is to know when to do what! Intuition works for me.
Just when I thought the hardest week had pasted and I could breathe a sigh of relief, things just got tougher. After two days of 42kms each we decided to increase our daily distance to 45kms. So, day three four and five saw an extra 135kms on top of the 84kms, giving us a five day total of 219kms. Then came the Otter Trail! We had to do the 5 day trail in a day!
 I set out from Natures Valley at 06h45 under high cloud cover. A 30% chance of rain meant a cool day lay ahead. Understatement! After a dry 20kms to about half way the heavens opened. The steep paths on the undulating terrain became streams and the mud filled my shoes. Going was slow. I glanced at my Garmin GPS and was dismayed at how slowly the kilometers ticked by. I was traveling light; trekking poles, shoes, shorts, top, wind-breaker and running pack with lunch, water, camera, head lamp and plasters. Wet, very wet, sums it up. The trick was to keep moving. We did.
 With only 3kms to go it got dark the head lamp went on. The shadows caused a few wrong turns and two wet and dangerous cliff scrambles. Legs were very tired but the elation of finishing the hard week could not dampen my spirit. David got his foot trapped in a rock crack. I needed to use my trekking pole to lever his foot out of the shoe before we could remove the shoe from the rock. In the last 200m of the trail, there, standing in front of me in the light was a beautiful bush-buck, just standing, meters away, staring at me. What a way to end the week. What a gift!
12 hours of pushing with 10 minutes rest for lunch. The Otter Trail in a day and a long 261kms behind me. Still a way to go, but what a journey!
Be well,
Wild Child
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