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Into the sea |
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Friday, 17 October 2008 |
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 After 100 days on the road the final sunrise of the journey was slowly edging its way across the sky, splashing colour into the drab dusk, burning away the morning chill in the sea air. I remember standing in front of the estuary at Cosi bay and briefly thanking John for the months of dedication that he had put in seeing that we remained hydrated and fed on the road. There was a quiet rise of emotional feeling beginning to build up, it had been such a long, hard and a personal mental fight all the way , to keep myself in that zone with all the distractions going on around me on a daily basis. Yes I was mentally exhorsted. Physically I was in a better condition, but this for many reasons had been a real test of mental strength. Switching on my Sports Tracker for the last time, I lent forward and my body followed with an automatic engagement into muscle memory and off I ran, the last 18 km of the coast was slowly unravelling.
Slowly plodding up the sandy dune inland to the border post between South Africa and Mozambique, I will never forget the chorus of young voices that I heard floating down the valley from a school raising the flag and singing our national anthem, I looked up at the flag ,bright and colourful flapping in the morning sun, it was just such a special moment, as I stared at it trough my emotionally glazed eyes, a feeing of pride ran though me, yes I am proud to be part of this country.
The next stop was a sign that read 200 meter to the border, the excitement was now really building. The crew went ahead and got all our vehicles cleared as well as our passports stamped, it was an hour wait, but a welcome time just lying in the grass along the roadside and to reflect on what I had been through, the beauty I had seen, the people I had met along the coast and what this journey has come to mean to so many children.
The signal came from the crew we were cleared to go, up we got, flags in hand off we ran through the border crossing and on to Ponte de Ora. Hooting shouting waving and the rest on us went, winding along the maze of deep sand roads back down to the coast.
On entering the village of Ponte, the streets came alive with the excitement of our journeys closure, things were really becoming overwhelming for me, every emotion and feeling that I had controlled and suppressed over the past months, were now rising within. On we ran, but all I wanted was the sea, just to run into it and soak away all these feelings .Finally, there it was beautiful turquoise blue tropical water just calling, the waves were like open arms beckoning me. I sprinted down the beach with Braam and we ran into the sea. There was a massive wave which seemed to climb up towards us and stall as if it was the finishing line marking the end of our journey. As I hit the wave it seemed to explode into millions of particles and just envelope me. Drenched with emotion and the sea water I sank to my knees and quietly sobbed within-
Thank you for giving me this opportunity to help make a difference
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Zululand and on |
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Tuesday, 07 October 2008 |
Since Durban we have had a mental battle trying to keep focused and drag our bodies day after day along the north coast freeways, zig- zagging between busy roads all heading up north to the border, dodging flying pieces of sugar cane, taxis and fighting the head on north wind only occasionally hitting the beach, some days our route has taken us way inland that I have felt I was going to see the west coast again. From a visual point we have been starved, but things suddenly changed. Running down the road to Sodwana bay , we were given a point to turn left onto a dirt road. For 15 km this road ran straight towards the coast. As we ran the vegetation just got thicker and thicker, eventually we were running in a tunnel of greenery, a dense canopy of interlocking trees covered us with monkeys every were . As quick as the canopy had enclosed us, it now broke open and ahead of us was Lake Sibaya, Southern Africa’s biggest natural fresh water lake.
 As far as one could see the lake stretched out to the horizon, a mass of molten mercury as it heaved and danced in the sunlight, outlined with a thin strip of white beach. Towards the east, towering above the lake and crowning it was a range of massive vegetated dunes, said to be up to 180 meters in height and the second tallest in the world. The crystal clear water quietly lapped against the shore line as we ran around the lake, totally entranced in the beauty, but very vigilant and on the look out for lazing crocodiles or Hippos coming out to graze. As I plodded along, I could hear the distant cry of a fish Eagle, every now and then a Red Duiker would shoot out across my path. In the distance we saw our first sighting of a pod of Hippo’s, ears flapping as they lazily yawned and descended into the depths of the lake – what a privilege to be running in such undisturbed natural beauty.
A few km’s further on we slowly wound up a track to the top of the dune ridge and down towards the coast again, it has been days now, the distant crash of the waves was a welcoming sound, a sound that has been such a part of my life over the past months, I have found it to be so soothing and relaxing. Hitting the beach I heard another familiar sound of sand squeaking under my shoes as I ran, and with this I knew it was beach all the way to the end. Turning and heading up the coast, I seemed to have a new bounce in my step and strength in my legs, for the first time on this whole journey I had reached the point that I was confident that my body will carry me to the end as its only about 65km to go.
The sun was slowly tumbling down on the horizon dragging the light with it leaving massive pink and grey drag marks across the sky, the tide was slowly bit by bit reclaiming the beach again, and with this the sand that we were left to run on was a lot softer underfoot and quite steep, but this does not matter, each step is now a step closer to home. I find it weird to say , but there comes a time with every journey when you know its now enough and all you want to do is get home and be with the ones you love and miss and who have sacrificed so much so that you can don this. I feel that I have reached this point, and I really miss my children and feel I need to get home.
As I ran on, the whole beach was awash with ghost crabs, thousand upon thousands running ahead of me, but as I got closer they would just ghost away disappear into the sea or sand and the beach isinstantly wiped clean of any trace of them. Much like this journey has been, the waves continuously wash away my footprints left behind on a daily basis, there remains no trace of my journey; all I hold are the memories.
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Hope in Thyme |
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Monday, 06 October 2008 |
 (The ancient Greeks used it in their baths and burnt it as incense in their temples, believing that thyme was a source of courage)
I can now count the days on one hand, the end of this journey is so close, but still far to go. Each day is as hard as they have ever been and as well as this, the distance has added to the continuous pain in my legs. They hurt as we are pushing each day just that little bit harder in order to finish earlier each day just to be able to relax in the beautiful surroundings before night falls. Memories are starting to flow back of the last few days of the run along the Great Wall of China how cautious we were with every step that nothing will go wrong, and the same is happening now
With every journey there is always that goal that you set out to achieve, but to me the most important thing that I have taken from each of my journeys are the life's lessons that you pick up along the way and how they always seem to enhance my life afterwards. China was such a turning point in my life as it taught me the importance of change in ones life, in many a way this I think is one of the most important factors that I have had to come to terms with, the realisation that every thing and everyone around us are evolving and changing at such a rapid rate, the sooner that you manage to come to terms with this the better.
On the outset of this run my fundamental aim was to help Change the lives of children in need of facial surgery, born with cleft palates' and hair lips. The more I look at this the more I believe that change on its own is not enough unless one has hope for the future that we and our children can strive for and that through our actions of internal and external change that we know that there is still a greater goal to aim for which makes this all worth while by ensuring that the future holds something for all of us
I will never forget the day that I ran across the bridge over the Orange River from Namibia back into South Africa at the start of this run. The pride that I felt carrying my countries flag across that bridge. But there was a feeling of uncertainty in me, a feeling of fear in a way as I did not know what lay ahead of me. What was going to be the result of this mammoth journey and what were the lessons going to be. Deep inside there was this strong feeling of hope for the future that has been kindled by deep rooted positivity and love for all that this country stands for and the massive change that it has undergone.
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Children of the soil |
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Tuesday, 30 September 2008 |
 I can distinctly remember as a child the special feeling that one got playing in the soil, digging into it until your finger nails were caked with the black soil. Eating handfuls of the sand and loving each brain shattering crunch as your teeth splinter the tiny granules. Sitting, dazed and in a trance watching the sand running through my fingers, or the feeling one gets when you burrow deep into the cold sand with your feet, wriggling your toes in it. I have always found it so therapeutic and gives you such a feeling of just being connected to nature. It is one of the things that just evolves with you as a child, that natural progression as you are connecting with the natural world that cocoons you not only then, but every day for the rest of your life, that delicate film that controls your very existence.
As we get older there seems to come some unnatural swing away from this as the material world seems to take grip of one and just seem to take over. There tends to be this total disregard for nature as this inherent greed seems to bubble to the surface, I have see it all around me and have unfortunately also been guilty to falling foul of its influence. The importance of our material accumulations and wealth creation seems to overshadow the delicate existence that is actually responsible for our very survival. So often on a daily basis I see how this balance is shaken to its very roots, beyond any possible way of being able to turn back the process. There is evidence of the odd cosmetic attempt of restoration of damage done, like a paint stroke on the surface, but deep down the damage is beyond repair.
 As this journey has progressed and I have spent hundreds of hours in the quiet beauty of the natural surrounding, slowly I have felt this reconnection with nature and the spirituality that surrounds it. Such a delicate balance that makes one realise that there is a need to take heed to the warning signs that are constantly popping up. I still question how can we allow this to happen and how can we stop what is going on. The very problems that we need to curtail and to reverse the process of are the only source of life to so many. If I think of a simple analogy, I feel that unfortunately only the day that every persons belly is full is the day that we will look for a bin to put our rubbish in, instead of just dropping it where we are standing as our only concern is to move on, looking for our next scrap to eat, oblivious to the trail of destruction we leave in the process
 Many a day I have run past a little village or just along a beach and seen a child sitting and playing, with noting but the earth around them, content happy and in sync with their surroundings. My mind just runs back to my childhood memories. The privilege that I had of being brought up in constant touch with nature and what an influence it had on me as I grew up. As I look past the child in the dunes behind them I catch the glimpse of the arm of a massive digger, ripping open the dunes, spewing black smoke into the air as it cuts away at the dune forest, dump trucks line up as the soil is dumped into them and they buzz away to the extraction plant, like an endless line of ants. Hour after hour they eat away at this thousand year old ecosystem. Ripping it apart like a carcase, down to the very bone of rock where every bit of life is extracted.
We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.
Native American Proverb
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