Making a Difference - Cycling for Red Cross

Earlier this year I mused that “being in Cape Town and not doing the Argus was a bit like being alone on New Year’s Eve”.  I mentioned that we might have to start a support group next year...seems like I will be needing a ringside seat...

My son belongs to a tutor group at school which meets three times a week led by teacher, Jenny Campbell. Boys from different grades are in the same group and it is an opportunity for the younger boys to get to know the older boys in a relaxed atmosphere and for the boys to be a support for each other.

Red Cross Children's Hospital - photo from hospital website 

The tutor group has committed to riding the Argus Cycle Tour this year to raise funds for the Red Cross Hospital.Fourteen boys from Grade 8 to Grade 11 are registered to ride, as well as five parents and Jenny.  I asked her what they were doing and why...

“At the beginning of this year I began to feel that I was missing an opportunity to do something more constructive with time, but could not quantify what I wanted to achieve,” she explained. “After chatting to one of the boys who had cycled the event for charity, we all agreed that not only would it be a monumental achievement for us to ride the Argus, but it would provide an opportunity for us to give back to our community.”

Initial contact revealed that the hospital needed R20million, which nearly put a stop to the idea, but the boys figured out that while they were not likely to raise that much money, they could try to raise as much as possible.

They visited the hospital and saw the difference between the wards which have been upgraded and those which have not, coming away with a deeper understanding of the very definite need which exists at the hospital for the new facilities which they plan to raise money for. 

The group spent the morning in the Transplant Ward and the boys saw firsthand what a fantastic job the staff are doing.  To help with fundraising, they shot a video with children in the ward, trying to capture the joy of the children who are being saved as a result of the outstanding work being carried out in less than satisfactory conditions.  “We saw and filmed kids who would not be alive today if it were not for them,” Jenny says. 

“We don’t know how the initiative will turn out, but we are more convinced than ever that it is a fantastic opportunity for us to do something significant.  It is a little scary at times, but we have nothing to lose and everything to gain.  We have put ourselves out of our comfort zones and it feels good.  We have been blown away by the level of support from the staff at school, the staff at the hospital and from the parents in our tutor group.”

“Right now we are dreaming very big.  We are hoping to reach the world with our story and trusting that millions of people will support this very important fundraising drive.” 

“Young children deserve to live and to have the quality of life we all take for granted.  It has been a life changing experience thus far and it is only the beginning!”

Watch this space for their progress...

Raising a New Generation

When my daughter was a few weeks old I remember a distinct moment when I realised that I would do anything to protect her, perhaps even kill if I had to. That mother bear kind of feeling has come back many times over the years – about both my kids. I am not sure when it kicks in. Maybe it is natural after carrying someone under your heart for nine months, or maybe it comes in with the milk. But I now know what my grandmother meant when she said that it doesn't matter how old you are, but to your mother you'll always be a child.

My daughter is in India for a month. I am getting used to the fact that she has travelling genes and enjoys these adventures. But I have been distressed watching the news about the young woman who has died after being brutally raped in Delhi recently. I cannot think of anything worse that could be done to a woman. I know I can’t protect my daughter from everything. I have reminded her to stay in the group, to not go out alone nor with people she doesn't know. All the usual stuff. How much more do you do?

That  young woman was part of the new youth emerging in India; studying further, educating herself to raise a different generation to contribute to building a new world. How do we live in a world where women are so devalued and where they mean so little? Are we becoming immune to all the violence we witness on a regular basis?

The centre of Delhi was closed on the day my daughter arrived, as people protested against the attack and called for the death penalty. We need to join in and protest more loudly against the abuse of women in India, around the world and certainly here in SA. And as mothers of sons we need to make sure that we grow good men so that this cycle of violence can be broken. 

Blue and Yellow Moneybox

Me with Pa circa 1965

Today is the anniversary of my grandfather's birth. I am thinking of him particularly this year as I embark on a new course of study. Pa changed the course of my life with his little blue and yellow UBS moneybox. Every evening, from the pockets of his khaki coat, he would take out the coins he had gathered during the day. He would allow me to put them into the money box. “For your education,” he would remind me. I had grown up with the mantra, “They can take everything away from you, but not your education”. 

He believed fervently that I would have to study further so that I could be independent. By the time I had finished school he had saved enough to pay for my first year at university. With a brave smile pasted on my face and the weight of generations of expectation, I embarked on a very different voyage. 

In 1980 it was no easy feat for "someone of colour" to be accepted by the University of Cape Town. 

Entering university was such a cultural onslaught that I might as well have been in a different country. The campus was overwhelming. I think my entire school could have fitted into the Jagger Hall. There were lecture halls and sports centres,  buses shuttling back and forth, and more "white" people than I had ever seen in my life. And I was able to sit next to them in class, on the bus and in the library. Although, when it came to doing clinical practice in the hospitals, we were not allowed to treat "white" patients.

My grandfather died before I completed my degree and did not get to see me graduate, but as he had envisioned, I am independent. And I did not stop studying. The learning path he set me on more than thirty years ago has evolved to take me to the far corners of the world. Along the way I have earned a few more diplomas and certificates. And here I am embarking on another journey which is taking me back to my alma mater in a new South Africa, without a special permit, simply because I want to and I have the ability. 

There is a quote by Joseph Goldstein a  Buddhist teacher, that goes something like this: “If you are already facing in the right direction, all you have to do is keep on moving”. Pa made sure that I was facing the right way. Happy Birthday, Pa. I hope you can see me moving forward. 

Happy New Year!

“You have been formed into tribes and nations so that you may know one another.” Quran

“In order to change things for the better, we need not just smart brains, but warm-heartedness and the values of love, compassion and forgiveness.” 
Dalai Lama

Over the last ten days we have been celebrating Christmas and the New Year with a variety of friends, both old and new. At times the revelling may have been too much, and I felt like I was not getting anything constructive done, but I remind myself that this is necessary time off to follow the rituals which draw the old year to  a close and ring in the new.

We have shared meals with people of all faiths and nationalities.  We have sat around a table where meals have lasted for hours while we discovered how similar we are to American, Nigerian, Italian, Kenyan, Russian, Dutch, Mauritian, Canadian, British and Iranian people, as well as fellow South Africans.

Despite the distances which separate us, the same issues touch us, concern us, mobilise us. I lap it all up; I feel like I am giving the finger to apartheid, racism and many other –isms. I firmly believe that we should be building bridges by getting to know each other. When we step outside of the familiar, outside our comfort zones, we make connections which enrich our lives and shrink the world. We cannot help connecting on a deeper level than we are accustomed to.

One of our passions as a family is travel - precisely because we are forced to step out of the familiar and over the artificial barriers which serve to keep us separate. I like to think that the energy with which we start the New Year is the one that we carry through and so, for 2013 I wish for more understanding, compassion, friendship and connections. Happy New Year.

New Beginnings

"Every day have a little bird on your shoulder that asks, "Is today the day? Am I ready? Am I doing all I need to do? Am I being the person I want to be?" 

Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

It was pretty dark when I woke up just before six this morning. There was a gentle patter of rain on the tin roof over the stoep. I love that soft rain which sometimes falls in the summer time, as if it is coming to wash the heat and dust away. Now it is raining quite hard, big fat drops coming down as if there's a lot of cleansing to be done before we can start a new cycle. 

It has been quite a stormy year on many levels: hurricanes and elections in the US, violence all over Africa and the Middle East, protests in Russia and Greece, a landslide victory for Jacob Zuma, and the economies of many countries in Europe still reeling in the aftermath of the crises of a year ago. 

On a personal level, we and everyone we know, seem to have had an unusually busy year with little time to socialise or connect. Everything seems to have had a good shake up, and by time too. When things get shifted around, energy gets moving in places it might not have reached. 

Perhaps that's why I've done some shaking up of my own. After almost 30 years I am going back to university...I'm looking forward to the new year with a lot of excitement and just a tiny bit of trepidation... new beginnings bring hope and growth. I'm ready for some of that. 

Walking for Happiness

On Friday morning I crept out of the house at 06h20, so as not to wake the sleeping bodies who are on holiday. Apart from getting an early start to the day (in case it was the end of the world) I was off to the last session of Run/Walk for Life. At least I would be doing something that was making me feel good, if it all did come crashing around us!

I think that I may have become just the tiniest bit addicted to the walking. Recently, on the R/WFL program, I have been doing it more regularly and in a more structured way. Over the last three months or so it's become a firm habit and I find myself looking forward to it. I feel good, have more energy and am sleeping and eater better. 

It has been proven that exercise makes you feel good because it decreases the levels of stress hormones and increases the endorphins. Endorphins can be described as the body's feel-good chemicals, or I like to call it "happy juice". They block transmission of pain, and produce a feeling of euphoria, in the same way that a drug like morphine would.  Exercise and the effect of endorphins leaves you with a joyful feeling, elated and content. In other words, when you commit to exercise you are committing to feeling good. 

I can think of worse things that you could become addicted to.

Click here for the Top 10 Health Benefits of Walking. 

Traffic like Christmas...

Last week I had to meet a friend in town. I made sure to arrive early as she is so punctual you could set your watch by her. Five minutes before our scheduled meeting I got a text - "running late...traffic like xmas..." 

I always feel that we should be approaching the end of the year slowly, winding down and taking stock. Instead we usually hurtle towards the end, trying to fit in all the things we meant to do earlier in the year. And then visitors start appearing and the entertaining begins and so you are either feeling guilty about having fun when you should be finishing something off, or frustrated about wanting to be having fun while you rush around completing tasks. 

It doesn't help that businesses start closing their books at the end of November for any new orders and schools close in the first week of December. Yoga classes ended more than a week ago. At least Run/Walk for Life is carrying on until the 21st ... before all the eating begins!

I am quite excited that we are going to be here for the holidays. I plan to be a tourist in my own town and have been collecting snippets from the newspapers of what's hot (or cool!). 

So far I am definitely checking out Bree Street for its restaurants and local designs. There is a coffee shop on Bree called  Escape Caffe which is owned by a Nobel Prize winner, which deserves a visit. Woodstock seems to be getting trendier and more arty by the week.

An old favourite which I share with my daughter is to trawl Kalk Bay. A really great day out is to drive to Muizenberg, have breakfast at Knead and then walk all along the boardwalk to Kalk Bay, stopping for coffee and shopping. There's a great independent bookshop, Kalk Bay Books, worth a visit.  

But today, I am going to enjoy the jazz as played by the Delft Big Band at the Helderberg Nature Reserve. Will keep you posted!