Made it back

Well well, I'm back up in Cape Town. The 12 hour flight was horrendous, I can generally sleep anywhere, but planes are the one exception. There was so much turbulence, the compliementary cup of tea was all over the place, before I even had a sip!!

Our first few days have consisted of a Jam packed training program. with safety being the first thing on the agenda. Which after a 12 hour flight with little to no sleep, doesn't help to keep you awake! The next section was traveling to the 5 placements to get a flavour of the culture and variations between each one, something that the ICS program neglected last time, a great improvement to the traingin programme. The 5 placement we will be split up into are as follows:

ABC - A new placement located in a Provence new Cape Town called Hout Bay. here objectives are to set up a soccer league for the International school, and assisted in coaching sessions and tournament/match days.

Amandla Edufootball - this is one of the larges 'edufootball' establishments in Cape Town, managed by one of our Team Leaders Shane Wright (another sound guy!), based in Kheylitsha, Cape Towns largest Township. this is a serious sport and development placement, basing coaching around football connected with life skills

MITS (making an impact through sport) - this is a school based placement, moving around all the schools within  Mitchel's Plain (another provence of Cape Town) giving Phys Ed to the children.

Oasis - this placement works with homeless men first and foremost, trying to develop their person life skills and helping them to re integrate within society. Has connections with the Homeless football World Cup

Marsh Memorial Children home - this is very much a child care placement, where the volunteers will act as managed social workers for the children within Marsh Memorial children's home, Rondebosch. Here the volunteer will help with homework, feeding and washing the kids, along with delivering some Phys ed sessions.

The last two of the four days, our group completed a Limited Resources Football Coaching Course, With Barney Stevens, unbelievable to see him again, as mention, he is awesome. having got to this stage in September, i am so keep to push further, and complete the 3 months, being as proactive as possible. I have found out this afternoon i personally will be working at MITS with 5 others, Lee, Taylor Carla Hayley and Olivia! excited inst the word! More to come soon. This Is Africa.

Lakes MicroAdventure

About a month ago now, Joe (the 'anonymous' expedition buddy from previous microadventures) and I arranged a Lakes microadventure. We set our sights for Scafell Pike, England's highest peak, close to Wasdale, Lake District. To both of us it was another adventure to tick off the list, another expedition conquered. I use expedition lightly here, as we are starting small! For me personally, it was another thing to show to the 'doubters' that I have determination, and that a neck fracture would not hinder me.

the beginnings of a spring, en route through the dales.

We planned the trip for the weekend beginning the 2nd, with me taking a short train journey up to Northallerton, North Yorkshire, early Friday morning. We headed out at 10am from there, basically west, across the country. I'd like to say we walked or biked, but am slightly ashamed to say it was by car, having only the weekend to complete the walk. To break up the days driving, we decided to take a detour to White Scar Caves, one of the first explored caves in England. This was an interesting experience, something I have wanted to try my hand at for years, yet was let down by the touristy feel of it. When it was mentioned to me by my mate as something we could do, I imagined quite a hands on approach, ropes and carabiners, hard hats and harnesses.

From a Geological point of view it was very interesting, first explored by Christopher Long, August 1923, in shorts and Jumper, with four candles as his headlight. I can't quite work out whether this man is a nutter, or a hero! We descended 93 metres underground, and travel in about 150 metres having to 'Duck March' for 20 metres or so, but that is as hard as it got I'm afraid. The tunnel had be carved out quite well, with scaffolding used as a platform in some areas. A very Info-tourism outing.

Image from the website, whitescarcave.co.uk

Some of the stalactites and stalecmites where incredible, don't get me wrong. You got to see first hand, how water running through minerals, causing it to become slightly acidic, can alter rock faces within as little as 50 years. Complete with under ground lake, and waterfalls, this was something I would recommend to those 'tourists'. Steer clear semi pros!

Nearly Back Again

Having not posted in a while, due If I'm honest to not a lot happening in my life worth writing about! so instead of boring all, about the little things, I thought I'd compact It into one concise post!

With the job front very bleak currently all over the country, finding a job, after being discharged with a clean (ish) bill of health, was very difficult. I think give or take a few days, I applied to 3 or 4 positions a day, and non were successful. I had some success, but the job entailed cold calling, something, I will not do! That annoys me as it is, why would I do it to others. having little experience within customer service sectors certainly didn't do me any favours, as these were the positions that were coming up.

What I did find however, is plenty of volunteer opportunities. Volunteering is something I would advise anyone to consider. If your struggling to find work, giving up your time for a few hours a week, keeps your sense of self worth, which we can all admit to craving. Most schemes are just happy to have your time, aren't strict and you can commit to as much or as little as possible.

With my passion for sport and development, I was incredibly lucky to find Kickz, an opportunity that is quite possibly, perfect for me. I was in contact with the council enquiring about volunteer opportunities, and got in touch with Mike, one of the programme managers with Coaching for Hope, for a reference. He mentioned the Scheme he now works within, Tigers Trust (Hull City) and the partner organisation Kickz.

Kickz is all about giving the youth a healthy and active opportunity on a night, based around sport. They are free sessions aimed at 'Hard to Reach' kids, providing a great alternative to hanging round the street and being tempted by crime or mischief. It also begins to give the youth values ranked highly in sport, gamesmanship and fair play for example. So I began volunteering a couple of weeks ago, giving a couple of hours on a Thursday evening, helping to referee and organise 5 a side games and a bit of fitness.

Another string to my Sport and development Bow!!

In association with Hull City and Tigers Trust.

Home

So, we are nearly back to the present in my life. I arrived home, which was strange a first, but everything was feeling fairly positive, and I saw the two months repair time (with the brace on) as another hill to climb, something that just had to be done, all I could do was bide my time and wait.

One of the last days we were all together. Even with a Broken neck
I couldn't have been happier then. Remember faces here, all hero's.

I was referred to the NHS, as this was an incident abroad, it took a while for the hospital and my local neurologist to communicate, which disappointed me slightly, especially after having such unbelievable care at Vincent Palotti, from all the nursing staff there. I even remember having an hour long conversation with one of the ICU nurses, which included a first hand account of how Apartheid, had affected her and her families life. It was incredibly moving, I felt so honoured that she would share something like this with me. She described how she remembers her father being moved from the house they lived, into another part of the city. South Africa , for just that short time, was so full of cathartic experiences. Experiences that change view points, and mould you like clay, on a potters wheel. 

Moors Adventure 2012. Well deserved break. Id love to show you the
 monster (hill) we just conquered

This again reminded me that these next months will not be so hard, but only as hard as I make them. I am all for the NHS, but they did not show me quite so much attention or compassion. With a serious injury you have to be seen, two weeks post surgically. It took longer than that for them to even organise the appointment. And even then mistakes were made. Which shows terrible communication between general practitioner and specialist. But I kept it steady, and every visit to Hull Royal Infirmary, brought good news. I was healing faster than expected. I've always had the suspicion, that I was always slightly faster than modern medicine!

Intrepid Cyclists. Intrepid Adventurer's.

I would like to thank my mother and father, for helping me through the early weeks, removing the brace etc.. And for the anonymous nurse, at Hull, who always showed me respect, and began 'moving things along' when ever I arrived. 

A natural one from the recent little adventure I went on with a pal of mine.
More eye opening stuff!

I sent my time reading, on the odd occasion feeling sorry for myself, and looking ahead to my next visit to Cape Town. I began to put plans behind this new drive in my life. To be involved with sport and development. I have to admit, after being frustrated at first, with what is could and couldn't do, I became very used to doing nothing. Too used to doing nothing, almost. More than enough thinking time, introspective, retrospective, and all or types of 'spectives' for that matter. I want to focus very little on the worse times of the past 3 months so all I'l say is, over-thinking can cause a problem.

One from the First day in Cape Town... and who knew?!

As my new plan unfolded very nicely, with acceptance to study Anthropology at both London Metropolitan University and from Trinity St Davids University, Wales. A deserved ego boost, and the first step, complete. Wheels in motion! And the goal, to become involved with Sport for Development as a career.

Repatriation

'So, that's me now, me with a broken neck', I often catch myself thinking from time to time. This thought, to some extent is true. There are things in in life, now, that I simply must take care with. There are probably things i shouldn't do at all. Shouldn't, being the operative word in this case. A negative slant can be put on most anything, in the same way, so can a positive one. And now is definitely a time for positivity, I've seen negativity, and I've seen what it does to people, first hand. I see the plate in my neck, and the injury as 'Right so I've got a broken neck, thats happened, what's it going to NOT stop me from doing today?' 'What can I conquer?'

 The ACTUAL surgery they performed (squeamish? don't watch!)

I will always remember the reaction of my Neurologist, Dr Keik, visited me post operatively. 'When will I be able to play sport again?' (a rather impetuous question I'll admit), he gave a chuckle, 'I don't think you'll be playing any sport for a very long time'. I hasten to add he was an incredible doctor but his busyness meant his bedside manor had been given very little personal attention. I will use this reaction. Keep it away, and use it.

World Club Class, Cheers ICS!

Its at this point Id like to thank Mike Richardson and Mike Geddes, for allowing me to stay at their flat, just after my operation. Mike Geddes, my thanks for allowing a stranger in your flat! And Mike Richardson, for sorting through all the insurance and company paperwork! and generally being a stand up gent.

Cliftons Bay

So its Saturday 17th September, and this is where my volunteer story gets interesting. As the gorgeous African summer is approaching, temperatures hit the 30s and as a group we decided to take a little trip to the beach, take a load off, and relax.

So, we headed down, picked a perfect spot at the beach, and began the competition of, 'who's going in the cold water first?!' Obviously, this title had to be mine, so I ran towards the shoreline, and yes the water was cold! This is where my trip turned sour.

Ran in, jumped in, and found that the water I had jumped in was far too shallow, causing me to hit my head, quite sharply, on the sand below. The next thing I felt, was, nothing. all I could do was float aimlessly in the water, there was no movement in my arms and legs. It was, to say the least, a very strange feeling. For a couple of minutes, the longest couple of my life, I could gain no movement, then after thinking and concentrating a weird jellied movement returned to my arms and legs. We take movement for granted, being an instinctive thing, I can tell you for the next half an hour, I did not take it for granted.

Without these wonderful people my time in hospital would have been a lot worse. I Owe them so much.

Movement was incredibly wobbly and I almost had to concentrate on moving my arms and legs, and having to put thought into something like that is an ambient experience. Cassie, one of our great team leaders, volunteered to take me to the hospital. where after some time, I was diagnosed with a fractured neck, with a collapsed 4th, 5th, and 6th vertebrae, the perfect day had turned into a not so perfect nightmare.

This is were the buzz of being around great people, and doing something great, stopped for me. I have never been so alone in my entire life. Even with the love and support of 'my cape town family', I'm not ashamed to say it, I just wanted my mummy. There was a low point when I pushed everything off my hospital desk, and got so angry with life, I didn't speak for a couple of days. The heartache was unbearable.

The turning point was after 'my family' came to see me, and I could see in their faces and eyes, so much sorrow for me and trying to make things so positive, that I told myself, I WILL NEVER feel heartache like this again. That was a promise I made to myself. From that point on I began to see the injury as more of a 'kick up the backside' and feelings like 'life's too short to be wasted. Take your opportunities', came to the forefront of my mind.

Strange enough to say, and I hope this comes across in the right way, but anyone who is at a bit of a dead end or stuck doing the wrong things in life, or cannot turn they're lives around, I would almost advise them to 'break their neck' as you gain a hell of a lot of life perspective and the important things in life mean so much more to you. Life is nothing without the love of good people. Trust me I know.

To My Cape Town Fam, I owe you more than you know.

The Weekend Off

So, new experiences of the first week included a first hand experience of township life, an introduction on sport for development, and a trip to the famous World Cup stadium. We were given the skills to put an extra tier of learning into our drills, and even shown how the demonstration of the correct way to put a condom on can be integrated into a Coaching session. There are examples of drills on the Coaching For Hope page in the Blog.

Without putting a negative aspect at all, it all was allot to take in. we were prepared in the Pre-departure training (which all volunteers have to undergo) and given information on the culture shock aspect of living in this totally new country, 'warned' we may begin to feel home sick, or find it strange coping with the lifestyle. Personally I did not experience any of this in the slightest, all I could feel was fresh inspiration and a sense that this will be a big part of my life.

A Little Homework

On the first Friday, we all decided to head out on the night, to a bar, that's notorious with backpackers and volunteers! Where pool and good conversation were free flowing! we all enjoyed some football banter with the locals, trying to fit in a little more and relax in the new surroundings (which lets be honest, wasn't happening any time soon!).

As you can see even within the first few days, the group where starting to gel together really nicely. I was self designated chef for the first few meals, as long as I didn't have to do the washing up. The first evenings where split between Stones (the bar), the internet cafe and producing a bit of coaching homework as a group back at the Volunteer house, (Rochester Road, Observatory)

Courtesy of Google maps: