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: