The Sabie Classic

On Sunday me, Dave, Paul, Cathy and Juanita entered a mountain bike race called the Sabie Classic. Our race was 38km long with 950m of ascent. We entered the race on the day instead of booking online so we started at the back in the last group (the start was in staggered groups from A to I) so we were behind around 3000 other riders! The first section of the race was a 12km climb to the first food/drink tent 500m above the start line, I was impressed by the number of people I overtook on that first climb but I lost too many places due to bad cramps later on. The weather was wet and misty so I felt right at home on the slippery, greasy clay surface while a lot of the South African riders got confused by the mud! I was really happy with my overall time (Just over 3 hours I think) but I could’ve done a lot better if my legs didn’t cramp up so badly. But I really enjoyed the race and the buzz as I crossed the line to cheers from complete strangers, the whole race had a really friendly, laid back feeling instead of everybody giving each other evil stares on the start line which was great. There are not many sports where you have over 3000 competitors from professionals to junior riders. But the best part was the smart little medal you get for finishing the race, it really feels like an achievement!

Kaapschehoop

My burns were almost better on Friday so I was allowed to join in with my group, we spent the day helping the maintenance team with some earth levelling and bush clearing. It was nice to be able to do some work after 4 days inside.

On Saturday most of the group got up early and went to Kruger National Park for the day. I've already been a few times and didn't fancy another day stuck in a car after so long in my room, so the 3 of us who didn't go went out with Dave to a tiny village called Kaapschehoop. Kaapschehoop is a wierd jumble of houses and hotels really high up in the mountains, we went out for a braai and some rock climbing and a swim (paddle) in a waterfall there. We were followed round all day by a dog that we met; she was a crazy little dog that followed us for miles and started hunting lizards in the long grass, she even followed us to the top of the rock formations that we were climbing.

Later we found out that she was 'owned' by one of the hotels but lived everywhere, she seemed to know her way around the mountain and where to find food. She climbed into Dave’s car while we packed the boot and tried to keep the wild horses away from our food, so before we left we stopped at the hotel and she jumped out of the car and started barking at somebody walking their dogs, the owners must’ve thought we were dumping the dog and driving away.

Vloggy Blog part 5:

The start of my lonely week at home, the burn is clearing up now but I've still not been out into the community yet: www.vimeo.com/joewilkins/vlog5

Braaiing and Burning:

On Saturday about fifteen Hands volunteers went to spend the day at a place called Mac Mac Pools, we drove in three cars and bought food on the way so we could have a braai (a braai is a barbeque in South Africa). Mac Mac is a small bundle of waterfalls and rock pools quite high up in the mountains, we spent most of the day sitting in the warm shallow pools or jumping off the waterfalls into cold plunge pools. One of the volunteers called Sibusiso had his first swimming lessons and by the end of the day was confident enough to jump off the waterfall – about 3 metres tall – and into the amazingly clear water. We had a really awesome day out but when I got up on Sunday I realised I was a little bit sun-burnt… and when I say a little bit I mean horrible blisters and really sensitive, pink shoulders. That day I managed to get a t-shirt on so I could go to the African church that my group were going to and I even managed to put my bag on my shoulders while I went mountain biking with Dave, Paul and Mark in Mankele. My sunburn pretty much ruined the ride for me and later Cathy told me my burns were 3^rd degree, I didn’t know the sun could do so much damage!

Joes Voggy Blog Part 4: www.vimeo.com/joewilkins/vlog4
 

So on Monday I was told I wasn’t allowed to go out into the community with the team so I spent the day in my room trying to keep myself occupied and out of the sun. I was told by Carolyn that using deep heat muscle relief cream on my burns would hurt but it would draw the heat out of my skin. So we tried this and it was the most painful thing I’ve ever had to sit through, imagine putting your foot into an extremely hot bath but not being able to take it out again, it was like that on my shoulders for what seemed like forever until I was allowed to have a cool shower (which washed the cream but not the pain away). So I went back into my room and tried to get comfy for an hour or so until I fell asleep. I think I was caught out by the water; it washed away any sun cream I had on and was cold so I didn’t feel the need to put more on.

I spent Monday and Tuesday sitting on my own in my room either on my laptop or reading and putting more (evil) deep heat and other potions on my burns while the rest of the team spent their days out in the community.

I’m not sure how long it will be before I’m allowed out in the sun again, but judging by this photo I took last night it won’t be any time soon:

 

It’s so frustrating to think that the fun weekend had stopped me doing the real charity work that I was here to do… and over something as easily avoidable as sunburn… what a waste of two days… I won’t be making that mistake again…

Joe's Vloggy Blog Part 3:

www.vimeo.com/joewilkins/vlog3

My vlogs are a little bit behind but heres a little video introducing my orientation group.

Escaping the Language Barrier

On Friday I was sitting under a small tree with a few boys from Siyathuthuka, I started writing my name in the dust because the boy sitting with me was either shy or didn't speak much English (and my Siswati isn't too good either). I wrote Joseph and he wrote his name (we'll call him Samuel), then he drew a car and I drew a bus; we carried on like this for a few minutes drawing animals and then each other and then he started to dig. He scooped a few handfulls of the softer, wet sand out and started to build little lines on the ground. I couldn't work out what he was doing for a while, I thought it might be a plan of a building but this seemed too complicated for his age, a few minutes later I was struggling to work it out so I asked him about it. He pointed to a corner of the shape he made and pointed to him, this was where he slept, he walked his fingers through the door towards the corner and put a rock there. Then he pushed his finger into the ground where the toilet was and he built a smaller building next to it to show a garage (I think he stays with his uncle because he is an orphan) he then walked his fingers from the garage to another corner and put a bigger rock there, this was where his Uncle slept. I wanted to ask him more but the communication between us was difficult. Even though we didnt speak the same language I still felt I had a personal insight into Samuel's life, I would love to meet him again at some point and maybe find out a little more of his story.

Joe's Vloggy Blog Part 2:

www.vimeo.com/joewilkins/vlog2

Hands Orientation

On Monday me and the other 7 people on my intake (3 Canadians, 2 Australians, 1 American and 1 other Brit) started our 5 week long Hands at Work Orientation. We started by going into the community and learning about how Hands works and how they set up their structures across Africa. I really enjoyed this and felt like I had a good knowledge of the Hands at Work system; from there we went to a community in Clau Clau called Siyathuthuka where Hands helps support a Community Based Organisation (a CBO). I have visited this CBO a few times; the last time was in July/August 2012. It was really encouraging to see all the changes that have happened in just 6 months. From massive changes like the construction of a 6 roomed house (where in August 6 people lived in one room and one bed) to small, but equally encouraging, changes like having stainless steel bowls and spoons at the CBO (where before the children had to bring whatever bowls they owned).

On Tuesday we visited a community in Bush Buck Ridge called Welverdiend. Here I and a small group of volunteers joined a care worker on her routine home visits, after visiting some families in eye-opening situations we were walking to the next home when it started to drizzle, so we walked on and then the drizzle turned to rain, so we sheltered under a tree. Then after fifteen minutes the rain turned into a fully grown African downpour. The dirt roads started growing their own little streams and gullies and we ran to a nearby child-headed-household. I’ve been in many child-headed-households and other homes in the communities I’ve visited but never in weather like that; the holes in the tin roof dripped water into bowls and rain trickled down the walls and under the doors. The metal roof was so loud in the rain that I couldn’t hear people talking feet from me. As I looked out of one of the broken windows it really made me think about how it would feel to spend a rainy night in one of the thousands of houses just like this one. At first I thought it would be exiting but then I thought about having to do it night after night for the whole of the rainy season … and then the cold nights of the dry season … and then again the next year for a whole lifetime. I had a lot to think about that night and I’m sure I’ll be thinking about it for many nights to come.

First Two Nights Without Power

My journey here was great, all went smoothly and had a good drive from Johannesburg to White River, about an hour after I got here the biggest storm I've ever seen rolled in and lasted all night. It must've been a big storm cause it was in the local newspapers. So the last two days and nights have been interesting, we had no electricity until around midday today so this is my first African blog!

Heres a shot I took from my bedroom door...

Then a tree near our gate was struck by lightening and fell on the electric fence so we had to pull the tree away from the fence, the storm, the fence and the rain made it feel like we were in Jurassic Park, so I had a really interesting first night.

First Video Blog

Joe's Vloggy Blog Part 1:
www.vimeo.com/joewilkins/vlog1
Heres my last UK post, flying out today, see you on the other side!

Last Night At Home

So tonight is my last night in the UK, I've spent the last few days frantically packing and saying goodbye to as many people as possible, there's still people I didn't manage to see which sucks; some good friends that I'm going to miss!
Yesterday and today have been so busy that I havn't been focusing on the real reason I'm going, instead I've been stressing about the boring bits. I really can't wait to get on the plane and hopefully start to enjoy the trip.
I couldn't have got to this point without the support from so many people, thankyou to everyone who has donated and especially my family for putting up with me and helping me while I'm so stressed!

Just Finished Work

Just finished my last shift at work! only 4 days left untill I fly out to Johannesburg, really exited now but I think I should start packing.