A Once-In-A-Lifetime Opportunity

I love reading for many reasons. One of them is because when you read a book you are able to unlock someone else’s imagination and be whisked away on numerous adventures. Even though this is the same for when you listen to an audio-book I don’t enjoy it as much when I hear someone else tell the story. After all, when this is done I don’t get to hear the tale being told by my own voice (in my mind of course) and when I hear someone else describing the characters I actually find it harder to picture them.

However, when you don’t want to know a certain piece of information it’s easier to ignore it if it’s in writing partly because you can just close your eyes. But, if someone is telling you the information it may trickle passed your blocked ears and into your brain.

So, when I was invited to speak on Jacaranda FM I couldn’t refuse the opportunity. Especially since my voice would finally be able to reach the ears of hundreds of people; that thought alone should have put me under a lot of pressure. Yet, when I climbed up the stairs to the recording studio I felt lighter than a feather. Not an ounce of me was nervous even when I sat down and put the pair of headphones on. In fact, the only time I felt a little anxious was when Martin Bester asked me the first question. Because then I knew that I wasn’t stuck in a dream. My voice was actually being recorded as I shared my passion for rhinos with the rest of the province. And hopefully, after hearing my story they will accept my challenge and join me on the 4th of October for the Global March for Elephants, Rhinos and Lions.

Click here to listen to my interview:

http://www.jacarandafm.com/post/taking-to-the-streets-for-elephants-rhinos-and-lions/

Lessons from a Mountain Biker

16km doesn't sound like a very long distance. In fact, you would probably cover it quickly if you were in a car or on a road bike. However, when the tar beneath your tyres turns into loose rocks and the terrain around you becomes mountainous you know you're in for a challenge. And so, when the hooter screamed and the bikes around me lurched forward I grinned. After all I wouldn't be a true mountain biker if I didn't love challenges.

My legs spun propelling me forward whilst my thoughts flew back a few years to my first cycle race ever. I was young then and not very fit but that never bothered me. Actually, I was planning on sprinting my way through the entire route and thus beat all of the eager boys in front of me. That didn't happen, however, I learnt a very important lesson on that ride:

If you don't concentrate whilst riding through a rocky section then you'll probably fall off of the bike.

I've learnt many other lessons since then. Some of them are obvious like: if you don't clean your bike the dirt and mud will make your cycle less pleasant and another one is that if you don't wear gloves you can't really complain if you fall and lose some of the skin on your hands.

These are valuable lessons however, as I pedaled up the first (proper) hill of the day I realized that I hadn't quite learnt all of the lessons that there was to learn. So, I kept my mind open as my legs tired and my back was starting to hurt. To be honest, the ride wasn't easy especially since I wasn't too fit and so when I got the opportunity to stop halfway up the hill. I took it. I was breathless, my entire body already hurt and frankly I didn't want to go through the same pain again just to do the second lap. But, I bit my lip and carried on around the dam and up the slope past the starting banner. I had eight kilometers left. Eight kilometers up rocky hills and then back down again. It wasn't my legs that got me through that second lap. It was my mind. And that was the lesson I learnt that morning, your mind is your strongest tool. You can get through a race even if you're not too fit as long as your mind is calm and determined, however, you can't even ride half the distance if you're fit but your mind falters and your will isn’t there.

So, if you're tired and feel like giving up just remember "success is how high you bounce after you hit [rock] bottom."

www.chahal.com

Arbor Day

Friday the 5th of September was Arbor Day and so around the world various events were being hosted to celebrate our trees. One such event took place at Johannesburg Zoo where thousands of schoolchildren gathered to hear speeches, explore the zoo and learn more about the world they live in.

Even though the event specifically focussed on trees Rhino SA was invited to have a stand and educate the schoolchildren about rhino poaching in South Africa. My sister and I went along to help Irene Huysamen and Emma-Rae Philipson in spreading the word about rhinos. In the four hours we were there we spoke to around a hundred children between the ages of 3 and 15. It was a very interesting experience for me as I’d never spoken to four year olds about rhinos before and as a result they helped me to be creative in my explanations.

I was honestly surprised at the questions and blank faces that I was greeted with by the older kids though it reminded me how important it was that we were giving up our time to spread the word. I was grateful that most of the children understood the importance of the issue and promised us that they would do what they could to stop rhino poaching.

After standing and speaking all morning Emma-Rae Philipson and I went to the rhino enclosure where we recorded our message that will be sent on the behalf of Rhino SA to the World Youth Rhino Summit next weekend. Hopefully our message will inspire many more people to join the fight against rhino poaching.

Spring!!

So today is the first of September and almost a whole month since I did my last blog post. I hope that everyone has had a relaxing few weeks and is ready to start off Spring with some great goals ahead. I certainly am, but if you haven't and you aren't into the Spring spirit yet then hopefully this pic will make you glad that Winter is officially over!!!

http://ifthislove.blogspot.com/

As you already know I haven't been posting much recently but that's because I've been so busy dreaming up new, inspiring and interesting ideas for blog posts. So, I hope you all have a great Spring and I look forward to posting creative posts for you to read ;)

Here's a Spring riddle from http://www.2020site.org: 

How is the letter A like a Spring flower?

The answer will be revealed in my next Blog post but you can send me what you think the answer is and I'll tell you if it's right :p

Wicky-Whacky Cake

It's nearly holidays for some South Africans and even if you're not on holiday I still suggest that you try out this recipe when you have a spare moment. The cake is ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS and PERFECTLY MOIST :) It's really easy, I promise *winks*.

Recipe:
Ingredients:

750ml cake flour
20ml   baking powder
500ml sugar
5ml     bicarbonate of soda
18ml   cocoa
Pinch of salt
500ml boiling water
250ml oil
10ml   vanilla essence
50ml   white vinegar

Icing:
125g  margarine
375ml icing sugar (sifted)
15-30ml cocoa
Few drops of vanilla essence

Method:
Preheat oven to 180°C.
Spray a 27 x 39cm oven pan.
Sift all dry ingredients together in the pan.
Mix remaining ingredients in a jug and whisk together in pan using a fork.
Bang pan lightly to remove bubbles.
Bake for 20-30 minutes.
Cool in pan.
Ice and serve :)

(Recipe is from the Morningside Pre-Primary School's Cookbook 2004)

TOMORROW

A few months ago I read article after article about how drones were making children scared to look up at the sky. The SKY! How are they ever going to smile when they see a rainbow or appreciate the beauty of the sunrises and sunsets? All it is that I’m saying is that technology is supposed to benefit us. It’s not supposed to kill us. And yet as we all get more and more paranoid we invent cannons, bombs, guns, drones and missiles. Do we not realize that as soon as we do this we’re prompting our enemies to do the same?

Do we not understand that when we “defend ourselves” we may end up killing thousands of other people in the process? Every time when I sit down and start reading a newspaper (yes I do, do that sometimes) I can’t help but wonder why we think we are the cleverest animals out there. After all, monkeys may fight with each other sometimes but I’ve never heard of an ape that spent half of his life building a weapon that he could use just in case someone invaded his territory.

The problem with us humans is that we love ourselves too much. Don’t take my words out of context, because we are meant to love ourselves, however, I do not believe that we were brought into this world simply to kill anyone who tries to hurt us. You see, if we did this then we would never let our guard down. We’d never be able to make friends and in the end only a handful of distrusting people would be left on this earth. So, even though our first instinct is to make sure that we don’t get hurt (which may mean that we have to injure someone else to ensure this doesn’t happen) I hope that the future generation, my generation, will possess the self-control to realize that the easiest option may not be the best option. And as a result, I hope we will be able to walk away from the walls that we are building to keep everyone out. Also to be prepared to lend a hand to anyone who needs it, even though there may be a possibility that we could get hurt in the process. After all, it’s our job to be the leaders of tomorrow, to be even better (if that’s possible) than the ones of today.

www.livingwaters.co.za

5 Pictures I think we all need to save