About School of Hope

School of Hope, part of the Thembalitsha Foundation, is a registered special-needs school for Grades 9 to 12 students based in Cape Town, South Africa. They have 80 students, all with varying degrees of abuse, trauma and neglect. Whether they have spent time on the streets, been caught up in drugs, gangs and prostitution from a young age, or whether their home environments have exposed them to alcohol, sexual and physical abuse, they are all in need of a special focussed form of education and counselling.

They may be two or three years older than the other learners in their grade and therefore unsuitable for mainstream schooling in government. The School of Hope is their only chance of completing their education. They are in great need of funds to employ more specialised teachers and general costs such as food for the students.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Misconceptions

At the Cape Union Mart talk, the speaker discarded a few of my conceptions about equipment and training.

Bruce and I were just discussing that we were convinced that some of the things they tell you to buy for Kili are nonsense and is probably just a money making scheme. Like, why do you need walking sticks and gaiters? And no, a gaiter is not short for alligator but is a protective sleeve-like item that covers part of your boots and bottom of your trousers. The gaiters are supposed to keep rocks and sand out of your shoes and also help to keep your pants dry. So the speaker says: “One thing you really cannot go without is gaiters”. And I am thinking, oh my goodness, another R400 has just been added to my budget. My approach to buying equipment for the trip has been to only buy things that I will use again, and gaiters are truly at the bottom of the list. I am sure the kids will invent some new function for it afterwards though, but it is still to be seen if I am going to buy them. I think I will be experimental and go without these “apparent necessities” and will publish the findings of my not-so-scientific research after the climb!

Will be theeere in an hour
So next thing the speaker says: “and another mistake many of the Gautengers make is to think they can substitute hiking with the gym”. Oh-oh. And he thinks just because we are surrounded by mountains means we will make use of it. Ok – getting slightly stressed now due to my lack of “mountaineering”. And then he continues by saying that if people think climbing Lion’s Head will prepare them for Kili, they have a surprise in store. So by now I am really stressing! Only listening with half an ear now, I am making mental calculations about how many weekends are left. Too little, way too little...

So with only two weekends left, I forced poor Jan (who is very fit but doesn’t particularly enjoy hiking) to climb Helderberg Mountain with me - two weekends in a row. What a beautiful, beautiful mountain me have on our doorstep. Jan felt really guilty about me carrying the backpack, which I refused to give to him as I need the training. He explained to every single person whom we passed that I am training for Kilimanjaro, as his gentlemanliness just couldn’t stand the thought of me carrying the backpack!


Big was his surprise when we got to the top and I pulled out sandwiches and tea. He probably felt even more guilty realising the backpack was heavier than what he thought.  What a lovely picnic we had!

ONE MORE WEEK LEFT!!!
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