What an exciting, adventurous month July has turned out to be. My team and I spent this month with Emma and Kerneels Roos, who run a ministry called Higher Ground. Higher Ground is a camp for people with disabilities. We were fortunate enough to help with 3 different camps while we were here.
The first camp, for people who are blind and partially sighted, took place in a camp ground in the mountains near Durban, South Africa. Most of the time with our campers was spent helping them get around the camp. We also took them on hikes, played soccer, volleyball, put on a game show and a talent show, and even went zorbing.
The second camp was for people with acquired brain injuries and took place on a beach resort at Pennington Beach. Most of the people were there because of strokes or vehicle accidents that resulted in some sort of brain injury. During the week each member of the team was assigned one or two campers to look after and help out when need be. Well, everyone but me. I was in charge of making sure all the campers took their meds at the proper time. It was crazy because a lot of them took 12 or more pills a day. Many of the campers began refuring to me as "Medicine Man Mike". Also, quite a few of the campers were in wheelchairs so getting them around could be quite difficult at times, especially since the resort had some rather large hills and not to mention sand. Seeing that we were near a beach we of course took them a couple of times. It was hard and tedious work but seeing the joy on their faces when they were there was sooooooo worth it.
The third camp was held in the same place as the first and consisted of people with mental illnesses such as autism and downs syndrome. This was by far the most challenging of the three camps. Kyle and I were assigned to look after 2 autistic brothers named Gerard and Michael. Gerard was 20 years old, 6'5", and looked like a professional football player. He was HUGE!!! Someone you didn't want to get angry. Luckily he only bit one person the entire week. His brother MIchael was 16 years old and normal size. Helping them was very difficult. I've never been in a situation before where you just couldn't communicate with someone. Even with someone who speaks another language you can kind of communicate with. With Gerard and Michael you really couldn't. Which is what made the week so challenging. They were very good at following directions (for the most part), but couldn't really talk or let you know what they wanted. It was frustrating at times but as with all the other camps it was very rewarding in the end. I have never seen people in these types of situations before who had so much joy in their lives and such a positive outlook on life. It was very inspirational and I learned a lot about just being grateful and thanking God for everything I have. It was hard and challenging at times but this month wasn't just all work. We may work hard, but we play harder!!!
In Durban I got to try The Big Swing at Moses Mabhida Stadium (if you don't know what it is, look it up!). It was such an incredible experience. Also, we were blessed enough to go to Cape Town for a few days at the end of the month where I got to go cage diving with great white sharks (which was the one thing I wanted to do most on the race and it was also on my bucket list). IT WAS AWESOME!!!! Afterwards we even go to do a little whale watching. So as you can see, and like I said when I started, it has been a most adventurous month!!! Hard and challenging at times, but extremely rewarding in the end. My next stop in the world race is India. I don't know what to expect but as a wise man once said "I don't know what the future holds, but I know who holds the future". I know it will be amazing. I'll be sure to keep you all updated and I look forward to writing again soon. Thanks for stopping by and God bless!!!
