madrap wisdom #10

the things we do to do the things we want to do

january 2011 newsletter

Open publication - Free publishing - More change

on our way to Frisbee in the PocketRocket

Note how many people can fit into the back of the PocketRocket! This is a regular occurrence and I wanted to get the real experience!

frisbee "soup for the soul"

We have all heard the title from the book, "Chicken Soup for the Soul" which has been interchanged many times over, but I don’t think it’s ever been used with reference to Frisbee! Here’s why it works! A few weeks ago a hardened gang leader and drug abuser joined us for Frisbee; we’ll call him "B". His name had been mentioned a number of times amongst our guys and always said with much respect and reverence. We often heard of our guys hanging out there and this was always associated with “wrong things”. More often than not they never pitched the next morning for their meetings if they’d been hanging at B’s house and so the very mention of the name would make me unhappy. When he arrived I immediately had a grudge against him with no real reason but merely because I considered him a bad influence on ‘our guys’ and wished he wasn’t with us. At Frisbee he walked around with that common attitude that said, ‘don’t talk to me unless I want you to.’ No smile, no eye contact, and he would walk off the field when and if he chose to, with no consideration for others. I gave the situation some thought, and it struck me that I had it backwards, and in fact, I’d rather have him join us for Frisbee, than our guys not come to Frisbee to join him. So.. WELCOME TO THE TEAM B!!

The following week he came again, (I think this time a little less hung over) and he played well! A few compliments, a few cheers, and a goodbye pat on the back, “thanks for joining us B, you played well! See you next week!”. I could see the slight breaking of a smile, a slight twinkle in his eye appear, and a look I’ve seen little boys get when they’re awarded those tiny little trophies.

He has now come a few times, and at yesterday’s practice he pulled out his phone and out of the blue asked to have a photo taken of all of us together. It struck me that he wanted to capture the group on camera. With his "Ocean View" image gone, he didn’t stop smiling throughout the game, and at the end he picked up the Frisbees and even came over to say thanks!!

So what happened?? BELONGING - he has become part of something, part of a team, a unique team, he has a purpose, people need him. Remember that Frisbee is played with professional business people from around the area and, on the field, everybody is equal. MASTERY - he is good at something! He has a skill, and a skill that not just anybody in Ocean View has, only an elite few. INDEPENDENCE - he chose to do this, it’s his idea.

madrap wisdom #9

there are times when it's better to say something, than to remain silent and say nothing at all

success

In the work that we do we often get asked what our ‘success rate’ is or how many of our guys have become successful. My answer is always, ‘Well, define success’ and normally an answer along the lines of getting a job and so forth is what follows.

Thursday 24 February we celebrated with Keanan the success of finishing his Dive Masters Certificate and receiving a bursary to do his Commerical Divers Training in Durban. Definitely a success! A huge one! One that can easily be measured and that fits into the generic mould of success. But the night’s celebration held much more than that, it held a success of a different kind which, to the average passerby, would not be noticed, but to us it is a huge achievement and we jump in exuberance at the very experience of it.

The evening was held at Seaforth Restaurant in Simonstown, an upmarket area and restaurant with a smart-casual/semi-formal dress code where we drank cocktails and later ate pizza and calamari. The success? There were four LifeXchange guys who joined in the evening. They come from backgrounds of never having left their neighbourhood, never eaten at a restaurant, never had cocktails, never had alcohol without passing out drunk, never even dressed ‘nicely’. So the idea of celebrating with alcohol in a group context in an up-market restaurant is a huge "event". On this night they stepped tentatively, yet with confidence, into the public carrying themselves with impeccable manners, dressed with collared shirts and long pants, mingling with the others that joined the celebration that evening, having a sociable drink, had excellent table manners while eating their dinner, trying out the flavours of the different sauces, soaking in this entirely new experience. Anyone who didn’t know them would never have imagined that they had come from a background as far removed as theirs. The life skills they learnt that night - how to carry oneself and behave correctly at a public event/evening such as Keanan’s farewell. Incredible and amazing! The success that we can measure is that 17 months ago these same boys would never have coped with any of this, yet they have come such a long way that on this night they had outshone themselves.

madrap wisdom #8

shalom: means completeness, wholeness, health, peace, welfare, safety, soundness, tranquility, prosperity, perfectness, fullness, rest, harmony, the absence of agitation or discord. shalom comes from the root verb shalom meaning to be complete, perfect and full.

the brains or the face? LX blog profile

http://lifexchange7.wordpress.com/2011/01/21/the-brains-or-the-face/

Born in 1983, I had a simple life growing up in a small town in a district called Zululand. Through my father’s farming days, South Africa and its diverse range of people have always been part of my life and the transition between the end of the apartheid era and the beginning of post-apartheid was barely noticeable. After finishing school in 2000 I ran school camps in KwaZulu Natal, then travelled and lived in the UK, exercising polo horses for the royal family, returning to study a degree in Sports Science finishing off with a Post-grad diploma in Education. After university days I worked for ACTS, a tour company that facilitates the logistics of mission trips into Southern and Eastern Africa. After a year of travelling with ACTS I came down to Cape Town to be based in their SA head office where I hosted teams based in The Team House, headed up ACTS Volunteers and began Able Africa. At the beginning of 2010, after a quick 3 month stint in the US, I came to a clear understanding that some big changes were on the cards and this lead me to joining LifeXchange.
http://lifexchange7.wordpress.com/2011/01/21/the-brains-or-the-face/

My passion is to see people do and achieve things that they never thought was possible. To use the cliché, ‘making the impossible possible’. Seeing this happen in someone’s life gives me great Joy and in this, to come to know the Peace and Love of Jesus Christ that transcends all understanding; that being the greater and ultimate purpose of all things.

My role in LifeXchange is basically being a co-pilot to Cobus and keeping this crazy show on the road. I would say that my main focus is something as simple as networking, connecting with people and broadening LifeXchange’s supporting networks. Support not in the sense of finances, that’s a different thing altogether, but in filling the needs, paving the way for LifeXchange and its members. This ranges anywhere from things such as finding tattoo removal studios, sewing lessons for a future fashion designer, places to study motor engineering, learner’s license, job shadow opportunities in journalism, and so the list goes on, spreading out big, far, wide and deep and always different. Another portfolio involves organizing camps and activities, which brings in the extreme sports and adventure activities side of LifeXchange; rock climbing, surfing, kayaking, paintball, ultimate Frisbee etc. And then comes the range of responsibilities that are shared, such as projects, mentor recruitment and communication, marketing and media communications and many more.

madrap wisdom #7 :2011 new year's resolutions

be excellent; in everything you do, do it as if doing it for the Lord
be consistent; find your standard and stick to it
be real; it's the only thing you can be
be content; with yourself and who you are
be discipled; allow yourself to grow in faith through other's input

pulling the trigger

When you travel with company the memories formed are easily refreshed and repeated every time you gather together again with your travel mates. Each person inserts their different account of the journey, feeding off each other, adding a memory to the story you thought you'd forgotten.

I'm in the midst of a trek up from South Africa through Zimbabwe and into Zambia with my aunt, uncle and cousins. I am consumed by the memories flooding out from the archives of my brain. Memories that present themselves with such clarity that its as if they're being
repeated, and such fondness whether that experience had been good or bad. They are so rich and so vivid that they bombard me with such force and they want to jumble out my mouth. I mostly manage to refrain myself.

I never realised how many memories had been locked away with no trigger. And in modern times when photographs provide this outlet, I have none. So instead, I sit here in silence, staring 'into space', reliving the memories that are suddenly strong and alive in the confines of my mind, and I'm enjoying it!