Day 9: Queenstown - Stutterheim - King William's Town

Total Distance Covered: 957 km
Distance Remaining: 1,053

After hiking in the rain and cold all day yesterday, four of the six hikers have now come down with the flu. We’re feeling under the weather and not making great time, but if we push through a big day of hiking today, we can hopefully rest tomorrow.

Despite our exhaustion, the landscape continues to absolutely amaze us…over the last few days, we’ve hiked through some of the most gorgeous mountains and valleys and grasslands.

It was a quiet day all in all…the only excitement came when Ikumi almost became “Japanese Take-Away” this afternoon. She was hiking a bit slower and fell back a ways behind the rest of the group hiking. Jacob, Ruan and Keegan were ahead and became quite worried when they passed a guy randomly sitting up in some bushes overlooking the road. He was smoking dagga and was obviously drugged up. We were worried about Ikumi coming past him alone, so we decided to take a break and stay there to make sure she was safe.

Lucky Ikumi…she joins the Hike and gets four big brothers for free!

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The Stutterheim Rotary Club graciously hosted us for dinner at the local lawn bowling club. We had a great time, met some absolutely wonderful people and thoroughly enjoyed the delicious dinner.

During our presentation, we were briefly stopped and the members of the club lit a candle and offered a moment of silence. All around the world at that moment, families and friends were lighting candles to remember and honor the lives of children – their own and others – that have lost their lives before their time.

It was a touching moment and exceptionally meaningful for everyone…some of the club members had tragically lost children…Keegan had unexpectedly lost his older brother Brahm earlier this year. Even more, it was particularly poignant given why we were there.

We often focus on HIV+ adults, the brunt of the epidemic, and we disregard the children left destitute and abandoned and vulnerable in the wake of their death. We overlook the millions of children under the age of two that will most likely die within a year of their mother’s death due to malnutrition and neglect. What’s more, we overlook the millions of children that have been born with HIV or are infected through breastfeeding…who will die long before their time, never having even a chance at life.

Lighting that candle was a beautiful act of remembrance and a meaningful way to honor their lives…our only hope is that this hike, in its own way, will accomplish nothing less.

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The Rotary Club of Stutterheim arranged for us to stay at the Manderson Hotel (www.manderson.co.za), an absolutely gorgeous retreat at the base of the Amatola Mountains and the indigenous Kologha Forest. What an amazing night’s sleep…it’s a shame we can’t stay longer.