Day 10: Rest Day in East London

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

We hiked extra yesterday so that we could take today off. The bodies are aching and we could use a break psychologically now that we’ve nearly reached the halfway mark of our journey.

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After breakfast with the Stutterheim Rotary Club, they took us to visit the Stutterheim Hospital’s Step-Down Program, a unique hospice program serving HIV+ patients. The program is critical as individuals with AIDS are often stigmatized and abandoned by family and friends when their illness becomes known. Beyond serving the needs of economically disadvantaged families that can not afford appropriate end-of-life treatment and care, the program, thus, provides for patients left destitute by families and communities unwilling to assist them at the end of their life.

The program is amazing…but what really touched us were the women that make it happen! The program is independently funded and run by local women from the black township that come in several days a week and work all day long to feed, bathe, treat and comfort the patients. As anyone that’s worked with hospice knows, it’s very tough work and the day-to-day stress of illness and death takes a heavy toll psychologically on the caregivers. What blew us away is that these women have worked to keep the Step-Down program functioning for two years without being paid. These women come from very low-income households and struggle themselves to provide for their families…yet still willingly give four full days of their week to take care of others so desperately in need. Only now after two years are the women receiving a small stipend…and even it is barely enough to cover their transportation to work and their meals…yet they continue to do it.

These amazing women are the meaning of generosity and compassion. They thanked us for what we are doing and what we’re trying to accomplish with the hike…but they are the ones truly deserving of thanks. These are the heroes…the true humanitarians…that will never be recognized for their works, thanklessly giving of themselves every day of their life to uplift others less fortunate. These are the genuine few we should be emulating!

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TERRIBLE NEWS…Ikumi received word from the South African Department of Home Affairs that her application for an extension on her visa has been rejected. They won’t tell her why over the phone and her visa expires ten days after the hike ends, leaving no time for her to deal with it when we return. So, we had to book a flight for her back to Johannesburg and took her to the airport in East London a few hours ago. She was crying in the car when she found out her visa application had been denied and it was with extremely heavy hearts that we took her to the airport. We’re now down to five hikers and don’t know if or when Ikumi will be able to rejoin us. Emotionally, it’s going to be a big loss without Ikumi around and physically it means we’re going to have to hike, on average, an additional 24 km each day to cover her distance. With Jacob’s injured foot, Kelly’s blisters, Ryan’s torn heal and the strain on our bodies from the first week of hiking, it’s scary to be losing Ikumi (one of the few uninjured and fully healthy hikers) with over 1,000 kilometers and 10 days left to cover South Africa.

We all talked before Ikumi left and we decided…whatever happens, we’re going to reach Cape Town. Even if there’s only one hiker left walking, we’re going to finish this. The hike isn’t about us, and the commitment we made when we started this wasn’t contingent upon our health or physical wellbeing. This is about 20 million children that we have all abandoned. Their suffering is the product of our inaction…the apathy of our governments, the private sector, civil society and each of us as individual citizens. The least we six can do is to finish what we’ve started.

So, please keep us all in your thoughts and prayers…we’re short one hiker and facing quite a few potentially serious injuries fairly early in the hike. We’re going to need a bit of luck here on out.

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We spent the evening with the Rotary Club of King William’s Town. After an interview with the local newspaper, we had a delicious meal and a great discussion with members of the club. We then drove to Dale College (a private boarding school) to spend the night…as all students are gone for the holidays, the boys dormitory of the private high school were our accommodation for the evening. Kelly now has the illustrious honor of (most likely) being the only woman to have ever slept in the boy’s wing in the school’s history. Not sure what such an honor is worth…but regardless, congratulations Kelly!