Just over a year ago, we were delighted to announce that Lawrence and Charlotte from the Ndlovu CHAMP children’s program had been selected to take part in the Sapinda Rainbow Foundation’s Clipper Around the World Yacht Race. After Lawrence completed his journey last fall, Charlotte embarked on her great journey at the end of March.
She is taking part in the 6th relay of the race, starting in Qingdao, China. Her route will then take her 9000 km across the Pacific Ocean to Seattle, USA, in 33 days. Charlotte was selected by the Sapinda Rainbow Foundation from the many applicants because of her physical fitness and strength (her hobby is kickboxing) and her winning mentality. She says: “I believe I can do anything if I stay focused on my goals and dreams, no matter what challenges come my way.”
In the early years of her life, Charlotte had to cope with hard blows of fate. In 2002, she lost her mother. Charlotte was in the 4th grade at the time. She and her sister were left orphaned in their parents’ home, left to fend for themselves. When her sister left for Witbank, Charlotte was left completely alone. This was the situation the Ndlovu staff found when they first met Charlotte as a little girl.
But the brave get ahead: Charlotte has never hidden herself away and has risen to every challenge. She is present at every Ndlovu event, gets involved wherever help is needed and is one of the top singers in the Ndlovu Youth Choir. Her involvement in the Ndlovu CHAMP children’s program got her off the streets, gave her a home, a circle of friends and a future that she is determined to make the most of. And so she deservedly set off on this great adventure in March of this year. Beforehand, she spent months preparing intensively for the journey, both physically and mentally. In April last year, Charlotte completed a preparatory training course in London together with Lawrence. That alone was a great adventure. On the ship, they gained an intensive insight into the challenges they would face at sea in a fast-paced two-week period.
Shortly before Charlotte set off on her race on March 20, she wrote:
“I am so excited and looking forward to the start of the race and finally meeting my crew members. My friends, family and community back home are also so excited that I’m taking part in this race and that someone from their midst is doing something different, taking a different path. It’s a motivation for the young people especially the misfits or the teenage moms who are especially looking forward to meeting me when I come back and hearing all about my journey.
I’m looking forward to learning and working with people who all have different backgrounds, cultures and religions. I think the biggest challenge for me will be not getting seasick. I even got seasick at the training camp in London. But I’m willing to learn and face it – I think that attitude will help.
I believe I can bring courage and motivation to the team. I have received a lot of advice from my comrades and will take it to heart. They told me about the good but also the bad experiences, such as the storms, the cold and also communication difficulties within the team. I will definitely learn some new things about myself and I hope to become mentally stronger and more confident by taking part in this race.
I think this experience will leave a big impression on me and my community when I get back. It certainly shows that you can achieve anything if you stand up for yourself, fight for your future, make the most of every opportunity. I want to show people that the good things in life don’t just happen, that you have to face challenges in order to grow. That you will also fail before you succeed.”
The goal of this trip is for the young participants from the Ndlovu CHAMP children’s program to have the experiences they gain on this trip impact their personal development in such a way that they confidently take their new skills into the community and inspire others. Charlotte is already so motivating and positive. During her trip, we received the following message from her on March 29:
“I would like to thank everyone who has made this incredible trip possible. It’s so exciting and I’m really enjoying myself. In Qingdao, it was really difficult to communicate with the people as they didn’t understand English and all the signs in the stores were in Chinese only. Nevertheless, Qingdao is a really beautiful place.
The start of the race was incredible, I was blown away by the people and the fireworks were wonderful. We rode the parade twice, waving to the people who came to see us off. The race doesn’t start exactly on the 20th, as we could only start the engine outside the harbor so as not to damage the fishing nets off the coast. So we set off early at 7:00 the next morning and everyone was on deck so as not to miss the start of the race.
Everyone except me because, as I had feared, I was immediately seasick. My stomach was rumbling so badly, it really wasn’t nice. I felt really bad, not just because of the seasickness, but also because I felt like I was letting the crew down. But they reassured me that everything would be perfectly fine, as it can happen that someone drops out in the first week due to illness. But that doesn’t stop them from carrying on, the next stage has to be reached.
That taught me that there are always ups and downs in life, but that you can’t let that set you back. Then you have to grit your teeth and keep going.”
That was two days before the terrible accident. Then, on April 1, we received terrible news. Crew member Sarah Young, who had been at sea for more than 300 days since the previous summer, was caught by a wave and washed off board. There was no way to save her, and her body could only be recovered dead later. In contrast to the many amateurs sailing on board, Sarah was an experienced crew member. Her death was a shock for everyone. Two days later, the team buried Sarah on the high seas because it was too long before they would be back on land. Charlotte closed the ceremony by singing a traditional Zulu song for her. It was certainly no easy task.
The end of this trip was overshadowed by this tragic accident and you can’t begin to imagine how difficult and emotional it must have been for the team to be on this boat for another three weeks with their thoughts and feelings.
On April 26, the crew arrived in Seattle and Charlotte was immediately embraced by Hugo Tempelman and his wife Liesje and warmly welcomed back into the family. At a charity gala jointly organized by Ndlovu and Sapinda representatives, Charlotte was given the opportunity to tell her story and deeply moved those in attendance. Although the events were terrible, Charlotte is a winner and always gets back up. She is doing well and is eagerly awaited back home.
Commenting on the collaboration with the Sapinda Rainbow Foundation, Hugo Tempelman said: “The collaboration between Ndlovu and the Sapinda Rainbow Foundation with the Clipper around the world yacht race and the meeting here in Seattle opens up many opportunities. Seattle is the capital of HIV/AIDS research and also of charity. The synergy between our projects is tremendous. We all believe that HIV should no longer be the problem it is today and should finally be eradicated. Both parties are united in wanting to establish health standards and research how to put an end to this disease.” Now that the Hugo Tempelman Foundation has established contact between Sapinda and Ndlovu, we are of course particularly pleased that a fruitful and sustainable collaboration has been established.
We reported on this in the run-up to the event:
18.3.2015 Champs on a big trip
25.5.2015 The sailors are back
