Running around the Cape.....in more ways than one!

Official photo from the Winelands Marathon 2018,
not many road marathons include uphill stretches on
gravel roads, but the one I completed did!

Sorry we've been so quiet on the blog our recent internet connection hasn't been great, but we hope you've kept up with our comings and goings on our other social media platforms that took less data but for those of you who have been out of the loop we thought we'd quickly update the blog with this short post.


We arrived in South Africa on 8th November to undertake some further work developing the relationships with farms, suppliers and exporters specifically within the M&S and now Tesco supply chains, however other than meetings on the 8th and 9th my (Tim's) first focus was on more personal challenge, that of running full marathon which I completed early on the morning of the 10th November.


(Video of my finish above)

That 'race' took place around the university town of Stellenbosch where some of the most amazing wine is produced on the slopes of the stunning mountains that provided us all with a beautiful backdrop as we ran the 42.195km undulating route out to Somerset West and back. I was very clear of the time I wanted to achieve, so applied my leadership mindsets and made sure I remained focused, sticking to my planned 'there' but doing it just one step at a time, thus ensuring I didn't waver from my schedule which meant that I hit my goal of running under 4 hours which I was very pleased with.

Armistice day with the Houses

During our five week stay we were hosted by some of our good friends who we were eager to catch up with, our first stop was with Rob and Emily House and their two children who continue to grow into wonderful young people and by the end of our first week, where we been running around to meetings with further exporters and even existing local training companies we had ventured up the mountain to stay with Sandy and Ali where we both completed our first Park Run, more of a 5km trail run, in Grabouw.

After that moved down to Strand, where we had rented an apartment for around three weeks, which not only provided us with a central base for us to venture out to the meetings that took up most of our days, but that also enabled us to run out along the beach front in the early mornings and enjoy stunning sunsets in the evening with perfect views over False Bay to Table Mountain and the Cape peninsula.

Sunsets over the Cape

It is so encouraging to see how the Emerging Leaders programme has been taken to the hearts of the workers and wider farms where they work, the current team have done an amazing job helping to spread the story and we are now in a position where we have too much work coming in for 2019, which is great but posses a bigger challenge, that of needing more 'registered trainers' who will be able to share Leadership for Life in an official capacity.

Catching up with friends, who were keen
to help us with our plant powered diet!

With the above in mind one key thing was to identify those people, so we undertook to lead a Leadership for Life programme with around 20 people who we are looking to train up to be those 'registered trainers' within the commercial sector, this event which was attended by people who have been training within the farm network in South Africa for many years and was very well received.

We are certain that we achieved the main aim ensuring that those people received the programme themselves, there is power in people actually putting the leadership principles into action before they actually share it, thus ensuring that as they train others they know how and why we follow a very rigid method of engaging with some of the most vulnerable people in the world in this very accessible programme.

Potential Leadership for Life Registered Trainers!

Early in 2019 we will be running a Train the Trainer, unfortunately myself and Maz won't be around as we'll be returning to Zimbabwe to undertake a similar project with those we shared the programme with last year, and we are excited to see Emerging Leaders move to another level in South Africa with more people able to share the programme both into the farms and also the wider communities where we are seeking to engage with the younger people of this incredible country which has many issues that need good leadership to overcome.

An official photo taken of us race up from Hout Bay

Outside of our working hours we seemed to be able to find at least one event a week to take part in, so after running the Marathon and the Park Run we both completed a wonderful trail run called Origin of the Trails, also in Stellenbosch, which took us higher into the mountains, Maz also ran a 10km road race from Hout Bay along Chapmans Peak Drive and back, whilst I took on a more daunting trail run also from Hout Bay and up into Blackburn Ravine, which was quite a challenge but one which gave us great joy as the sunset over the Atlantic Ocean.

Filming some of the farmworkers who have
been on the Leadership for Life programme

Another key part of our trip was to set up and then arrange some filming, we are keen to start telling some of the stories that are coming out of the training as people start to lift up their heads and understand that they have the potential to influence others in a positive way. We are excited to see how the film comes out, which follows the day in the life of a tractor driver on one of the local farms in Grabouw who had already attending our training in June and sees him put his leadership principles into action as he develops a community garden where he is sharing that produce with others who don't have as much as he does.

Maz, Myself and Mike

We were able to catch up with some of our contacts made during our time at the Village of Hope, we've been helping our friend Mike over a number of years as he seeks to complete his degree to become a school teacher (he has also provided excellent Xhosa translation the Emerging Leaders team) and we were able to take a boy whom we have known for years to his skills based training matrix, it was a pleasure to be able to help him on that special night.

Unfortunately we had some rather sad news when we were asked to meet up with the MD and FD of the Thembalitsha Foundation, who informed us of the boards decision to close down the Village of Hope at the end of March 2019. Whilst we can understand some of the main points of that decision it was still hard to hear of the issues that have led to them making that choice and our hearts go out to not only the children but mainly the staff, many of whom we employed way back when we opened the project in April 2009.

Daily drives to meetings were a bit boring!

We are taking the positives out of the venture and know that hundreds of children's lives, many of whom would perhaps not be around if we hadn't have been there, have been impacted in a very positive way. With further knowledge of the friendships that we made and the lives of those hundreds of volunteers who played a part in that fantastic time will also be changed for good having been part of something that was very very dear to our hearts. 

Sunsets over Lions Head

Our last week was spent in Cape Town where we stayed/were 'house sitters', for the guy who helps oversee Emerging Leaders in South Africa. It was great to spend some time in this city which has become very familiar but one that we really haven't had the time to explore. We got up early most of those final mornings to get down to the promenade at Sea Point to complete some faster 5km and 10km runs (I actually got PB's at both) and to run along Signal Hill under the watchful gaze of the mighty Table Mountain and his smaller but no less impressive ally Lions Head.

Us and Lennox

We also had a Christmas get together with some of the Emerging Leaders team, it was nice to share a meal, catch up and hear stories of how the programme is being used within the schools and wider community areas like the huge Khayelitsha township which sits outside Cape Town.

All in all it was a busy time interspersed with some further amazing experiences, it's always a blessing to be able to visit the Cape in late spring, the days are longer and getting warmer and the blue skies seem much bigger than those that surround our caravan as I type this up on a dreary Sunday afternoon in Bristol.

and Jo!

We're not sure when we will be back in South Africa again, other than flying through Jo'burg onto Harare in late January but we are sure we will return at some point to keep opening up the doors for more opportunities and to encourage those who are already doing an awesome job as we see transformation come to every community one person at a time.

So we sign off in the knowledge that we will see many of you before Christmas but if we don't have chance to share our seasons greetings to you in person then please accept these as we wish you and your families a blessed and peaceful Christmas and a prosperous and healthy 2019.



Tim and Maz x