Day Nineteen: Aggenys to Springbok (112 kms)

Today was a mad day! Firstly, we were all bombarded by mosquitoes during the night in Pofadder. Peaceful Sleep was an invitation to mozzies to party. When you walk into a room and find Peaceful Sleep AND Doom next to the bed, then you need to know that things are going to get ugly. It was also extremely hot, the clock on the wall ticked too loudly and had to be taken down and immobilised, the air conditioner was too strong even on the lowest setting, and a nearby refrigeration system that kept thermostatically starting up and shutting itself down finally shattered the last hope of peace.

Secondly, we celebrated Zane’s 30^th birthday with a chocolate and caramel cake with 30 candles, a present and muesli.

We set off for Aggenys by car and then the guys got on their bikes once again. Shaun was feeling a little fluey but cycled nevertheless. Close to noon Leigh and I left the cyclists to visit a primary school in the dorp who had collected a donation for us and which was handed over by the principal Mr Johan Sadie. We were photographed by the local journalist who was barefoot – he told us his plakkies had just broken and apologised for not wearing shoes. I spoke to the children at the school briefly telling them what we were doing and why we there. I think they were suitably impressed by what the cyclists were doing. We then travelled back to the ‘Welcome to Springbok’ sign with Wouter Jordaan a DA Councillor, where we met up with Shaun and Pieter as well as Brunhild Strauss, the disabled station manager of Radio NFM on his adapted bicycle. The three cyclists were then escorted into Springbok by the police!

We were then just in time to run a very successful workshop at the Department of Education. What was remarkable was that 25 officials attended the workshop on a Friday afternoon which is definitely almost always unheard of! They listened attentively and we had a good discussion afterwards. One guy even said that in Springbok they may need to have a ‘new beginning’ as far as providing services to people with disabilities are concerned. We once again heard the refrain that was now becoming familiar – the plea for more help and training.

We then drove to Radio Namaqua FM where we were interviewed on the radio for 20 minutes by Earl and Ritchie. It was a light-hearted interview to suit the rush hour traffic (where I ask!). While we were waiting to be interviewed we chatted to two event organisers who invited us to talk about autism at the annual talent show in Port Nolloth on the 8-9 June.

We bought Wimpy take aways for everyone. Nic entertained us (and himself at the table) and then it was bed time.

Thank you today to:

·         Wouter Jordaan for organising the presentation at the Springbok Primary School, the escort into town, the radio interview and the free accommodation.

·         Brunhild Strauss for cycling with our two guys on his adapted bicycle

·         The Springbok police for clearing the roads to lead us into the town down the main street

·         The primary school for their donation of R800

·         Radio NFM for interviewing us

·         Philip Bence the barefoot journalist who will write an article for the local newspaper, Die Plattelander

PS Leigh said that Pofadder (which was named after a local chief Klaas Pofadder) should be renamed Muskiet!