So, today it finally kicked home, in 156 days, I will be boarding a plane to head to South Africa for the Niall Mellon Irish Township Challenge (can we just refer to it as the challenge from now on?!).
Why did it kick home today, why am I calling today Day 1? Well, tonight I started back at the gym for the first time in months! As someone who’s always been very keen on keeping fit, I’ve been a disaster for the past while, so, the prospect of the challenge has been the kick up the arse that I have needed!
Why so? Well, in truth, I’m a geek. I spend most of my life sitting on my arse in front of a computer working in a nice air conditioned office and not exerting any physical stress on myself. Now, suddenly in 156 days, I’m going to be working on a building site for over a week in 30 degrees of sunshine.
The thought of hard, manual labour does not phase me, hard work never hurt anyone, but, I also recognise the fact that I will need to have a good level of fitness to keep up with the guys who make their living out of doing this every day of the week. I don’t wanna be the weak link in the chain and letting people, both co-workers and the families we are there to build houses for down!
After my work-out though, I was unwinding in the jacuzzi (allow me some pleasures please!) and was just contemplating what in fact it is that I am going to be doing in November and how I got here. I can’t quite remember the catalyst that made me decide that the Niall Mellon Challenge was the one I wanted to do. I’ve always wanted to do something of this nature, in particular, going to Africa to help people. Looking back, I think it may well have been whilst listening to Challenge veteran Des Cahill on the radio with Pat Kenny a few years back that convinced me that as a way of easing myself into doing something to benefit other people in such a massive way, going on an organised and established. Packing up and heading off to Africa to help people on something that is not so well organised is hugely difficult.
As time rolled by, and I done more research into it, the Challenge really seemed like the way forward. Reading the Challenge website, reading the builders week diaries, and most importantly, looking at the sheer joy in the faces of the families we’re building for in countless photographs is enough to make the hairs stand up on the back of your neck and convince you that this is the right thing to do.
In the jacuzzi, I also got thinking about the fact that quite a few people I know have seemed suprised by the fact that I’m doing this since I started telling them. Yes, they think it’s a really great idea, but are amazed that this is something that I’m prepared to do. I don’t know why this is, obviously a lot of people don’t know me as well as they like to think that they do!
I’ve always had this in me, the very idea of being able to help someone…anyone, especially those who are weak or vunerable, or in a worse off position to me is something that I’ve always strived for. And how could you not be inspired to act watching the news every day and seeing poor, starving, homeless and broken people suffering and dying. Yes, call me a hypocrite; I drive an expensive car, I have a comfortable lifestyle, I travel lots, I eat out lots and I have no genuine complaints about my lifestyle, but I’ve always had it in me to help when I can and do what I can. I don’t take for granted what I have, I know that I’m lucky living the life that I do. But remember, we’re all lucky living in comfortable little Ireland, and I know I will be completely humbled and moved when I go to SA and see so many people doing so much with so little.
Am I going to come back from SA next November still living the happy, contented life that I do right now? Who knows?! It certainly has the potential to be a life changing experience, but hey, I’m open to that. What I do hope my time there does, aside from the obvious of building houses for people without any, and having a massive impact on their quality of life, is raise awareness amongst a few more people that this can be done. Maybe it will inspire some people to go and make a difference. Maybe it will convince those of you that would like to do this but are too scared to actually pluck up the courage to make that choice. I was scared…I am scared! Initially, I asked a few friends if they would join me…all declined, all for various and perfectly valid reasons. To be honest, I am now glad that they did. I’m not going to be doing this trip alone, I’m going to be doing it with 300 other like-minded people, and they’re the people you’re going to make friends for life out of. Going it alone means that I’m going to immerse myself right into this group, rather than hanging back in the background with one or two friends like I probably would if they had come. That really excites me.
This whole Challenge really excites me!
This is only the beginning….More soon!
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