Mission Possible Comrades Back to Back

 Patience if a virtue I do not claim to naturally possess but one that I have had to cultivate. Next to the patience patch, is a bed filled with hope. Hope that come the 2nd of June, I will be able to embark on a journey that will perhaps bring more change to the lives of many more orphans and vulnerable children  As much as I detest the term "orphan" it is a reality that cannot be denied. A reality that is not only prevalent in South Africa, but across the Sub-Saharan African region, where many are plagued by HIV/AIDS. 

In my garden of hope, grows many varieties. Some varieties more fruitful than others but each one playing its art in keeping the garden alive. While I wait patiently for permission to run the Comrades Marathon back to back and at this stage with no sign whatsoever of the trip coming together, I continue watering the few seeds I planted in days past. Like any sower, I wait for that day when the ground breaks and the shoots of hope are evident but then again, what is faith...the substance of things hoped for...the evidence of things not seen.

Hope differed may make one wroth at heart, yet I hang onto that invisible glimmer of which I am reminded with every heart beat.

A flicker, another flutter...as long as the heart beats, hope is not lost.

Hope that I will run this for the millions of children who cannot win the race against poverty themselves.

Hope that the body and mind will carry their frustrations, that their future lives may be far much better than their present. Hope that they may not be trapped in a vicious cycles, that draws them deeper and deeper into the womb of pain and misery, never to be birthed.

I have hope that this simple gesture, will be just a nip in the bud of the many challenges that lay ahead and takes away the innocence of childhood. 

I have hope that each one of the 174km will be a victory for each and every one of the over 3.7 million orphans in the country. 

I have even more hope that for every mile I run, one child will find a loving home and experience what it is to be loved and cared for.