Mlanda Girls School, Malawi
Firstly and update and a thank you: on Sunday 20th April Edward Harris and friends, supported by Rosie, walked the Surrey Advertiser 10k sponsored walk over the Chantries. Thanks to the enthusiastic support of our congregation and other friends the amazing total raised was around £800 including Gift Aid.
Sunday July 13th will be the Parade Service and the loose offering will be given to our fund for the Mlanda girls’ school fees. This is a really valuable project as Malawi is an extremely poor country and girls find it particularly difficult to gain access to secondary education.
We hope to have more news of the school, from our former GURC member Harry Gombachika, at the Parade Service.
Preparation for the attempt to Swim the Channel
I suppose first there is a need to describe what I am trying to achieve which is to swim the Channel. The shortest distance is 21 miles (1,408 lengths of the Spectrum main pool) but the actual distance swum may be far greater due to the effects of the tides. The temperature of the water will be in the region of 16-18C. In addition to this there is the need to cross two shipping lanes which are the busiest in the world and other risks include jellyfish, hypothermia and general debris.
I was part of a relay team in 2005 which did complete the crossing and this gave me the encouragement to try it solo.
How do you start to prepare for such a challenge and having read books and articles it became obvious that everyone prepares differently.
Training started in earnest in January with training in indoor pools until the open water season started. I needed to swim six days a week sometimes twice a day and often started at a very early hour in the morning.
In May the training moved to the sea or occasionally a lake. Water temperature at this time of year was only 10C so time in the water was limited to 1 hour.
In June I spent a weekend in Malta swimming in the Mediterranean where obviously the water was warmer. After this it was every weekend swimming in Dover harbour up to 7 hours at a time with a maximum over a weekend of 12hours.
Overall I believe that I have actually swum in the region of 350 miles in training. Despite the huge physical challenge they say the swim is 80% mental and 20% the rest so I must admit I have been reading a lot to prepare mentally for the challenge.
So what was it like - Channel Solo Attempt - 4th August 2007
As you may already know, my solo attempt wasn't successful. After 8 hours I aborted the attempt as I wasn’t making sufficient progress. However, it was quite an experience and here is my account.
Once we got ourselves and all the kit (there is a lot) onto the boat we had a short trip to Samphire Hoe which was to be the start point. It seemed strange putting on suntan lotion in the moonlight, but would be the only opportunity to do so.
The pilot took the boat close to the shore and I jumped into the very dark and cold looking water, wearing only a swimming costume, hat, goggles, ear plugs and lightsticks (so that I could be seen by the boat). The water was actually just over 17C which although very cold, it was as warm as I had been in all summer. I swam the short trip to the shore and cleared the water ready to start the crossing. Once I'd started, the nerves disappeared quickly and I entered a very calm zone. I remember thinking 'Oh my goodness, how cool is this, I am swimming the channel!' It was quite a buzz.
Apart from a couple of small lights on the boat, and a few light sticks hanging from the lower and upper decks the boat was in total darkness. I couldn't see any of the crew or my team, so it was a bit lonely out there.
The water felt quite rough, but it was nothing that I hadn't experienced in training. What I hadn't experienced before was only feeling the waves without the ability to see what was happening. My only visual was the boat - and it did look like it was being thrown around quite a lot. I figured it was probably better in the water, and could imagine people and boxes being thrown around all over the place.
I started the swim with a 'not quite recovered' shoulder injury. I had calculated that I had approximately 14 hours of pain relief by alternating paracetamol and ibuprofen. As I was expecting to be in the water longer than this, I decided not to dose up before the swim but to wait and see, and only take pain relief if and when I needed it. However, at the first feed I quickly discovered a flaw in this plan, the boat was all over the place and when the sports bottle was thrown over the side it took 4 or 5 attempts to get it. There was absolutely no chance that in the dark and with the waves, that I would be able to get hold of any pain relief. So I accepted that I would need to wait until dawn and calmer water before asking for anything.
The signal for a feed was one of the crew waving two lightsticks and it was a very welcome sight. I couldn't hear much of what was being said, and it took quite a while to get the feed down, but then I was off again. This pattern repeated for 3 hours after which the feeds moved to every half hour.
During the dark hours I saw a few ferries, some lit up like a Christmas tree, and one came remarkably close!
Slowly but surely the water got calmer and after about 3.5 hours I noticed the colour of the horizon change from black to blue, gradually getting paler before a hint of orange crept in. Then in a matter of minutes sunrise was upon us, it was almost as if someone switched the lights on!! The world became a very different place. I knew it wouldn't be long before I felt the warmth of the sun on my back.
But with dawn came the news that we weren't progressing much, going up and down the channel with the tide, but not progressing forwards very much. I needed to up the pace and make the feeds quicker. With the help of pain killers I tried my hardest and felt like I was getting faster. At 3.5 hours solid foods were given as well as carbohydrate drink (Maxim) with banana being the first bit of food on offer. At 4.5 hours it was a chocolate mini roll, which is normally my favourite, but I was starting to feel a little queasy so only had one bite. Because of the need to keep the feeds short, I didn't drink all the Maxim, but on the basis that I had more fluid, more often than during training, I wasn't concerned.
At 5.5 hours the feed is meant to be anything but Maxim to give the chance to clear your system out. What I didn't realise was that Maxim was added to my tea. However my body took the 'clear out' instruction quite literally and I was violently sick! But what could I do but put my head down and carry on swimming? So I did just that, still feeling nauseous. What I hadn't realised that the time it took for me to stop and be sick meant that all the distance that had been covered in the preceding 30 minute segment had been lost.
I remember noticing the shipping lane not long after this and had a quick buzz of excitement. However, it didn’t seem to get any close and it became clear I wasn’t making sufficient progress. When I came in for the 7.5 hour feed I said 'I'm not making progress am I?' 'No you're not' was the reply. If we carried on at this rate of progress it could take 40 hours. Whilst this would be a clear record for the slowest crossing I knew I would never achieve it and knew that all was lost. I was given the choice to give up or carry on. What a choice to be faced with. It was a battle between logic and emotion. Logic said to stop, but emotions meant I couldn't bring myself to get back on the boat, it felt wrong, so I said 'one more feed'. During this last half hour I said goodbye to the dream. I never thought that I would get out of the water unless I either a) finished, b) was pulled out due to hypothermia or c) had to quit due to shoulder injury. None of these were the case and I got out knowing I could have carried on for much longer, but to do so would be futile. On a positive note I did get to the first shipping lane in that last swim, so at least a recognisable milestone.
On the boat my team were fantastic and talked about all the positives, but I have an overwhelming sense of failure and disappointment. I wanted to do this for so many reasons and in tribute to so many people who have helped me along the way. To these people, I am sorry, I gave it my best shot, but it was not to be on this occasion.
So what's next?
Million dollar question - will I try again? Well after much soul searching and a good chat with the 'Channel General' I have a plan of attack:
2 months off training to allow my shoulder to heal
Speed work over the winter
Attempt Lake Windermere in 2008
Attempt the Channel again in 2009
Thank you all for your support, just over £4,600 has gone to the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign, our efforts have been recognised by the campaign at their annual conference. The sponsorship and messages received from my supporters has been absolutely inspirational. I’m not sure I would have even started without some of the support that I had. Thank you.
Emma FranceSome thoughts from Kenya
Our wonderful wildlife Safari in Tanzania had ended. While the rest of the party flew from Nairobi to England that night, I had another ten days staying with my African friends, the Kivutis whom I have known since 1984. Emily, their daughter, met me and took me to her home in Nairobi for a couple of nights.
Then I went with her father in a minibus to their home beyond Embu, about ninety miles which took four hours.
On the Sunday, Dinah told me we were going by car to a small town where there was a Mothers’ Union rally. it had already started when we got there. The church was full with a lot of people standing at the back and outside the open windows. Not to be defeated, Dinah made her way to the vestry and soon a man had brought two chairs from there and we were seated behind the pulpit with a view of the speakers only, various women spoke but as they spoke in Kiembu, I did not understand a word.
Then we were summoned to speak and she explained who I was. when they heard I was eighty-six, everyone clapped. I gave them greetings from our church. Dinah then asked me to talk about the elderly in England and how we go on doing new things even if we are very old. (I knew that in Kenya, where life expectancy is in the sixties, many people over seventy think their family should look after them) While Dinah translated each sentence, it gave me time to gather my thoughts.
Later, a number of women spoke clearly and with such dignity and I could tell from their expression that they were speaking from the heart.
Just as we were leaving one of the Clergy thanked me in English and asked me to take greetings from the Anglican Church at Gichiche to our church.
Dinah got me home safely on a. very bad road in their car which would have failed most items in our M.O.T