- Shoe Boxes
- Channel Swim Update October 2009
- Some thoughts from Kenya
- Preparation for the attempt to Swim the Channel
Shoe boxes
You may remember that in past years we have offered the use of the Primary Room as a collecting and sorting point for Christmas Shoeboxes that are given to children who would otherwise not receive any Christmas gifts. Below is the story of Diana, who grew up in Romania, and has now moved to the UK.
Hi everyone. My name is Diana. I am from Romania and I thought I would share my story with you, and my own experience, when I first received a shoebox. There are now words to describe the joy that burst in my heart when I first opened the shoe box. As the story says, 'I received things that I have never had before.' I come from a family with seven children and my parents couldn't afford more than the minimum that I needed for school, like one pair of shoes for the whole year, clothes that during the year became like rags and a few notebooks and pens. I was just so happy to have colouring books, colouring pens, water colours, stickers, a tooth brush and tooth paste, hair brush, hair clips, new scarf and gloves (pink...made me feel so pretty wearing them, when so many of my clothes looked like rags), and a teddy bear that I called Martin. My little heart -I was 7 at that time - felt so happy and blessed.
As I grew up, I was always longing for Christmas, hoping and longing for my present to come. Every year there was something special in the shoe box that made every Christmas unique. I received the last shoe box when I was 19.. a bit too old I know, but the truth is I really valued everything in it, and if there was something that didn't suit me, I just passed it to one of my younger sisters.
The two following years my whole family and I got involved in delivering them. My father is a pastor and a church planter. And within the churches, we got involved in setting up playgroups for children; we provided extra school coaching as what they get in school is not enough, helped them with homework as the parents are sometimes illiterate. But the main purpose of the playgroups was to teach the children the gospel in a way that they can understand and then to meet other needs that they had like education and material needs. Your generosity made this possible.
My friends were in other places like hospitals, orphanages, rural schools or poor churches to deliver the presents that got to Romania and Iasi, the city from where I come, through your generosity. Christmas is an immense opportunity to give and also to make Jesus known. We gave our time to tell other little children about Jesus and through your big hearts and generosity we could brighten up some children's Christmas. It could be the only present that they received and one they would never forget. It happened to me lots of times. I knew I could not expect anything from my parents, apart from food on the table .....presents for seven children would have been too much for them to find. I was lucky: I got the shoe boxes and they were more than I have ever wished.
Now, here I am, relocated in England, writing to you about my experiences, feeling blessed that there are people like you, keen to make shoeboxes for needy children like I use to be! They make such a difference! They made such a difference in my life. I feel so excited about the extravagant thought that when I was a little girl one of my presents might have been made by someone in your church, you never know.
May God give his blessing upon every single person in your church. I can assure you about the happiness and the joy that your shoe boxes will give, wherever they end up.
A big thank you is coming from Diana, the little girl who used to receive shoe-boxes and another one is coming from all the little hearts that were warmed with your presents through the years. For those of you who are curious .. I have still got Martin my teddy bear. I suppose he is old now - perhaps 15 years old (although he doesn't look like that) and I am a grown up girl, acting like a link between the givers and the receivers, and an "in flash" testimony of someone who has been grateful all these years that people like you exist and a channel of joy to bring back to you a response for all the generosity, time and, above all, love that you put in the boxes which people that I know by name receive.
May God bless you!
With all my love and a thankful heart, Diana!
THE CHANNEL SWIM - update October 2009
Last year you kindly supported my daughter in law Emma who was trying to swim the channel which she sadly failed. So I thought you may like to hear the update as to what has happened since.
During the past year she has again been training to try again and in fact has completed a channel relay swim. Apparently in the “sport” of swimming the channel they say is 80% mental and 20% physical but Emma felt that perhaps in her case it was more like 95% mental and in view of the physical element you can all understand the mental battle she has had.
She felt as she had failed before she could not face the additional pressure of telling people that she was trying again so she told no one.
At about 4am on Sunday 27 September she headed out of the marina for Shakespear beach the start point. (her words now slightly précised)
I was slightly nervous and tense feeling I’d already completed a six hour swim. I was starting this swim with all the demons of the past including being swept down channel on my first swim and being very sick and even ill during training. So I decided to start as though I was going on a long training swim.
Once we arrived at the beach I jumped into the water and swam to the beach and at precisely 4.25am the horn on the boat sounded and I walked back into the sea and set off on my "training swim".
I deliberately started out quite hard as it is difficult to pick up speed later. I got some cramp in the legs to start with but that eased off and I started to enjoy myself. I decided to take feed every hour rather than each half hour which meant that I could make better progress.
I had in mind reaching the first shipping lane in four hours and at the four hour feed I was amazed to find that I had entered the shipping lane some two minutes earlier. I had got further in half the time than I did last time and thus the next few hours went by very fast. I then heard my training buddy had just completed her swim in some twenty hours which gave me another boost especially when on their return they came alongside and cheered me on for a short time.
There were two relay teams also close by which gave me further impetus and I was amazed to find that I was almost across the first shipping lane in just over seven hours. There is a separation zone of about a nautical mile between the two lanes and looking up I could see ships progressing NE.
At 8 hours I was in the second shipping lane and had already swum further than ever before without breaking my stoke and more importantly I was not feeling sick but I was starting to be told by my body that it was doing something quite significant!
At about eleven hours my energy levels both physical and motivational were starting to drop and we moved to half hourly feeds which helped but things were becoming very tough .
It seemed to take forever to get out of the second shipping lane but after this there is still a long way to the shore. The sun went down and it started getting cold again but luckily one of the relay teams was still in sight and this helped me to hang in there.
Slowly but surely Cap Gris Nez was coming closer. I started to worry that we would miss it as the tide swept us away. The second relay team finished and came back alongside to cheer me on what a great boost just at the right time. Eventually after what seemed for ever I heard the words only 300mters to go and this is your last feed – I declined it.
My landing was just round the corner from Cap Gris Nez on boulders I could see the water getting shallower and had to clamber over rocks. Suddenly the water was deeper again so there I was trying to get out of the water without a ladder after seventeen hours swimming. NOT EASY but I finally achieved it cutting my legs in the process –I didn't care it was over!!
17hours and 37 minutes of constant swimming I had become a channel swimmer.
Just one more thing left – to swim back to the boat to take me home.
Thank you for supporting me last year.
Emma France
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