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Zelda Norden, a Handicapped ScubaAssociation (HSA) diving instructor,her Active Scuba partner Lynn Retief,and Bernie Kirsten of Guinjata Resortin Inhambane, Mozambique decidedthat there should be more persons with disabilities diving in our wonderful South Africa.

They asked Jim Gatacre, the Director of HSA, to come to South Africa to run more than the ususal instructor course- three courses in one! Yep, Zelda had decided that she needed to get her Course Director qualification so that she could teach scuba instructors, and then she decided that she would teach those instructors while Jim was here to oversee, and of course they would need students to practice on, so why not run a student course as well!

When she called me to ask for assistance, I was sceptical that we would be able to pull off all three at the same time, and the necessary funding was going to be huge. Bernie hauled out his cheque book and soon Zelda and Lynn had Forever Resorts and  Indaba  Hotel coming onboard as venues for the theory sessions and accommodation for Jim and his wife, Pat, as well as the Bela Bela Forever Resort for the weekend pool sessions for the students, and then Forever Resorts Phalaborwa for the overnight stop on the way up to Guinjata Bay for the qualifying sea dives. Mc Carthy  Group got various dealerships within the Pretoria area to sponsor two Jeeps and two Mitshubishi bakkies to take the students and gear up to Mozambique.

I suggested “Amaglubglub”, as the name for the venture and I had come across the creative talent of Robert Crisp, a quadraplegic, who kindly put  together a cartoon of the disabled diver, incorporating mobility, hearing and visually impaired sectors.

Time just flew and before I knew it, Jim was here and everyone was meeting at the Centurion Forever Hotel for the first time. We had our seven instructors: Lynn, Jana, Hayley, Braam, “Groot” Koos, Le-Roy and Roger; and our seven students: two quadriplegics (Frank and Andew), an amputee (Flippie), a paraplegic (Koos), Versha (my very special friend with spina bifida), and two hearing impaired teachers from St Vincent school for the Deaf (Stanley and Laiken).

Zelda, Lynn and Bernie ran around organising vehicles, collecting custom made wetsuits, sponsored shirts and rural wheelchairs from the Free Wheelchair Mission for the community of Inhambane. Students arranged who was collecting who and which car would take what and so we set off to Bela Bela to start the Student course.

There was quite a bit of tension in the air on the Saturday as the instructors took their students through the initial steps of getting into the water. Wives and cargivers looked on anxiously as the students took their first foray into the magical underwater world under the scrutiny of the local press.

Under blazing African skies, ways and means were worked out on how to handle each unique person. At dinner that night there were many happy, sun-burned and tired faces and everyone went to bed very early!

Sunday morning breakfast was great fun, much more relaxed, and students and instructors eagerly looked forward to the second, deeper pool, session in the tidal pool. Most completed their skills in the time allotted by the resort before they switched on the wave machine, but Stanley and Laiken were just ending their session when the waves started up. This gave Laiken quite a fright as she had never been to the sea, and so had never experienced wave action. As spectators watching from the pool side realised that Laiken was struggling they all jumped in to help, even the press photographer, Chris Collingridge. Laiken was fine but the cell phone in the photographer’s pocket was not so lucky!

The rest of the day was spent at leisure and Jim, Pat and I went for a lovely game drive before joining the others at Andrew’s accessible cottage. (The rest of us were housed in the hotel- Forever Resorts have really tried hard to make their premises accessible, but there are still a few small issues that need to be adjusted and tweaked).

On Monday we were up bright and early to drive through to Phalaborwa en route to Inhambane. What should have been a short three hour run, dragged on a bit as with six vehicles riding in convoy and loading and unloading everybody’s wheelchairs in order to visit the one accessible loo at stops. We decided to share one chair and when Koos’s frame flew off one of the bakkies at 120km an hour - only narrowly missing the car behind - we admired its bumps and bruises and used it for the “loo run”.

we all arrived safely at Phalaborwa Safari Park, another Forever resort, and were amazed at the luxury of our air-conditioned tents and outside showers. After a wonderful braai we turned in early for the next day’s drive, a monumental trek through the Kruger Park, Trans Frontier park and southern Mozambique.

Frank, our Rolling Inspiration webmaster, was driving his kombi and we had all worried how the heat and long driving times was going to affect him. After a long hot day we were all finished, but Frank kept on going, not even leaving his docking station for 19 hours! We arrived at Guinjata Bay late in the evening, where staff showed us the changes that they had made to the chalets (for wheelchair access) and made sure that we could all manage, before we hit the hay.

Wednesday dawned and most of us got up to watch the dawn break over the sea, another perfect day in Africa. There were moist eyes all around when the students came back from their first sea experiences. Words cannot describe the feeling of accomplishment and the sense of wonder you see in the students after their first experience under the sea.  Each day brought more confidence to each of the students. Frank became completely hooked on the sport – we had created a monster!   

We took time off from the sea to deliver rural wheelchairs to the Inhambane hospital, and then on to a village where we presented a rural chair to the brother of one of the staff at the dive centre. The entire village turned out and it was emotionally overwhelming to see this young boys’s face when he sat in his very first wheelchair, after being carried around - or pushed in a wheelbarrow - for the past 12 years!

         It Changed Us

 Zelda:

I did not know what I was letting myself into ... this was bigger than I had ever imagined. On the first day I realised that this was something I needed in my life and, when Jim had me in tears on the first day of training, I realised that I had to prepare myself for an emotional rollercoaster ride .  And then I trained Frank, a C7 quad...

The first time with him in the water was something I have never experience in my life, his big brown eyes looking at me with excitement, approval and intense fear.  “Even thinking about it now makes me cry”.  

Frank 

I used to think “Life is valuable and precious...”  Then I went scuba-diving and now valuable and precious have taken on a whole new meaning and dimension. Over the years my motorised wheelchair has become my comfort zone and the place where I learn to adapt to life and where I spend up to 15 hours a day. Take me out of this comfort zone and I feel totally helpless and insecure. 

Then I agreed to be placed in a heated pool - without a lifejacket!  Real life shock therapy... and I’m glad I did.The training is intense, scary yet exciting. Every skill learned in the water is an achievement, a small step of victory towards qualifying for the open water dives and the ultimate - certification as an HSA scuba diver!  Each stroke is a tribute to the professional instruction, dedication and passion of my instructor who taught me to dive, and to dive safely.Placing my life, my trust and my fears into the hands of my diving instructor was all part of the communication and challenges that were necessary to transform my life and move to a new comfort zone.