So far this blog has been about my preparation for the Everest Rugby Challenge, written in a somewhat haphazard manner and outlining my distinctly #1stWorldProblems. With just 10 days to go until we leave I think a touch of perspective about genuine hardships and real struggle is needed. It is also a good way of showing some of the incredible work that Wooden Spoon do to try and improve the lives of disabled or disadvantaged children and their families around the UK.
Wooden Spoon is a charity that changes children’s lives through the power of rugby. Each year they fund around 70 projects, from community programmes and specialist playgrounds to medical treatment centres and sensory rooms. Since 1983, they’ve distributed over £26 million to more than 700 projects, helping more than a million children.
At the recent Wooden Spoon Ball the one thing that stood out for me was the speech given by Belinda King, the head teacher of Kobi Nazrul primary school. I don’t mean to say that there was anything wrong with the ball, far from it, it is just that for me her speech summed up the reason for being there in the first place.
When you hear someone like Belinda King speak so eloquently and passionately about the tangible benefits her pupils have had from the works carried out by Wooden Spoon you are rushed through a whole spectrum of emotion. You are, of course, immensely proud of the fact that you are part of the team fundraising for this incredible charity. You are overwhelmingly sad that today, in a country as wealthy and privileged as ours, so many still have to rely on charities to give them opportunities many people in that room would have considered normal. You also feel incredibly guilty that you are sat in the ballroom at the Hilton Hotel on Park Lane eating delicious food and bidding on luxury items. There is a moment of clarity where you realise that you are, in point of fact, privileged almost beyond measure.
Lastly you wonder why someone would be cutting up raw onions so close to you during someone’s speech.
I think it was around this time I finally started to understand why I had made good on my promise to go to Everest. Being honest I had considered withdrawing on a great many occasions over the last few months. I felt I was not fit enough and even if I could complete the trek but I couldn’t look after more than just myself that this would be letting everyone else down. I was also worried about whether or not I was doing it for the right reasons. I believed that the reason for joining an expedition like this should not be about the records or the adventure but about helping people who needed it: The “story” was just a PR tool to promote the charitable aims.
I suppose, to me, if none of us leave the UK and the match does not even get played we have still raised enough money to change the lives of a large number of disadvantaged and disabled children all over the UK. That is the core of what we are doing and in my opinion the part that actually matters: The other stuff is simply the icing on top. There are a great many people in the UK who do not get the chances, opportunities or start in life afforded to people like me simply because of the peculiarities of their birth. I don’t want to lose sight of that or forget why we are going to Everest in the first place. I said right at the start of this blog I felt that the journey was the worthier part of this expedition and the closer it gets the more convinced I am that I was right.
Deano's World 