10 years ago Kendall our daughter was diagnosed with severe Autism, which was a pretty devastating time in our life. As a family we “adopted” this challenge as a family when we soon realised that there are very limited services available for children with Autism in South Africa.

We had to “Adapt” our life to the change and it was difficult when we realised that Kendall will always be dependent on us as her only support structure in her life. We invested our lives into ensuring that Kendall gets the best. This meant that we lost every thing we owned. I remember times of tutors buying us a bag of potatoes as only food in the house & walking to the shop with a plastic bag with bottles to get money for petrol. This we did based on “emotional blackmail” by private service providers, for gain & hiding behind religion, who casually made statements like: “she will talk within 6 months and will start in a normal school, all you have to do is…” Which naive parent wouldn’t give their life for their children.

We have lived Autism for the last 10 years trying to “improve” the life of other families sharing a lifestyle with Autism. In certain areas we failed horribly, but I feel that we have made a difference even if it’s a very small one.

October 2010 my family will “Adopt” the English lifestyle in the UK. I love South Africa with every drop of blood, however I need to look at what’s in the best interest of my family. I hope that what I have learned I will be able to contribute in a country where Government cares about it’s people, if they will have me.

We will be working our butt’s off until October, with some BIG changes about to happen which will change the face of Autism in South Africa, starting in April (Autism Awareness Month) and World Autism Awareness Day 2 April 2010.

“There is nothing magical about change, it is getting up of your ass and caring enough to take the first step to contribute to change on an issue you care about.” – Jody Williams – Nobel Prize Winner – 1997

Mt. Kilimanjaro, Uhuru Peak - 5895m

Ok, so why would you want to pay a shit load  of money to go and suffer for six days on a mountain? I don’t think there could be any fundamental reason why anybody would take themselves out of their comfort zone, away from their friends and family if there is no purpose.

I work in the field of Autism and deal with the struggle of creating meaningful awareness around Autism Spectrum Disorder on a daily basis in South Africa. People just don’t know and care about Autism and therefore it’s my duty to inform people about Autism to be able to improve the lives of the children and adults in the care of Autism Western Cape.

So what was the Kilimanjaro trek about? The objective to create meaningful awareness by taking Autism to the highest level of priority through the symbolic climb of the highest freestanding mountain in the world and also highest point on the African continent. Turned out that our trek was the first summit on Kilimanjaro for Autism from the African continent.

Have I ever climbed a mountain? No, am I not a fitness fanatic, no, it hasn’t been my life dream to summit Kilimanjaro. I am just a parent with an Autistic child who cared enough to get off my butt and do something in which I believe and care about.

This was pretty much the same attitude of the rest of the Kili crew of 9 members, consisting of another dad, granddad, couple of friends and Sean Wisedale our tour leader and guide, who is the first person from the African continent to summit the 7 highest peaks on each continent. Our Kili trek turned out to be his 11^th summit, so we were in good hands.

Are we there yet, I need a smoke!

So, was it tough? The toughest thing I have ever done in my life. Taking one step at a time whilst not being able to breath, nausea, headaches, stomach burning, extremely cold, wet and limited sleep for 6 days. Thinking why am I doing this to myself spinning in your head pretty much most of the time and listing to the dreaded Pole-Pole (Slowly-Slowly) & “Guys we need to keep on moving”

We stayed in contact via some pretty cute technology, Twitter updating our every moment of the trek with Zoopy. We consistently got updated and also chatted to the families back home. Every encounter was very emotional, but at the same time served to keep us motivated based on the awesome amount of support, messages and comments.

The thought of “that’s enough I’m turning back” popped more and more as we went up in altitude, however the constant reminder of why we are doing it superseded all the other stuff. We had to summit, not negotiable. Summit night was the most difficult part with starting to walk to Stella Point (rim of the volcano, yes Kilimanjaro is a non-active volcano) at 11 at night only to reach Stella by 7 the next morning. Frozen water bottles, storm wind, Altitude sickness (Vomiting, extreme headaches, burning tummy, extreme difficulty in breathing etc.) could not stop this group of zombies to get to Uhuru Peak – 5895 m. I don’t know how I got from Stella to Uhuru peak, about a kilometre; I am told I walked like after a bottle of Captain Morgan.

The next I know I saw this sigh, which said, “Uhuru Peak – 5895 m, you are now on top of Africa”. It meant nothing to me at this stage; all I wanted to do is to get off this bloody mountain. It’s was only when I took the small frozen watertight bag out of my backpack, to open the different flags, that’s when I realised what we have done.

We have Put AUTISM on TOP – Kilimanjaro

So what’s next for Jail4Bail in 2010 in contributing to Autism in South Africa by creating meaningful awarness  around Autism Spectrum Disorder?

In planning watch this space heheheh!!

Turning 39 is no big deal, no milestone date other than just another birthday with not much planned other than spending time with my awesome family, the way I like it. I woke up with my wonderful Julie and kids bringing pressies and singing Happy Birthday to daddy. What a great feeling to be blessed with my family. Jamie’s excitement in opening the pressies created lots of giggles. Just another day, that is if you don’t have an child with Autism in you house hold. Let me make it clear Kendall has difficulties with her own unique Autism and no one person with Autism is the same.

How does this day change, like Cape Town weather, in a bit of a sad day and interesting day?

With the house hold in Sunday relax mode, all of us on our jammies, Kendall burst into a psychotic mode, ripping her clothes, screaming, hitting herself, biting her favourite finger, throwing furniture around the room and attacking me with hatred in her eyes. I looked a the clock in defending myself and Jamie, thinking it’s not even 12 o’clock. Happy Birthday to me.

Now, this is nothing new in our household with Kendall ripping her clothes pretty much everyday. I looked at Kendall, feeling the tears building, and released again, how lucky I am with having 2 other neurotypical monsters around, who by now has caused havoc in the rest of the house.

The trigger for this behavior was simply because Kendall wanted to watch Teletubbies, whilst -Rubberbubbers was on.

Kendall went from wildly aggressive to a giggly 12 year old angel over a bath. Julie slaving over lunch, the finest English food, which I am sure the Heart Foundation would not approve off, to feed 4 house holds. I watched Jamie and Kendall interacting thinking, how great it was to see them together, which is something you don’t see on a regular basis.

Grandma and grandad arrived with pressies, with more singing and excitement. Kendall changed her clothes, which in retrospect, we should have seen her communication, even if she’s non-verbal.

Only when it was time for grandma & grandad to say goodbye did we realise her anticipation. She wanted to go and sleep over. Monday being school and grandma & grandad going away for the week, it was no option.

It triggered deja vu like in the morning, this time more aggressive and intense. For some reason the anger was directed my way and I did very well not to get scratched, bitten or hurt in the process. Kendall is as strong as a bull. I battle with my 123kg over 2 meter frame to protect myself and the rest of the family when she gets herself in the state.

Eventually it was bed time without too many hassles, screams, shouts and furniture flying around. We removed her favorite throwing table form her room and the quite after the storm set in.

The day ended with a high, a Happy birthday call from my mom and dad. In their mid-seventies living on the same small holding in Jozi for the last 40 years, makes me concerned most of the time, but today was different, it was my birthday.

Dad came on, with Happy Birthday my son, and bursting into tears. I though shit I am on 39 years old dad it’s not that bad. My dad followed up with, the car broke down, top gasket and tyre gone, his hobby job as loft keeper (Racing Pigeons) for a friend ended, because the guys own the Receiver a big money, the Chow and 3 of the 6 puppies died of tick bite fever, (1 black Chow-Chow puppy was heading our way) and then the final bit, it seems that my dad has a growth in/on his Prostate which he and the GP is very worried about. Test and biopsy for later this week.

Mom didn’t sound much better through the tears.

and still

Jamie is singing: “Happy Bifday to loo, Happy bifday to loo, hipi, hipi horay”

The 2nd April 2009 marks World Autism Awareness Day, an unprecedented global effort to heighten awareness about a disorder affecting about 67 Million families globally.  Whilst we celebrate the rights and acknowledge people with Autism today, Governments support for people with Autism is extremely disappointing. International leaders have shown the public commitment to change the world of Autism, however in South Africa, Government continues to discriminate against  the rights for people with Autism.

More children will be diagnosed with Autism this year than with Diabetes, Cancer and AIDS combined. our aim is to create meaningful awareness and raise the necessary funding to provide services to children and adults with Autism that so desperately require our help and support.

So where did it start?

Are we missing the point of World Autism Day? Big hype with no action means nothing.

The South African Government up to date has not acknowledged WAAD in any way. Individual private organisations for profit jump at the opportunity to claim that they recover, even state that they cure Autism. These organisations usually target families of  newly diagnosed, vulnerable families making false promises of recovery to improve their bottom line.

Please understand with appropriate intervention in a multi-disciplinary team dynamic, consisting of a toolbox of acknowledged  therapies and interventions, most children’s developmental ability will improve significantly,however there is no cure for Autism.

It leaves me with the burning question?  How to participate in World Autism Awareness Day 2 April 2009? What would you do to make a meaningful difference?

I am committed to make a difference to Autism in South Africa and will do whatever it takes to achieve this. Today we launch our next project “Putting Autism on Top” – Climbing Kilimanjaro to raise meaningful awareness about Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Mount Kilimanjaro (Uhuru Peak – the highest point in Africa (5895m)

Please follow our progress and support our group of 10 volunteers, under the tour leader Sean Wisedale as we start the build-up and  step-by-step to achieve our objective to “Putting AUTISM on TOP” .

Follow us on Twitter, Zoopy, Autism Western Cape, My blog, Facebook,

AUTISM – A PART OF OUR WORLD, NOT A WORLD APART.