Mel does Mozambique!

Wow, what a year 2007 was! All I can say is yay for 2008! Don't get me wrong, it wasn't all bad. It just felt pretty much like a rollercoaster ride. Such is my life I guess so what am I complaining about!? Nothing changes;) I think I did way over 200 shows during the course of the year and then, towards the end of the year I had a bit of a scare when I was told by my doctor that I had to rest my voice or risk getting nodules on my vocal chords. Talk about shock to the system. I felt like someone had thrown a bucket of ice water over my head and I went numb all over with horror. I saw my life flash before my eyes…a life without singing…and it was too awful to contemplate. So, the end of last year was a bit strange for me, workwise. I was busy, but not so much with singing. We had to slow down on gigs. I took on other things. For example, I went to Mozambique on a fishing trip! Believe me, its not something I'd ordinarily do! Anyone who knows me knows that fishing has never been my thing;) And who would've thought I would've learnt so much about myself doing all the things I'd always feared… I was in Cape Town for a show. I had barely touched ground the last few weeks and I was actually looking forward to a week at home with my cats to just regroup. It wasn't to be. I received a phonecall from a company called Just Letting. They were putting together a tv show all about fishing and they wanted to include some celebs just for something different. They had already filmed Minki van der Westhuizen and they wanted to know if I was free the following week. There went my week at home! It was with some trepidation that I agreed and asked them to work out logistics with my manager. The show was to be shot in the north of Mozambique at a resort called Paindane, near the town of Inhambane. I would be needed for about 4 days and I would be filmed fishing off a jetski and a kayak, among other things! Well, I'm not one to run away from a challenge so I said yes, of course. I was supposed to fly on the Tuesay but I had been booked for a show which we had postponed a few times due to my voice giving me trouble. I just couldn't postpone it again. It was a fundraiser for the SPCA, organised by an 11 year old boy at one of the schools I had perfomed at during the year. I just couldn't disappoint someone so small, trying so hard to make a difference! The problem was that the school was in Nottingham Road, which is about 1 hour and 15 minutes drive from my house. That meant I wouldn't make the flight. So they organised for me to drive with someone. I was up at the crack of dawn on the Tuesday. First stop of the day was a photo shoot at the pavilion for another gig. From there we raced off to Nottingham Road. After setting up, performing and signing over 200 autographs, we packed up the equipment, got back in the car and raced back to Hillcrest where I packed my last few things and then Alan dropped me off to catch my ride. As a result of all the goings on during the day I only arrived just after 3pm where a very eager John, from Just Letting, was waiting to hit the road! The plan was to get through Swaziland before the border closed. He thought it closed at 9pm. Upon arrival at the Swaziland border we discovered otherwise, much to John's frustration. We were stuck in Swaziland for the night! So we found a beautiful game park to stay in and we made the most of it and had a fantastic and much needed dinner. Needless to say, by the time I arrived at my chalet, I was completely exhausted from a day of constant running and fell into bed after setting my alarm for 4am! I had to be up, packed and ready to leave at 5:45am so we would reach the border just as it opened. Two very tired, blurry-eyed people hit the road again the following day… The rest of the trip was relatively uneventful except for the potholes! I am not sure how many of you have driven through Mozambique but the roads are in desperate need of repair! In fact, they may be beyond repair. I think entire new roads are in order! We were pulling a jetski on a trailer so it was a bit nerve-wracking. The whole drive took around 14hrs and one would've thought I would've been bored but I wasn't. I was fascinated by the country. It is, pretty much, miles and miles of the same thing; war-damaged shells of buildings that have simply been abandoned and left to go to wrack and ruin, with roofs missing and grass and weeds growing through the concrete floors. And all around these abandoned buildings are hundreds of thousands of little grass huts which are the homes of the majority of the people in Mozambique. And they, in turn, are surrounded by thousands of coconut trees! You find yourself wondering when it will end but it doesn't…it just goes on and on for miles. To see poverty to such a large extent, is incredibly humbling. And an interesting bit of trivia is that a villages wealth is measured by the amount of coconut trees they have! Just before we arrived at the resort we had to stop the cars and let the tyres down as we would be driving on beach sand for the rest of our time there. We were driving in convoy with a friend of John's who happened to sell sweets and had brought boxes of them with. He gave me a few packets and out of nowhere I was suddenly surround by hundreds of children all saying "suweet". It was as adorable as it was heartbreaking. Depleted of "suweets" I took a photo of some of them, to their absolute fascination and one can only wonder at a world so different to the one I know, where a camera phone is taken for granted and yet they have never even seen one. With much apologising for having no more sweets, we departed and finally arrived at the resort. What a place! I realised right then and there that I wouldn't need ANY of my shoes! As well as most of my clothing;) It was HOT! and there was only beach sand everywhere. I took off my sandals and went barefoot the rest of the trip. We went straight to the beach bar and ate sushi made from a barracuda that had been caught that day. There is nothing like fresh fish and I ate enough of it that week to sink a battleship! After a fantastic dinner I went to my chalet to get settled in time for lights out which is at 10pm on the dot. Electricity needs to be conserved so, whether you like it or not, everything goes off! I got into the habit of wearing a very stylish (not really!) headlamp! But for convenience it was fantastic because … …I was told call time the following morning was 4am! so much for catching up on my beauty sleep! Of course, it's still dark then so in the mornings all you could see were floating lights and that's how you knew someone was approaching;) And when you have to dress and brush your teeth and eat something in the dark you are very grateful for that little hands-free lamp! So the floating headlights drove down to the beach to prepare and I watched the sunrise over the ocean. A breathtakingly spectacular sight I will probably never forget. And then I had my first experience on a jetski! I was piggy-backing on John's very state-of-the-art jetski. It's quite a scary experience launching a jetski! Especially for someone who prefers to be in the driver's seat. Not that I would've known what to do but having to place my trust in the hands of a relative stranger, not knowing how good he actually was, was difficult for me! And of course, let's not forget all this is being filmed as well…Once we were out on the water (and I'd gotten over the pain of having my foot trampled by John as he jumped aboard!) things were great. We were out there for a few hours and I lost complete track of time as we trawled through the water waiting for a fish to bite. It sounds boring, and I thought it would be. But to be out on the ocean at that time of the morning, with the sun rising in front of you was amazing. We caught one fish out there the whole 3 hours we were there but I got to drive the jetski and experience going at really high speed over the water. A rush I wouldn't have missed out on for anything! My days there were spent snorkelling, swimming and tanning for the camera crew. What a tough job;) I have to say snorkelling was one of the best experiences of my life. I was completely enthralled by the colours and the shapes and the different creatures. Once again, I surprised myself. I have a healthy respect that borders on fear, for the ocean. And yet I swam over half a km out just to see coral and fish and I'd do it again tomorrow! 4 in the morning was fishing time and the next day was my turn on a kayak! Now this, I was terrified for! I get badly seasick and was so worried the motion of the kayak would make me ill. I also felt a little vulnerable being so close to the water because of sharks and having to rely on my own strength to make it back to shore. Once again, I underestimated how much I'd love it! I went in tandem with Heinrich, the presenter of the show. He does it all the time so I felt a lot safer. We went out about 3km, maybe 4 and it was one hell of a workout getting past the breakwater but once we were out it was pretty easy going and I found my rhythm. We were out for several hours before we finally got a bite and Heinrich told me to take it! Panic! But he showed how to do it and I was SO DETERMINED to do this. We almost had a head-on collision with another boat and my Chanel sunglasses fell off my head in the struggle which I was devastated about! It was a big fish. I had no idea how big it was or what it was until it surfaced and good lord, it was a barracuda! If you've ever seen those teeth up close, it's a very scary sight! Heinrich helped me bring it onboard and we put it in the little hatch. Oh my word! My first fish. It's a wierd feeling catching a fish. If it hadn't been for the show, I would've released it. But they wanted to do photos etc. I felt sad for it and I guess the fish and I had a moment, cheesy as it sounds, where I apologised and said thank you. Later when we watched footage I felt like crying at all the fish and how valiently they fought. I was very happy to find out that almost all the fish were released. And the fish that weren't released, fed everyone. Then I felt much better! Later that evening I found out my fish was a whopping 8.6kg! And word spread because everyone i passed at the resort congratulated me. I was one of them! It felt pretty cool i have to say:) My last night we went to visit a nearby village. We took sweets and I took my guitar. When we arrived there were about 30 children to welcome us, all singing their little hearts out. It was beautiful. I returned the favour by singing them a song and then we handed out sweets to everyone which went down really well and I lost my heart to more than a few babies! One of the locals impressed us by climbing up a coconut tree to get us a coconut. I have never seen anyone fly up a tree like that, and with no branches to hold onto! Back at the beach bar I did what I do and entertained everyone there with my guitar, sitting outside under the stars, with the ocean just behind me. The whole evening had a magical, unreal feel to it which, to me, encapsulates Mozambique. It is like stepping into another dimension. The contrasts of the country boggle the brain and the beauty of it can take your breath away. There is an uncomplicated air to the place which, is ironic because the the lives of the people living there are anything but uncomplicated. Yet the people of Mozambique are so humble, hardworking and happy all the time, in the midst of all that poverty. Their lives are all about survival. You can't help but be awed by it. I went there to work but I came away from there feeling more at peace than I'd felt in a long time. It's amazing how something as simple as feeling the sand beneath your feet constantly, can ground you. Being surrounded by nature constantly, rejuvenates you and seeing how much you have to be grateful for, humbles you. I learnt a lot of new things about myself on this trip. I can fish! I am not as scared of the ocean as I thought. I didn't get seasick once and I won't let that fear inhibit me in the future. I can do anything I put my mind to, if I just give myself the chance and try. I'm no stranger to taking chances. My life is all about that! But sometimes you need to be reminded I think, just to boost yourself out of any little ruts you may be in. Facing your fears makes you feel more alive than you've ever felt. It also opens up your mind to a million other possibilities. This is what life is all about. Taking chances, experiencing as many things as you can whenever the opportunity arises. Why else are we here if not to experience, learn and grow. And I know that no matter what happens, even if I could never sing again, it'd just be life throwing another challenge at me and I'd accept it because there is so much to this life and so much in this world that I have yet to experience and who am I to limit myself and decide it's only ever going to be this? I hope I can sing for many, many years to come. I can't imagine a life without it. In the meantime I'll just keep taking those chances and pushing my boundaries so that I'm ready to handle whatever comes my way. Because I've proven to myself that I can!