A
year ago my youngest son and I, along with about a dozen other fools,
participated in a 7.7km sea swim in Haiti. As the day drew nearer I became ever
more regretful of my initial eagerness to participate. I would quietly curse
Jim Chu, the charismatic and persuasive individual who had convinced me to
undertake this terrifying task. It wasn't the distance that worried me, it was
the sharks. I needn't have worried, there were no sharks (at least not on the
day we swam). Just swathes of painful jellyfish. They only appeared for the
last 200m but boy, did it make for a welcoming committee. After 2 hours
battling with the waves there is nothing quite like a stinger in your trunks to
focus the mind.
Call
me stupid but on Sunday 24th Jan we will be doing the swim again. This time not
only is my youngest son participating but so also is my eldest (sons no 2 and 3
are far too sensible). I even have two Isle colleagues joining me (Tom Jacks,
Head of Dealflow, and Tim Day, MD for Isle Australia). Whereas my response when
I get stung/bitten/dragged to my watery grave will be to once again curse ever
meeting Jim Chu. Tom, Tim and my sons will be cursing me. I see it a
pyramid of hatred and blame.
Jim,
as regular readers of these Notes will know, is the CEO for the truly excellent
and inspirational business Dlo Haiti. Dlo provides water to rural communities
in Haiti through a network of water kiosks and it is one of the most inspiring
methods for addressing water supply in areas of poverty and poor
infrastructure. It is because of Jim's achievements with Dlo that I will,
grudgingly, forgive him for convincing me to once again undertake this swim. I
am not sure my colleagues and family will cut me the same degree of slack, but
it is too late for them to pull out now.
There
is of course a point to this swim. It is partly to highlight to the world that
Haiti, despite all its problems, is a country that can host just these sort of
events. It is a country that needs tourists. The swim itself is to raise money
for swimming teaching programme, run by (former British Olympic swimming coach
and now a Haitian resident) Ian Lyons. Every year numerous Haitian children
drown due to the fact that, despite living on a Caribbean island, they cannot
swim. Ian’s goal is to teach 6000 local children to swim. Sport is not standard in the Haitian school curricula. The
level of fear towards water is extreme, compounded by the fact that most
children especially in poorer areas have known of relatives or friends who
drowned. It has taken Ian a long time to get the local children to a level that
they can even concentrate to learn to swim. Once starting to swim the change in
their confidence is visible. His swim program, which is linked to the CLE
foundation (Centre for Leadership and Excellence) aims to build up exactly
these confidence levels whilst at the same time decreasing the risk of drowning.
I don’t like asking for money. Especially as it is to pay for me to do something stupid and extreme. However, if you feel so minded please do make a contribution. I will personally match any contribution made for the ‘Isle team’ (my sons Angus and Torin, Tom Jacks, Tim Day and myself) , up to $3k. The link to donate is at: http://swimforhaiti.org/donate.html. If you want to see a short video of last years’ event (it opens with a shot of me and my son) go to http://www.swimforhaiti.org/. My Note from last years’ event was No 80 (http://notesfrompiers.blogspot.co.uk/)
If
you want to participate in next years’ event then let me know. Jim would love
to have you come along and it would be good for the Sharks and Jellies to have
a wider menu from which to choose their lunch.
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