We are pleased to tell you that we have filled our 6 official charity places that we purchased for this years British 10k London Run on 14th July.  We also have a number of individual runners who have joined ‘Team SA-YES’ bringing our current team total to 9.  If you would like to raise funds to help us to continue our work with youth in Cape Town, please consider joining our team, we’d love to have you on board.  If you would like further information please email Julie Baron at events@sa-yes.com.

Most of us take for granted the transition into adulthood. We leave our childhood homes. We go off to university or find jobs that interest us. Our path is paved with support from our parents and communities, and we learn the things we need to know to self-sustain and thrive into adulthood.

Some young people in South Africa do not have this same support system, and as they leave care, they are left to their own devices with no life or job skills to survive on their own.

SA-YES is working to fill the void in the lives of these youth by assisting them into adulthood via a one-to-one mentoring programme. We match each youth with a trained mentor, who can offer the support and guidance they need to help them make the transition to responsible adulthood. But we need your help!

For the next 30 days, we’re running a donation drive to raise £6000 GBP for our programs. This amount will help us provide support and mentoring to five new young people who are currently struggling on their own. As an added bonus, a generous donor has offered to match every donation made up to that amount, so your donation will instantly be doubled!

To read more, or to donate, just visit donate.sa-yes.com. Truly, thank you from the bottom of our hearts for any helping hand you can lend!

After two years of exchanging email with Julie and a few months exchanging email with Sabine finally we met in the reception hall of our hotel on the south bank of the River Thames on Saturday 27 October. A warm rapport was evident immediately; as if we had known each other for years, such is the bond that exists between the Friends of SA-YES.

With a raw and damp evening descending upon London, Julie, Sabine, Andy and I decided that the hotel’s lounge bar would be a warm and cosy spot for an evening meal and some liquid refreshment. However we didn’t stay too late as a 7am start was needed next day if we were to reach the venue for this year’s Run To The Beat (RTTB) half-marathon at North Greenwich. An extra hour in bed was guaranteed as the clocks were set back one hour at 2am on Sunday morning signalling the end of British Summer Time. The weather had decided earlier in the week that summer had ended and that winter was overdue. The forecast for Sunday suggested a spell of steady rain throughout the event with temperatures in single figures Celsius.

Sunday was grey, cold and cheerless but with good friends, Julie, Sabine, and Andy – the warmest of company – we reached North Greenwich in time despite some brief problems with navigation and ensuing laughter as a consequence.

Sabine keeping warm; Andy with loaded camera and Julie making contact with Christian

While we waited for Christian and Kirsty, Julie, Sabine and I took the opportunity to do some flag waving for SA-YES. Thanks to Julie we had some very special SA-YES tee shirts, signed by SA-YES co-founder Gillian Anderson.

Julie, Keith and Sabine waving the flag for SA-YES – photo by Andy

Soon we were joined by Kirsty and, after those text messages from Julie, Christian found us. He looked well-equipped for an assault on the RTTB course.

Julie, Kirsty and Christian – photo by Andy

After we had introduced ourselves and decided who was, and was not, running for SA‑ YES it was time for Sabine and Christian to make their way to the start, scheduled for 9.45am. On our way to the start we stopped for some more photographs.

Sabine and Christian ready to run for SA-YES

The half-marathon run started a few minutes later than scheduled and 12,000 runners streamed past us while a few drops of cold rain fell.

Some of the 12,000 runners braving the cold

Fearing that hypothermia might strike those of us spectating, we headed back towards the O2 arena in search of coffee and shelter from the cold. On our way we stopped at one of the sound stages. The volume of sound there was enough to vibrate one’s skeleton.

Sound stage near the start of the run – photo by Andy

While the ladies queued to relieve natural processes, Andy and I joined a queue at Costa Coffee in a building that could have come from the hand of Gaudi in Barcelona. We passed the time talking about SA-YES and South Africa.

An imposing building with Costa Coffee in the corner

A tall young man behind us in the queue for coffee overheard some of our conversation. Coincidentally he was from South Africa so as the queue shuffled forward erratically we talked with him of South Africa, who we were and what we were doing.

The ladies found us in the doorway of the Costa Coffee shop and soon we had our hands round a hot drink – chocolate in my case as no-one seems to have “ordinary” coffee any more.

We returned to the road from where we had watched the start of the race to try to catch a glimpse of Sabine and Christian coming down the home straight. We did see Sabine and she slapped Andy’s hand as she went by to finish in 1 hour 51 minutes and 22 seconds. Christian was not far behind and we found each other on a large space near a stand selling ice cream – yes, in that weather.

Sabine and Christian with their medals – photos by Andy

After some discussion we decided to use the Thames Clipper boat service to cross the River Thames to Canary Wharf and seek lunch from one of the restaurants – Chinese, Italian or Spanish.

View forward from the Thames Clipper at North Greenwich

It was warm inside the Thames Clipper and we had a smooth and rapid ride cruising down the Thames to Canary Wharf. When we arrived the decision was made to try the Spanish restaurant.

Inside the Camino restaurant with Kirsty, Christian, Sabine, Julie and Andy

There was much pondering over the menu which was written mostly in Spanish. Eventually a decision was made on some dishes and lunch was enjoyed, interspersed with conversations about the day’s event and plans for our next fundraising event for SA-YES.

After lunch we said goodbye to Kirsty and Christian but not before a final photograph.

Andy, Christian, Sabine, Julie and Kirsty outside the Camino restaurant

The restaurant was an interesting choice after Sabine’s recent epic trek on the Camino de Santiago.

Andy, Julie, Sabine and I dined in central London in the evening. It was cold and wet with a steady rain before and after our dinner but this failed to dampen our spirits and we called into the hotel bar for a single nightcap – different spirits – and an end to a perfect day.

My thanks to Andy and Julie Baron for making various arrangements including an excellent dinner on Sunday evening as well as keeping in touch with all concerned. Special thanks to Sabine Schmidt and Christian Cullen for running on behalf of SA-YES and to Kirsty Herrington for joining us to support Sabine and Christian.

Sabine has a page open on the JustGiving website “Sabine’s page for SA-YES” and the link to the page is http://www.justgiving.com/Sabine-Schmidt for those wishing to celebrate her success and support the work of SA-YES.

Keith Shone

If you shop online, you can raise money for SA-YES at no extra cost to you!

We have registered with www.givingabit.com who have partnered with over 1,200 shops that will pay us a donation every time a purchase is made.

It will not cost you a penny more and it is free to sign up. In fact you could even save money as there are thousands of discount codes too!

You still buy directly from your favourite shops, including Amazon, Play.com, Sainsbury’s, John Lewis, Vodafone and many more – you just visit them through the givingabit.comwebsite to create a donation for us!

All you need to do is go to www.givingabit.com and sign up. Once you have signed up, click on ‘Find a Charity or Community’ from your Quick links box, and choose SA-YES

Thank you for your continued support!

We Need Runners for ‘Run to the Beat with Nike + 2012’

We are very excited to announce that we have a limited number of charity places for the Run to the Beat half marathon 2012.  It takes place in London on Sunday 28^st October 2012, starting and finishing at the Famous O2 Arena.  This will be our 3^rd year taking part in this amazing 13.1 mile run, and we hope it will be our most successful year yet!

We are looking for runners to fill our charity places and help SA-YES raise some very important funding to enable us to continue the work we do here in South Africa.

All that we ask in return for one of our charity places is that you pledge to raise a minimum sponsorship of £250 for SA-YES, pay a non-refundable registration fee of £35 to secure your place, and be over the age of 18.  We would also be grateful if you would use Virgin Money Giving.com to set up your fundraising page.

If you are interested in finding out more information about this event, and how you can join our team, please email Julie Baron at events@sa-yes.com

The British 10K London Run is the UK’s most prestigious and sought-after 10km road race and is staged on the world’s greatest route through the heart of central London. 25,000 runners fill the streets of the nation’s capital and get the unique chance to run past many of the country’s greatest landmarks including Big Ben, The London Eye, St Paul’s Cathedral, Trafalgar Square and Westminster Abbey.

The 2012 event is staged on Sunday 8^th July, just 19 days before the start of the Olympic Games and the excitement and buzz within London at this time should make for a truly special occasion and the best British 10k London Run in its 12 year history. We are looking for runners to be part of our team, and part of this truly amazing event.  If you are interested in joining our team please send an email to Julie Baron at events@sa-yes.com for further information.

On September 4^th I ran a half marathon to raise some money for SA-YES. When I entered the stadium where the start and the finish line were located, I saw several people running almost a whole lap over and over again and I asked myself if it makes sense to run before a half marathon to warm up. I mean, isn’t there enough time to warm up when you run 21 kilometers? At that day it was hot anyway and it felt like 250 % humidity. So I rather sat down and sent a text message to Julie that I was ready for the race and that I hoped my calf would hold out until the finish line. Because of a strain I wasn’t able to run for three weeks and I continued my training just two weeks before the race. So I wasn’t sure if I could finish the half marathon. But at least I had a very impressing shining blue tape on my calf that looked really professional.

The start was at ten and the first kilometers were ok. I ran an average time of five minutes per kilometer, which is way to fast for me. But the calf didn’t hurt so much and I had a challenge to win, so I kept on running knowing that I would slow down anyway. The challenge was to run the half marathon in under two hours. For each minute I would get ten pounds from a friend of mine for my fundraising for SA-YES. So I was highly motivated to run as fast as I could.

After about five or six kilometers a woman ran beside me and asked me how fast I was running. She said that her clock didn’t work so she didn’t know how fast she was. She thought that my speed would be right for her and she asked me if she could run beside me. After some time she couldn’t hold the pace and fell back a little. But suddenly she was beside me again and said “I don’t want to lose you.” Then she fell back again. Because of my challenge I did not want to wait for her, knowing that she would catch up with me anyway when I had to drink something. Because of my paralyzed vocal chord I cannot run and drink at the same time anymore. So I have to interrupt the running when I need to drink something.

The first ten kilometres I didn’t drink anything so I wouldn’t lose so much time but it was so hot and humid that I badly needed to drink some water. When I continued running, I saw the woman again and we ran together for quiet a while.

When I entered the stadium I saw the clock at the finish line. It said 1:53:30 and I thought, if I speed up I can make it under 1:54. So I made a “ten-pounds-final-spurt” and made it eight seconds before the next minute began. At the water station I met that woman again. We were both happy that we finished the race.

I really enjoyed running this half marathon especially because I knew I did it for SA-YES. I am so happy that there were so many wonderful donors who sponsored me and who helped me raise money for SA-YES. I think Michelle and her mentors are doing such an incredible job in South Africa. I will definitely continue to support SA-YES as long as I can.