Not Everyone Will Finish The Journey With You
The reintegration group has been planning to climb one of Cape Town’s mountains for quite some time, but there seemed to be something that kept stopping us, the rain and scheduling just to name a few. On Monday 7th of September, 6 of us finally had the opportunity to go together, choosing Devil’s Peak as our challenge for the day. On the way to the base of the mountain, I asked one of the guys if he had ever climbed a mountain before, he hadn’t. It turned out that despite living in Cape town most of their lives, none of them had ever climbed a mountain.

You could see the excitement in their eyes, having this experience for the first time. Devil’s Peak is a grilling mountain, it is not at all easy, but these guys did not quit persevering as best as they could. One of the guys had to drop out because he had a knee problem, so he couldn’t continue. I asked the guys to come and encourage him. They said, “in this life, you are expected to do your best. If the best is what lands you here, then that is your best. We know tomorrow, when we are on the mountain again, you will not end up here, you will be able to go further.”
Looking at Jesus’ life, it was kind of a lesson during this time. We were able to speak about the fact that not everyone that started this journey with you will end with you. Just like with Jesus and the disciples. There will always be people who will drop out or fall behind, not everyone that starts this journey will finish with you.

We continued climbing the mountain, finally reaching the top, I asked the guys what they have taken from the experience. I was amazed by what they had to say. Each one described how we take the opportunity to explore nature for granted. “We think we are living life when we are in the township or when we are in the Cape Flats, but actually, we haven’t really lived when there are places like this that we can explore for free.”
It made me happy to see that they were motivated by the whole experience.
Written by Mthetheleli Ngxeke, MEP training coordinator