Surviving Life’s Obstacles
On the 17th of April 2026, we celebrated my eldest son’s 25th birthday, a young man with Down Syndrome. As part of celebrating his milestone, we went to the Drakensberg. We stayed at the Premier Resort Sani Pass.
In the morning, we took an easy mini 5km hike (according to my standards), but to Jabu it wasn’t an easy activity:
- He is afraid of heights- part of the hike meant going over a dangling bridge
- Due to a spinal cord issue (scoliosis), climbing is a mammoth task for him.
Needless to say, it took him almost 2- minutes of cheering, of ‘I can’t do this’, of negotiating with him for him to start & finish the journey. All the way, he held on for dear life on the supporting ropes, and he Did It 
.
Something as easy as climbing up for me, for Jabu it was a mammoth task, yet, once again, he climbed on all four, crawling up, and he Did It Again.
Where am I going with this? A lot of times when we are faced with challenges, tough times ahead of us, our immediate reaction is ‘I Can’t’, I am scared, It’s too hard’. Agreed, it is. Yet, it takes you to dig deeper into that courage, willpower and determination that helps you overcome the obstacles.
With some cheering and applause, it is doable, one step at a time. It takes you, me, us to accept the situation we are faced with and reflect on what is in our control and what isn’t. That’s how we build our strength, our resiliencies. The journey begins with acceptance, expressing our feelings, reaching out for help in our support structures and believing that we CAN do it.
In Nelson Mandela’s words: “It seems impossible until it is done”. And that’s how Jabu overcame his challenges and enjoyed his birthday. It takes you to go easy on yourself! Give it your all and never give up hope.
