loveLife groundBreakers take to the ocean

When Theo Madayi and Sibu Sibaca signed up for a volunteer youth programme, they had no idea it might land them on a yacht to Rio.

They are two of 28 loveLife campaign's groundBreakers selected to undergo intensive seamanship training at the Royal Cape Yacht Club with a view to becoming part of the 12-strong crew of the Clan McKenzie, loveLife's heavily branded entrant in the Cape to Rio race, starting on January 11.

The young groundBreakers are also likely to form part of an ambitious project to circumnavigate Africa from next year to 2005 and spread the message of positive living and safe sex wherever they go.

Since their training started at the beginning of September, they have amazed even Royal Cape Yacht Club general manager Trevor Wilkins with their fearlessness and skill.

Both Sibaca, 19, who presents motivational workshops, and Madayi, 25, who does basketball workshops, had only been involved in the loveLife programme for a few months before they were sent on the course.

For the slightly built Sibaca, teaching children about HIV/AIDS is a closely personal matter, as both her parents died of HIV/AIDS-related complications.

Asked whether she ever thought she would become a yachtswoman, she said: "Oh no. It's a white sport. I can't do it because I can't afford it. But now I'm here, it's a great challenge. It's wonderful that people from disadvantaged backgrounds can get such an opportunity, and even more wonderful that we can pass on the skills.

"Sometime it scares me. They showed us a video of a man who lost the use of his hand after a yachting accident and I thought 'my goodness, how will I be able to do such a dangerous sport?' "

Madayi said: "I'd never even been on a boat. I'd always fantasised about sitting on a yacht and looking good, but I never dreamed I'd ever get a chance to be on one.

"When I finally started the training, it turned out to be completely different to my dream. It's hard work, physically, mentally and emotionally. You have to deal with the idea that if you make a mistake, someone on your crew could get killed."

Yet both of them consider their more conventional work with loveLife - running workshops for township teenagers - a far more serious business.

Madayi said: "If you're on a yacht you could get hurt or maybe killed. In a workshop, anything you say or do has an influence on the kids you work with. If you do something wrong there, you could end up ruining many lives."

Sibaca said: "It's a huge responsibility to work with children. If you're not careful you could end up killing a child's self-esteem."

While Sibaca's brother, Sonwabo, was very happy for her, Madayi "almost got a klap" from grandmother Elizabeth when he told her the news.

"She said 'You're forgetting you're black!' and she was scared I might drown. But later she was very excited."

Madayi and Sibaca's 26 fellow-trainees were all born and bred in townships in greater Cape Town. If they did not live in Cape Town, many wouldn't have had any reason to recognise the difference between a yacht and an oil tanker, much less get the opportunity to take part in one of the world's most prestigious ocean races.

Once the crew - captained by seasoned Capetonian yachtswoman Marian Cole - reach Rio, they will work in the city's sprawling favela slums, which have similar problems to the townships from which they themselves come.

And once the 28 have completed their training, they in turn will become trainers in a programme to introduce yachting in all South Africa's port cities as another area loveLife uses to pass on skills and HIV/AIDS literacy.

The initiative is the result of a partnership between the Yacht Club's Wilkins and loveLife CE David Harrison, who met by chance at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in June, where they came up with the idea.

After the Rio race, loveLife intends teaming up with beverage giant Coca-Cola, sending groundBreakers on a yacht up the west coast of Africa to the 2004 Athens Olympics - stopping off and presenting workshops as they go along - then returning via the east coast.

Campaign spokesperson Seton Bailey said while the particulars had yet to be worked out, the campaign was likely to involve overland work and the groundBreakers taking part would most likely be rotated over the two years the project was likely to take.