Below is the lovely report Francois Jacobs wrote on his experience when he did the Ironman event for Council on 22 April 2012.

We are very proud of Francois for many reasons, but mostly because of the strength of character he has and has shown during this event. We understand that he did not reach the goals he has set for himself, but despite the huge setback he pushed through with almost above human determination and finished the race well before the cut-off time.

We want to say a huge THANK YOU to HumanWare who sponsored Francois and Kevin with clothes to participate in – thank you for investing in blind South Africans!

A big THANK YOU to everyone who sponsored Francois on the Do it 4 Charity website and those people who paid their donations into our bank account. We really appreciate it and I know Francois does as well.

Francois, we are proud to be associated with you. You are a true inspiration and an exceptional human being!

With a new day comes a new resolve and new beginnings, and the intense disappointment from Sunday is already fading slightly. Yes we finished well before cut-off, but I was really preparing and hoping for much better than that. Only the athletes among you will understand :-)
But we must move on, and the reason why I can do so with a happy heart is that our donor page shows that, together with the money that were paid into the SANCB's direct bank account we have made our fund-raising target! Thank you so much to everybody that did their bit to make this happen.

And for those who really want the depressing detail of what happened on Sunday, read on but beware, it's a pity party.

They say writing is a form of therapy, so I suppose I'd better start writing. Frustration, devastation, disappointment and yet, two days after the event the only outward signs I have to show for it are mildly stiff quods and sore knees. How is this possible? What went wrong?

I have been asked many times in the past whether I ever felt like quitting an Ironman race, and I could always honestly say I never did. Even this time it never crossed my mind, but the demon I faced instead was much worse. I experienced the hardship and the joy which is part of almost every Ironman experience, but this time it was in the reverse order and not at all like it should have happened.

We arrived in the Friendly City on the Thursday evening and were able to have a good night's sleep before our first sea swim in beautiful calm waters on the Friday morning. As we were driving down to the beach we had the privilege of spotting a school of about 40 dolphins - a lucky omen, we thought. Our preparations went exceedingly well, and we even managed to squeeze in a short bike ride and a run in the two days leading up to Race Day.

As Sunday drew nearer, the weather grew steadily worse. I was a little nervous because of the weather, but more than that I was excited to see whether all the hard work in terms of training and eating rather healthily would pay off. I had never trained this hard before, and all indications were such that I could realistically expect a Personal Best. My guide Kevin is a much better runner, so I knew that if I could only get faster on the run we would already be guaranteed a better finish time.

When we left the guest house for the start at 5h30AM on Sunday morning it already started drizzling, and that would set the scene for much of the day. Despite all that I felt great, and we even had time for a short warm-up swim which made a huge difference at the swim start. You might well think it's crazy to add to an already considerable 3.8km swim, but it really helps to get the blood to where it should go and to calm the pre-race nerves.
The sea was really choppy and the currents were making it difficult for the swimmers to stay on course. As Kevin and I were tethered, all I had to do was to follow him and to hope that he's not going too far off course. I felt really strong throughout the swim and I remember thinking happy thoughts of gratitude to everybody who helped me get to this point. For the last two months I wanted to get to the Virgin Active pool twice a week to try to improve on my mediocre swimming, and I couldn't have done it if it wasn't for a few fellow triathletes in the area who offered to give me a ride to the gym.

The bike leg was no less demanding since by then the wind was gradually getting stronger. The bike course consists of three laps of 60km each, and I was so pleased to find at the beginning of lap three that I was not in the same excrutiating pain as on previous years. Long bike rides on Saturdays and interval sessions on cold weekday mornings seemed to be paying off, and every time we got off the seat to stretch I could immediately feel my muscles recovering, ready for another half hour at race pace. I decided to eat plenty so I won't be exhausted by the time we start the run. If only I had paid as much attention to nutrition as I did to actual training. You don't experiment with food on race day!!!

We decided before the race already that I would hold back on the last half hour of the bike leg so I would have something left to give on the run which is by far my weakest discipline. We stuck with the plan, sort of, but I really felt I could nail this, even with winds peaking at 50 km+ that sometimes kept us back to a crawl.

We started the run without incident and I was able to maintain a steady pace hovering around 9 km/h, more or less what I'm capable of maintaining over a long distance. The spectators were awesome and I felt bad that the writing somehow came off Kevin's number so very few people were able to encourage him by name. They made us feel like we were busy breaking some world record - indescribable!
We weren't even 10km into the run when my stomach started telling me I had been eating too much, and that's when the stops started. The first time was okay, but then I started feeling nauseous and by the next aid station I decided in my infinite wisdom it's probably best to empty my stomach both ways, and after that there was no conscious decision required to keep doing it every so often.
Meanwhile we had intermittent rain showers and the temperature dropped quite a bit. Poor Kevin got very cold waiting for me while I was emptying out months of training and nutrition in the smelly stalls, and when I eventually emerged I would start shaking like a leaf from the cold outside. We didn't have any warm clothes waiting in the seconding area so all we had to keep us warm were the flimsy trisuits and the body heat that would have been generated if we were able to run at a decent pace, but of course I couldn't.

With more than 15 km to go I was reduced to a slow walk, even though my legs were still in good condition and perfectly capable of much better. As we passed an ambulance Kevin was asking me whether we needed to stop and all I could get out was a "no". In hindsight it was very selfish of me, because the longer we were out there the colder we got, and it was all because of my stubbornness, and the best I could hope for was that he would not decide to call it a day. I always knew we had plenty of time to finish, and I would finish no matter what, but I could not think of a way to keep warm while laying down until the nausea subsides. The only option for us was to trudge along, meter by meter. They say you must tackle big challenges like you would eat an elephant, bit by bit, but if I was going to take a bite of anything it would be back out in a second, so even that metaphor didn't seem to go down well. Eventually Kevin said something that made me feel I finally had something to work with. It was somewhere along the lines of: "We don't know how to solve this and to make the nausea go away, so the only thing we have some measure of control over is how long this is going to last". And that's how I managed to pick up the pace by a tiny bit to ensure we do the last 2km in twenty minutes and not forty!

At the finish line I was finished, literally. We finished well before the cut-off, but so what? I just needed to get warm and away. I remember asking to go to the medical tent, for I needed somebody to make the nausea go away. I felt like such a complete failure. How could I ask anyone to ever act as my guide again if I could throw months of training away in a matter of hours?
When I try to explain it to people they get upset, for "you at least completed something I would never dream of attempting", but when you have set yourself a goal, no matter what it is, and you really believed you could achieve it, it is heart-breaking when it doesn't happen. I will not bore you with the list of all the things that needed to be in place to get me to this relatively good form that I am in now. Suffice to say that I'm not sure I have the inner strength to go through all that again. The logistics, the money, the asking for favours, the dependencies and the Stoicism with which one has to deal with the many things that are out of your control takes more out of a person than what I have in reserve right now.

Monday was a day from hell, and I'm not even sure I managed to keep the same fixed smile in place while having to listen to members of my party explaining countless times why our finish time was so slow after an above average first half of the race.
The first time I finally saw a glimmer of light was during women's champion Natascha Badmann's interview at the awards ceremony on Monday night. Some years ago she suffered serious injury in a crash and was told that she would never race competitively again, and yet she made a conscious decision to try and try again until she came out on top. I don't know whether it was my state of vulnerability, but she sounded so authentic and believable, and intuitively I knew that she has once been where I am now.
It is an unexpected surprise to realise that even when you're at the lowest of your low, you can still relate to a champion while she is celebrating her achievement. Such is the miracle of Ironman, where the only time you say never is when you say "never give up".

Great news! Francois Jacobs, our Ironman, has been selected and included in the Triathlon SA team that will be competing at the 2012 Vitoria-Gasteiz ITU Long Distance Triathlon World Championships. He has been chosen to represent TSA in the AWAD T6 Male category. The event takes place on 29 July 2012 in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain.

This is a huge achievement for any athlete, let alone a blind one!

2012 Senior Management Institute (SMI) Institutional Development Program

The Institutional Development Program of the World Blind Union is pleased to announce the 2012 Senior Management Institute (SMI), an organisational management course on disability and social development.

Dates, Duration and Venue

The 2012 SMI will be an eight-week residential course to be conducted from 20th August to 12th October 2012 at the Optima College of the South African National Council for the Blind, Pretoria, South Africa.

Aim of the Course

The overall aim of the SMI is to provide participants with the knowledge, skills and operational capacity to improve and optimise their organisational practice in the field of disability in development to facilitate social transformation.

Learning Objectives

1. To provide participants with information to stimulate new thinking in program development and service implementation.
2. To share ideas and discuss/debate concepts while exposing participants to a range of service options.
3. To guide participants to explore the complexities of the management of non-governmental organisations in a changing world.
4. To expose participants to the use of technology as a management tool and the role of technology in the social and economic development of persons with disabilities.
5. To provide participants with information to provide analytic reasoning to achieve effectiveness in long term planning and strategic leadership.

Course Completion Requirements

The SMI is a 60-credit course of which 40 credits are earned through workshops, lectures, discussions and presentations, and 20 credits through research, use of the internet and web-CT, assignments, field work, monitoring and evaluation. The course duration consists of 6 weeks of coursework and 2 weeks of field assignment. The successful completion of the course will lead to the award of a Certificate of Competence.

Criteria for Assessment

1. Discussions and Presentations: 10%
2. Assignments (Four assignments at 10% each): 40%
3. Written Test After The First 3 Modules: 25%
4. Final Assignment: Programme Assessment And Presentation: 25%

A minimum of 50% is required for the final mark in order to successfully complete the course.

Teaching Methods

The course pedagogy is geared toward participants and trainers who will learn from one another’s experience via a series of seminars and discussions on lessons derived from praxis. A third of the learning experience shall be though a series of classroom seminars and discussions while two-thirds shall be via research, assignments, critical reviews, self-study, internet and field placement.

General areas of study are based on four modules of management and social development: non-governmental organizational management and leadership, disability policy and social transformation, disability service delivery, and monitoring and evaluation.

Eligible Applicants

This course is aimed at managers/directors, senior personnel and senior volunteers in organisations that provide services for persons with visual disability in developing countries. The course requires individuals who are highly motivated and can work with tight timelines in a fast-paced situation.

Eligibility Requirements

A minimum of five years working in a leadership or management role (as a staff person or volunteer) with an organization of or for the blind or in the field of disability; post-secondary education, demonstration of proficiency in English in a learning environment; basic keyboard skills and familiarity with Microsoft Word is a priority. All participants are expected to have at least a working knowledge of spreadsheets and familiarity with financial statements and accounting procedures.

Notes to Participants

This course will equip participants with the foundational tools and skills requisite of a leader operating in a new environment that demands inclusivity. Such a leader requires strength in three main areas of operation:

1. Skills across a wide facet of management and leadership acumen especially with a sound knowledge of financial and operational management, planning, evaluation and strategic thinking;
2. The capacity to truly understand and communicate change; and
3. The ability to effectively integrate the demands of an organisation with a comprehension of the socio-economic and socio-cultural intricacies of disability and of the society in which you operate.

Financial Information

Individuals who are accepted into the course will have to raise funds to cover tuition, room and board.The total fees for the course, including tuition, accommodation and meals is USD 3,500 payable to the IDP. The IDP may subsidise some of these costs; however, this information will be communicated once the selection process is complete.

In addition, successful applicants will need to arrange for their own travel, including airfare, visas, travel and medical insurance, etc., purchase of equipment, personal expenses, and pocket money.

Application Procedure

The admission process for the SMI is very competitive as the course can only admit up to a maximum of 20 participants. Applicants are therefore advised to adhere to the application requirements. Any incomplete application shall not be considered.

All applicants must submit the following documents as part of their application dossier:

1. The Course Application Form duly completed
2. A detailed CV with detailed information on education and employment history; including dates, qualifications, job titles, responsibilities, etc.
3. Academic and professional testimonials
4. A signed recommendation letter from the employer
5. A short essay of not more than 1,200 words detailing your goals and objectives to be achieved as part of this course. Include your career objectives and your personal and professional interests.
6. A short essay of not more than 750 words describing how the SMI will benefit the goals of your organization/agency when you return to your country.

Applications must be sent to the address below, either electronically or by post, to be received not later than 30th April 2012.

Martin M. Kieti,
Senior Consultant,
Institutional Development Program.
P. O. Box 34690 00100,
Nairobi, Kenya.
E-mail Martin Kieti

Judge Zak Yacoob is Visually Impaired

The South African National Council for the Blind applauds the announcement of Judge Zak Yacoob as Acting Deputy Chief Justice of South Africa. Judge Yacoob served as Chairperson of Council from 2001 to 2009.

Judge Yacoob has been a long standing supporter, advocating for the rights and full inclusion of persons with disabilities. His life and his own disabilities have not hindered his progress to the upper echelons of the legal fraternity. The SA National Council for the Blind welcomes his appointment because we believe in empowering visually impaired people to do what they dare to dream and his achievements have been built upon a foundation of justice, hard work and determination to succeed. These are qualities espoused by many visually impaired people who sadly do not get the chance they deserve to show how they can shine.

We hope that this appointment opens the eyes of all South Africans in showing just how much success and independence visually impaired people can achieve with a little help and guidance, the right access to education, accessible skills development facilities and assistive devices.

On behalf of all the visually impaired South Africans that we, together with our member organisations serve, we wish Judge Yacoob all the best in his new appointment and we are confident that he will prove himself capable of his office.

In Book Week (5 to 9 September) please think about visually impaired persons who cannot just pick up any book and read it. Only 0.5% of available books in South Africa are produced/converted into formats which are accessible to visually impaired readers (such as Braille, audio or Daisy).

The Right to Read Alliance campaigns to ensure that everyone can read the "same book, at the same time, at the same price."

The Right to Read Alliance is an international coalition of 21 organisations, working in partnership with publishers, developers, device manufacturers, retailers, librarians and others to overcome the barriers and realise the potential of digital publishing and other accessible formats. The South African National Council for the Blind passionately partakes in the campaigns because we believe in the alliance’s vision and goals.

The World Health Organisation estimates that 284 million people around the world is visually impaired and can therefore not enjoy standard print. This number excludes people with dyslexia, or other disabilities that makes it difficult to hold a book or turn a page. The education of all blind and partially sighted South African children and students is being affected, by not getting textbooks in a format they can read.

The digital revolution is opening a new chapter in the world of books. Ebooks can give the reader the flexibility to adjust the format to their individual requirements, and ebook reading devices are becoming more sophisticated, with enhanced accessibility features.

Many visually impaired persons are already finding it easier to read the books that they want, in a format that they want, at the same time as everyone else. But there are still technical and procedural barriers across the supply chain. In South Africa ebooks is also not the solution to all people’s reading difficulties as very few visually impaired persons have access to computers and other electronic devices.

Read more about the Books without Borders campaign: and Council’s involvement in the advocacy for the Copyright treaty at the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).