Beth and me on a wine tasting on round one of South Africa
One of several visits to Cape Agulhas, the southernmost tip of Africa
The evening we spent hanging out on the cliffs of De Kelders watching the sunset
This was one of my absolute favorite days in Africa
Beth and Cake- two of my favorite people I've met while traveling
June 2018, at a braai with Beth, Lizzy and some of the WSP crew
Hey, little
Wizards. I know that my blog has been dormant since I returned from my third
trip to South Africa back in June, so sorry for the long silence- been busy
with non-travel related life. I wish I could reawaken my blog with better news,
but unfortunately this will probably- no, definitely- be the saddest blog post
I’ve ever had to write. As the title says, I wish I didn’t have to make this
post. But I’ve been sitting on this information for over four months now, and
I’ve only talked about it with one person in that time- it’s past time to make
this post. I know a lot of other people that I’ve met through volunteering at
White Shark Projects already know this, but the majority of people that read
this blog probably don’t, so here goes.
Way back in
May 2015, I began my first trip to Africa, which would be truly life changing.
Not only did I have countless amazing, unforgettable experiences and learn so
much, but I met people that would turn into lifelong friends despite the many
different backgrounds that we all came from. Two of the best and most important
people that I met on that trip were Lizzy and Beth- if you’ve kept up with my
blog for a while, you’ll probably recognize those names. Lizzy and Beth were
two best friends from Wales who spent two weeks volunteering at White Shark
Projects with me- that summer was my first time volunteering with the project,
their second time. Even though I only spent two weeks with them that summer, in
that time we grew very close and by the time the two weeks were over, they felt
like some of my best friends. I have a lot of memories with Lizzy and Beth from
that first summer together- some of my favorites include snorkeling among the
kelp in Hermanus when I caught the shyshark with my bare hands, playing very
intense games of flunkyball in the backyard, and sitting in a circle in the
candlelit main room of the volunteer house during power outages playing and
singing along to American Idiot. When the two weeks were up and Lizzy and Beth
headed back home, we exchanged contact information and promised to keep in
touch and to come back and volunteer at WSP together again- and in March of
2017, we made that happen. It was so wonderful to see Lizzy, Beth, and our
other friend Cake again, and in a lot of ways that trip was even better than
the first because not only did we get to work with the sharks again, but we
were reunited with each other. Even though we hadn’t seen each other in a year
and a half, from the moment we were reunited at the volunteer house in
Gansbaai, it was as if no time at all had passed- we just picked up right where
we left off. Again, just like in 2015, even though Lizzy and Beth were only
able to stay for two weeks, the fact that we were all living in a house
together and spending almost every minute together brought us even closer as
friends. I already considered Lizzy and Beth some of my best friends, and that
second trip just cemented that. By the end of our second time volunteering
together, it was just an unspoken agreement among the four of us that we would
return to volunteer together again- and sure enough, this past summer, we did
just that. In June of 2018, Lizzy, Beth, Cake and I were reunited in Cape Town
on our first full day back in South Africa, and we spent another wonderful two
weeks together. I’ve documented all of these trips in previous blog posts, so I
won’t go into too much detail about them in the interest of not making this
post too long. By the end of Lizzy and Beth’s two weeks at WSP in June of last
year, we’d only spent a total of six weeks together over about the last three
years, but it felt like much longer since we always kept in touch when we
weren’t together and, like I said, when we were volunteering together we were
around each other almost every minute. When Lizzy and Beth left in 2018, I gave
each of them a big hug and said, “I’ll see you next time.” I didn’t say goodbye
since I knew that with them it wasn’t goodbye, it was just see you next time. I
never would’ve guessed that it was the last time I’d ever see Lizzy or Beth.
Sadly, I was wrong.
I don’t want
to go into details about exactly what happened, but on December first, near her
home in the UK, Beth was involved in an accident and was killed. She was 28.
Beth wasn’t
super active on social media and no one posted about the event for a while, so
I didn’t even know about the accident until a couple of weeks after it
happened. When I first found out, I felt like I was in shock for several days.
I found myself reading the news articles again and again, hoping that I’d just
read it wrong or that it was all a mistake and the next time I’d get on
Facebook I’d see a post from her explaining that it was all wrong.
Even though,
like I said earlier, I only spent a combined total of about six weeks with Beth
in the three years or so that I knew her, she really felt like one of my best
friends. When I last saw her in Cape Town when I went with Jerome, Jess, and
Loryn into the city and had lunch with her and Lizzy before they flew out that
evening, I felt totally certain that I’d see her again- I didn’t even consider
the possibility that that really was “goodbye”.
Beth was one
of the most unique and selfless people I’ve ever met. At home in the UK, she
worked for the Welch Refugee Council, an organization that works to help asylum
seekers and refugees in Wales. One memory of Beth that I’ll always hold onto
happened on the first full day of our most recent trip to South Africa, as the
four of us were walking around Cape Town. As we were walking around the city, a
child that was probably homeless came up to us asking if we could spare any
money. People asking for money on the street is a pretty common thing in Cape
Town, but the fact that this was a child made us stop and pay a bit more
attention. Beth was the main one that stepped up in this situation- instead of
giving the child money, she took her hand and led her into a little convenience
store on the corner of the street. She told the girl to grab a basket and pick
out any food and items that she needed, and the girl spent at least twenty
minutes leading Beth around the store picking items off the shelves. When this
little shopping spree was done, Beth paid for everything, handed the bags to
the girl, then patted her on the back, told her to take care, and said goodbye.
That’s just the way she was.
That’s
really all I wanted to say in this blog post. I do have another trip coming up
pretty soon- in about two weeks- so I hope to update the blog again soon with
much happier news. But it took a long time for me to feel okay about writing
this post, and I didn’t want to update the blog with anything else before
sharing this sad news. Beth, our friendship was one for the books and was
absolutely life changing, but it ended way too soon. This post’s food for thought:
“Everyone leaves footprints in your memory, but the ones that leave footprints
in your heart are the ones you will truly remember.”- Nicholas Sperling
