Day 5 - It's raining, it's pouring!

It was a tough ride for the girls yesterday. It started raining early morning, and with only a dry patch here and there, it was slippery slope all the way to Tsitsikamma. But all the lovely things that happened en route to the little Storms River village made this difficult and wet stretch of the journey a worthwhile experience.

The first official stop was at the Netcare Greenacres in windy city, Port Elizabeth, which lived up to its name yesterday morning. Adele Kennedy, the marketing manager of Netcare and Tertia King from the finances department pulled their weight from the word go when they heard about the Journey of Hope, and on their own initiative organized a “bra raising”. The Survivors were escorted by other Harley riders to Netcare, where they were handed the almost 800 bra's that were collected over a relatively short period of time. These bra's will now be distributed to less fortunate women who can’t always afford the proper support. Shimmy’s big promotional bra that is being used to advertise the Hoezit my Bra! show also made an appearance and had the traffic moving very slow. Everyone is still wondering where the woman is that can fill up that tremendous cup size!!

After the handover of the bra's everyone moved to the GVI Oncology clinic for what can only be explained as crazy fun and laughter, for the first part of the proceedings, at least. Not scared off by the miserable weather, lots of locals showed up for the much advertised high heel race and even the SABC News crew couldn’t resist to see what will happen at this sure spectacle! Even some men braved the cold and wet weather (and the possibility of scarring their egos for life) to come and the run the 50m in high heels. But the current mister South Africa, Denver Burns took this race very seriously and decided to strip down to only a Speedo that looks like the South African flag. He decided to run the race with our Survivors (unfortunately for some of the male onlookers they decided to stay dressed!), but alas, Frieda literally made mincemeat of him and her other contenders. She won by a long shot, showing them the back of her heels at the finish line! 

After the fun and games in the parking lot the Journey girls went to the chemo and radiology rooms to talk to the cancer patients and encourage them on their own Journey. This was an emotional experience for a lot of the patients and the survivors - memories of their own treatment and heartache flared up again as soon as they saw the vulnerable people with needles in their arms and looks of despair on their faces. To lighten things up a bit the organisers of this event decided to let Shimmy perform in the chemo room. The recognition and understanding was tangible - this moment will definately be remembered by all who attended.

Another breast cancer survivor, Rhodes student Christin Page, drove all the way to PE to come and share her story. Her double mastectomy at the age of 18 was moving and heartrendering, but at the same time a big inspiration and story of hope. Her awereness of her own body saved her life, and now she can help to educate others. Welldone girl, you made us proud!

It was a draining day, but still not over! They saddled up and took off to Storms River where two pink cadillacs and singing women welcomed them to the village. The Cadillac Shack was the venue of choice for the last event for the evening. 

Soaking wet and tired, but full of spirit the girls retired for the night. We'll keep you posted on the blog as to what happened today!