when the going gets tough

I'm not sure if many of you will appreciate the kind of preparation it takes to go to Europe to compete in a sporting event like medieval combat. I'm not sure even I appreciate it. We just do it, one step at a time until the day arrives when we climb on the plane.

But we are on the brink of being finalised to go to Luxembourg, to compete in the Red Lion Challenge.
Our fundraising efforts totalled almost nil. In the end, I got a loan from the bank, and Bronwen's Dad and cousin sponsored her. My Mom got me a Diners card to pay for the flights, so that we have free travel insurance, and my Dad paid for the visas. Bronwen's visa will come out of the money we raised through the raffle (R800). We had bugger-all support from our organisation. And that's just the money side of it.

Today, I organised a letter of invitation to the event, for the visa people.
I also enquired about somewhere to stay after the tournament, because the visa people need to know all of this.
Tomorrow, we will pay for our flights.
Tomorrow or next week, I will collect Tala's passport.
On Saturday, we will pay for our visas.
Next week Wednesday, we will fly up to Joburg for our visa appointments.
We will take our passports, flight booking details, letters and booking confirmations, bank statements, employment contracts, and anything else that will prove that we intend to be in Luxembourg for six days for a sporting event and a bit of sightseeing.
We have already found someone to stay at our house for the week, to feed and care for our dogs, cats and horses.
I still need to finalise the account at the feed supplier, so that our guy can call them and get horse, cat and dog feed delivered to our place.
Last year, I also had to organise a roster of parents who would take my daughter to school and watch her in the afternoon until her Dad got back from work. This year, we're taking her with us. And that is thanks to her father, who can pay for her flight.

The planets are slowly yet inexorably moving into an alignment that will enable us to go over for one tournament this year. It has been a team effort, although the effort was mostly from people who don't fight, and who have never seen us fighting very much at all, and have nothing to do with the sport as such. (Tanielle, Cathy and Jamie being the obvious exceptions). This has made me even more grateful for the people with which I have surrounded myself.

It seems like a hell of a lot of missioning for so little action, if you look at what we'll be doing. And yet, in the greater scheme of things, for example the sport in our country, it's more than the rest of our organisation has managed to accomplish, even with all of the fundraising they did.

Next month, the first team of South African fighters will enter and participate in buhurts and profights at an international tournament.

I think if you look at it that way, you'll see that it is worth it. It's worth it to fight anywhere, anyway. It's definitely worth it to me.

And maybe somewhere out there, someone will eventually sit up and take notice, and give us money to go over and fight, at all the tourneys, so I don't have to take loans out every time. We can only keep on, do what we can, and ask along the way.

Next month, before we leave, I'll feature a post called full disclosure, which will document our packing (30kg each), armour and weapons choices, and all other travel prep.