Sunday Times (Johannesburg) - July 30, 2006

"'It is not the end of my life. I might be sick, but that doesn't mean I can't live a great life. I do things many healthy people don't do. Since I was diagnosed, I've had a perfect life'" Print Send to a friend

EVELINA Tshabalala is HIV positive, a single parent, the sole breadwinner in her family and battles to keep warm in her tiny shack next to a rubbish dump.

To many, these are more than enough obstacles to have in life. But not for this 40-year-old granny - she goes in search of challenges and this month refused to let the highest mountain in Africa get the better of her.

She climbed Mount Kilimanjaro and is off to Russia to climb Mount Elbrus. In fact, for the next two years Tshabalala and her friend, domestic worker Zukiswa Matamo, will try to summit the seven highest mountain peaks in the world - something never attempted by a black woman.

"My father was shot in front of me, I lost my son and my mother, but I refused to give up. God kept me alive and he has a plan for me - that is why I am doing this. And besides, I am getting old and want to try new things," she said.

Tired and "frozen" she stood at the top of Kilimanjaro on July 8, beaming with pride.

The only other mountain she has taken on was Table Mountain last year, a molehill compared with the mighty Kilimanjaro, towering close to 6000m.

Matamo, who will celebrate her 34th birthday in November, has packed her bags and is off to follow in her friend's footsteps in Tanzania and hopes to reach the summit on Women's Day on August 9.

Tshabalala will leave for Russia in September and both women want to end their adventure at the top of Everest in 2008.

They've already made headlines in local newspapers and on Thursday they had their first television interview - "like real celebrities". Tshabalala and Matamo proudly donned their climbing gear as they left the studios, giggling and chatting excitedly like two teenagers at the beginning of school holidays.

They don't seem to have a care in the world, but these two accomplished long-distance athletes have travelled a road filled with hardship and pain.

Tshabalala, who works in Cape Town in the warehouse of a major retail outlet, started running from an early age, often jogging to school with her brother and then back home again - covering approximately 40km a day. Inspired by Zola Budd, she tackled her first races barefoot and won - a 10km race in Sea Point and later that day a 5km race in Pinelands.

The prize was a pair of running shoes, her first real pair, which she used for years.

Even when she was pregnant with her second son, Emmanuel, she carried on running and started taking it easy only weeks before his birth. He was only one month old when she took to the road again.

In 1994 she tackled the gruelling London Marathon for the first time and finished 25th.

But tragedy struck in 1997 when Emmanuel went swimming with his friends and drowned.

"We were lucky to find his body. It was difficult for me but I knew I had to carry on with my running. I want to be a role model for the youth and my community," she said.

Barely two years later, she narrowly escaped death.

She was a passenger in a taxi returning from a training session at Kings Park Stadium in Durban when the driver lost control of the vehicle and it rolled.

"Doctors said I would have been badly injured if I wasn't as strong. Because I was healthy and fit, I managed to escape with minor injuries," she said.

These minor injuries to one of her legs, nevertheless prevented her from competing overseas for a few months. With her die-hard attitude and bright smile she was up at the crack of dawn every day to make her comeback.

Her community she said, is very proud of her and always cheers her on.

Although she adores her community she dreams of owning her own home some day.

She calls her tiny shack in Imizamo Yethu in Hout Bay a "horrible place".

Here she lives with her "unathletic" boyfriend in a one-roomed structure - big enough only for a double bed and her 400 medals.

"It is horrible. In winter it is extremely cold and at 4 o' clock every day, they dump rubbish next to my home. Sometimes dirt seeps into my shack and the smell is terrible.

" I dream one day of buying my own home. A two-bedroom house will be just wonderful. I dreamt of meeting Nelson Mandela, and two weeks ago that dream came true," she said.

She admits sometimes her boyfriend doesn't understand why she runs.

"I then tell him that I was a famous runner before I met him and I will continue to run whether he likes it or not," said Tshabalala with a naughty grin.

The year 2003 was a harbinger of bad and good news for Tshabalala. She tested positive for HIV, yet she refused to be cowed by the disease and again she bounced back.

"It is not the end of my life. I might be sick, but that doesn't mean I can't live a great life. I do things many healthy people don't do. Since I was diagnosed, I've had a perfect life," she said proudly.

It was also the year that saw the start of her friendship with Matamo, which extended from the dusty streets of Imizamo Yethu to the long and lonely roads they find themselves running when they compete.

When they met, Matamo had just had her third child and after the birth she couldn't get rid of the excess weight.

"I was such a fatty-boom-boom. But don't get me wrong, I was a gorgeous fat woman. But I got embarrassed at being 106kg. My cousin was 10 years older than me, but she had the body of a 12-year-old and so I decided to shed the weight once and for all," said Matamo.

She was a domestic worker in the picturesque suburb of Llandudno on the Atlantic Seaboard and could manage to walk only 2km a day before changing into her apron to start work.

Her stroll turned into a brisk walk and eventually she was jogging. Before she knew it she was running and neighbours thought it a great idea for the community's most established athlete to meet the newcomer.

When the women finally met, Tshabalala, who was a cleaner at a convenience store then, wasted no time and took Matamo on a 20km run.

"After that run I decided I never wanted to see Evelina again. I kept looking at her and thinking, 'I am never running with you again,'" said Matamo.

Eighteen months later and dozens of kilometres under her belt, she shed 42 kg.

"To think early last year I was still overweight, and this year I ran more than 60km in the Two Oceans Marathon. Believe me I am ready for anything even though I am a newborn baby to the world of running," said Matamo.

The recipe for their success? "We are mothers. So we are strong and we have children and family who are proud of us.

"When we are on the road, time goes by so quickly because there is so much beauty around us and before we know it we are at the finish line."

Time has flown for the women, who started a company called Isicongo with businessman and extreme sportsman Gilad Stern. They are the majority shareholders and once they secure funding from sponsors they will become the sole shareholders.

Stern funded Tshabalala's trip to Kilimanjaro and will fund Matamo's trip, but the women hope to raise more funds for their other climbs by promoting themselves as role models through product endorsements.

"I want to do this because I want to prove to especially the youth and black women out there that we can overcome all obstacles, whether it is in our minds or a mountain reaching into the clouds," said Tshabalala.

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