Since I’m often requested to speak & perform at team-building events, I get to spend time with other speakers & trainers in my industry. Yesterday, after my team-building presentation for one of South Africa’s most innovative engineering firms, I had the incredible experience of listening to a truly amazing speaker.
In September 2003, Riaan Manser set off from Cape Town on a mission that had taken him 18 months to prepare & what he had hoped would take 1 year to complete : to be the first person to circumnavigate the African continent on a bicycle. He left Cape Town, cheered on by a small group of supporters, & started on 37 000km journey that would take him through 34 African countries & take 2 years, 2 months & 15 days to complete. He only carried as much equipment, supplies & clothing as he could fit on his mountain bike & did the journey solo without any backup team, documenting his journey with a diary & video camera.
You may have seen his story on MNet’s Carte Blanch, & Riaan started off his talk by playing a recording of the story they had done. As he says, “It’s quite amazing how they were able to condense over 888 days into a 12-minute segment!” Of course, once we had all seen the video, we wanted to hear Riaan’s story first-hand…
Riaan Manser talks about his book, “Around Africa On My Bicycle”:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PffO69X6WqU
Riaan is a real ‘down to earth’ Capetonian ‘boykie’, & although it is evident that he is not ‘professional’ speaker by the way he structures his talk, the stories & anecdotes that he shared with group were truly inspiring! He describes vividly & in detail of how he was captured & held hostage by child-soldiers in Liberia, his experiences of talking to a huge group of amputees that were being assisted by the UN in Sierra Leone (video here), how strangers constantly bought him food in Algeria, & how he dealt with mechanical failures while travelling through mountains, forests & deserts. One of the most personal stories he told, which had quite a striking impact on the entire audience, was how the effects of loneliness & not having regular contact with his family & friends caused him to befriend a mouse, “Russel”, in Tunisia! His speaking style is very personal & it’s almost like you’re sitting around a braai while he’s telling his story, with no pretences or embellishment.
Even though he experienced considerable hardships & times of despair, Riaan explains that he never considered surrendering & returning home. His dedication & focus on completing his promise to himself meant that he continued despite the dangers of such a long & arduous journey. What I cannot describe to you here though is how emotionally compelling the story is when you hear it from Riaan himself! When he says how much he needed to complete this goal, you can tell in his eyes & body language that there was absolutely nothing that was going to stop him. It is because of this that I feel honoured to have heard Riaan tell his story.
Ultimately, Riaan believes that “Quitters never win“. After hearing his story, you realise that are so many opportunities around you to make an impact, to make a real difference in the world – but we’re so used to sitting back & letting the world pass us by that we never reach our full potential. There were so many reasons for Riaan not to even start his journey, there even more opportunities for him to ‘call it a day’ & return home – but then he would never ever be remembered for his phenomenal achievement. Worse, if he had not completed the journey, others who may have considered trying it may have been discouraged from trying. Riaan is a real South African hero & his story will truly inspire you to set your goals high, never lose focus, & achieve the ‘impossible’.
Riaan has recently published the book of his story, “Around Africa On My Bicycle“, & he will be a special guest at the Cape Town Book Fair on Saturday 14th June 2008 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre at 14h00. You’ll also get to see his bicycle!
To order a signed copy of Riaan Manser’s book, or to request an appearance, visit www.africa365.co.za.
