(This Cache forms Part of the PEG 2020 game (Port Elizabeth Game 2020). These are caches placed and all published during the second and third weeks of December 2020. the game will run from midnight Sunday day 6 dec 2020 till Sunday 17 January 2021. This cache is available to any geocacher, but we kindly ask that you don’t include any spoiler pics in your log, and no hints or descriptions regarding the cache container, location, or any information that might give an advantage to the game participants. If you are participating in the game, please log DNF’s. This message will be removed after the game ends on Sunday 17th Jan 2021.)
Alison Botha
This cache is dedicated to Alison Botha whose story is an inspiration and a story of survival, and a message to woman out there to take care and be vigilant wherever they go.
This cache is placed at the very spot where Alison was so brutally attacked. Spare a thought for her as you find this cache
Alison’s ABC of survival is a lesson to all woman
As Alison shares her story with all woman of the world, she weaves in the strands of her life’s philosophy – that we may not be able to control the circumstances that we find ourselves in, but we can ALWAYS control what we do about them. We can ALWAYS control our own A,B,C’s
Attitude – Take responsibility for your attitude, of yourself – nurture one of value in your
own uniqueness.
Belief – Belief in ourselves is a powerful tool at our disposal every day of our lives and yet many of us wait and only use it when we are in the worst situations of our lives.
Choice – We cannot control what others do and their actions do not define how we feel – that is up to how we choose to react. We should take responsibility for our choices but not those of others.
Like an apparition, conjured out of the darkness, a young man with light blond hair pushed his face into the car. I immediately spotted the knife. It was a long, thin weapon, almost like a letter opener, with a tapering blade. It felt cold and spiny as he pressed it to my neck. When he spoke his voice, which was quiet and controlled, sounded as though it emanated from a distant planet. But every word thudded into my skull.
"Move over or I'll kill you," he whispered.'
And so began Alison's nightmare journey with the two callous killers who were to rape her, stab her so many times doctors could not count the wounds, slit her throat 16 times and leave her for dead in a clearing near Port Elizabeth which was her home.
But Alison defied death. And more than that, she denied her attackers the satisfaction of destroying her life. The courage which allowed her to move beyond severe physical and emotional trauma and to turn a devastating experience into something life-affirming and strong, is an inspiration to people everywhere.
She says she listened to the inner voice within her that whispered “you cannot give up”.
Alison has inspired thousands of people in South Africa and around the world with her astonishing story of survival.
Alison was honoured as her hometown of Port Elizabeth’s Citizen of the Year in 1995 for her contributions to the community.
Refrences:-
https://www.iol.co.za/travel/south-africa/survivor-of-horror-attack-comes-full-circle-117223
https://www.georgeherald.com/News/Article/General/alison-botha-inspires-at-nmu-community-dialogue-201811140829
https://citizen.co.za/news/south-africa/444217/alison-bothas-power-to-forgive/
https://mariegreyspeakers.com/speaker/alison-botha/
