Familiar Faces

Its 2pm on Thursday and I’m sitting in the office getting ready for our Skillz Holiday Program for next week and my cell phone rings with a mysterious number. I answered, “Hello” and the other end replied, “Dominic Fitzpatrick…” The voice was unmistakable and one I recognized right away. “Neddie!” “Dom, I’m landing in Port Elizabeth at 5:05, can you pick me up?”

I had known Neddie was coming but he had planned to take a 22 hour bus ride from Johannesburg to PE and he wouldn’t be arriving until Friday afternoon. I was excited and now only had to wait a couple of hours before I could finally see a familiar face.

Having such a good friend here meant a lot to me and it was great to be able to share my work with him. Neddie helped out the next week with our Holiday Program and got to see what it is we are actually doing here. I think it was a great experience for him and eye-opening at the same time. We also got in a fair bit of surfing, a bungy jump, and some good old R&R. Neddie had been travelling around the world with our other friend Mike. The two of them had backpacked all around Southeast Asia. Since Neddie split up with Mike, he had been to Thailand and India before flying down to South Africa. Needless to say it was comforting for him to be able to sleep in a bed and relax in one location for an extended amount of time. This being said, Neddie only had a week before he would be off on the road once again. (For more information on their adventures through Asia visit Mike’s blog at earthfromallangles.blogspot.com)


The Fitzpatrick family also made it down to South Africa for the New Year. After an adventurous couple of days in Cape Town, they drove to Port Elizabeth along the Garden Route. It was truly amazing to have them here and I hope they enjoyed the time as much as I did. I know they got some good pictures and saw some great scenes. We went to Jeffery’s Bay, went on a safari at Addo, played with baby tigers, and even got in a bungy jump among other things (Mom and Dad opted out of the bungy). One of our South African friends also invited the whole family over for a true South African braai. The best day for me was taking the family into the township and showing them around. They were able to meet some of the people I work with and they really got a better idea of what we do. Just like helping out worked for Neddie, the tour gave them a better picture of issues facing South Africa and how the majority of black people live in Port Elizabeth. They left for Cape Town on the 8th of January and I was sad to see them go. They definitely made the most of their time in Cape Town seeing Table Mountain, Camps Bay, Muizenberg, Cape Point, and more. They capped off their trip in true Fitzpatrick style with a tour of the vineyards outside Cape Town just before going to the airport to fly home.



Seeing a familiar face is always nice wherever you are especially when you haven’t seen one for a long time. It was cool to be able to share our work with friends and family and give them insight into what our lives are like down here working for Grassroot Soccer and living in South Africa.