Elvis Booi

I was unconscious for three days. It was only on the following Thursday that I found myself lying on a bed in hospital. I thought I was dreaming. I asked my brother what had happened to me and when I had arrived at the hospital. He told me I had been injured during the rugby match in which I had been playing.

The doctor told me that I was going to have to use a wheelchair and that I would never be able to use my legs again, or play my favourite sport, rugby, and that I was going to sit in a wheelchair for the rest of my life. My dreams were dashed.

That was how I started my painful new life. But I didn’t lose hope, especially when I saw how my family accepted me. That encouraged me and I saw that there is still much to celebrate in life. I collected youth in my village and I formed a football youth club with the hope that there will one day be a South African champion from our club.

I saw that there was still more space in my life and by being empty-handed and without money I couldn’t achieve very much, so I thought of ways that I could improve my future.

One day I met a lady carrying chicks and, being fascinated by this scene, I asked her where she had got them. She promised to bring me some and so when I returned to my village I organised a group of 12 people and formed a poultry project. We came up with a constitution, opened a bank account and we each decided to pay R100.00 as a membership fee.

We started this project with 50 chicks. At first it was difficult to rear them as we were very inexperienced. We now have formal training and the project is operating really well. We can now buy 200 chicks at a time. Our marketing of the fully grown chickens is slow but we depend on pensioners to sell them, so many people can be employed.

Nothing is impossible if you have strength to do it.