The World Underwater
Noel Kok, the visionary behind NEWF, is a man of many hats and a fearless leader who is constantly working towards changing the narrative of Africa. One way Noel seeks to do this is by providing access to the ocean through a series of programmes called NEWF Dive LABS.
These programmes aim to develop Africans who may have not had the ability nor the access to experience the ocean in a way that one can only dream of. Despite all the fellows and young people that have been on these amazing programmes, our leader and visionary, Noel, has never attempted to jump in the ocean himself. Until now.
When I heard the Kok family was coming to Cape Town, I thought that this would be the perfect opportunity to give him a little nudge. Noel is always pushing us to attempt the things we only dream of, always encouraging us and helping us reach our goals, no matter how much we think we can’t; now it was my turn to help him face his fears!
I devised a plan where I told him that I was going to take him to the beach for a day where we would meet up with fellow NEWF fellows, Muneera and Amy. We can catch up and the kids can have a swim. He was excited. Little did he know what he was in for. After taking the children to visit the penguins, we then proceeded to Millers Point. It was raining, and I said, right, it’s time for a dive. He said “WHAT?!”. I told him that I have all the gear he needed in my car, ready for him.He told me that he was terrified because he was not a great swimmer. I said, you don’t need to swim, just to relax and float. To my surprise, Noel said, well, seeing that we are here, he might as well try.
We got him kitted up, and ready to go. Our leader was now ready to face his fears, despite the ice cold water temperature and the rain. He didn’t know what to expect, which was a little nerve wracking for him.
Once we got to the water, I helped him with his gear, adjusted his mask, and showed him how to breathe through his snorkel. We continued a little deeper in, and while holding his hands, I just asked him to simply float and breathe so that he can get comfortable with breathing through the snorkel. Now he was ready for his very first dive in the beautiful Kelp Forest of Cape Town.
We ventured out into the deep, me close by his side, and in the safe eye of Amy, not too far away. The first animal Noel saw was a sea star, and boy did he go off. If you have ever witnessed Noel seeing an animal, unexpectedly, that he has never seen before…replay that, but now underwater! The feeling was that of a child seeing something beautiful for the first time, screaming through his snorkel while pointing out what he sees. It was a priceless moment! Then we started seeing schools of fish as we floated on the surface and we wanted a closer look. I showed him how to hold his breath, equalise his ears, and how to pull himself down the kelp stipe, without harming it. To my surprise he was absolutely comfortable down there, “ The secret is in the stillness” he would later realise, until he saw fish come to him and he shot up fast with excitement and laughter.
I then told him, everything is already moving, so once we go underwater, we don’t need to move. By remaining still, we allow the marine life to feel comfortable with our presence, and not threatened. The longer we continued, the more his breath hold improved. He went down, remained calm, and still, the fish all came up to him, as if they were welcoming him and as he described, “one looked me straight in the eye, I swear.” It was truly an unforgettable moment for me personally as a student of his, now becoming his teacher. We remained in the water for two hours, I got to show him a mermaid’s purse (shark egg) and the body of a sleeping Pajama shark (Cat Shark), he exclaimed, “it was just as if it was *Faine’s film, I can’t stop thinking about her film.” We only got out of the water because he got a cramp.
After all the excitement from the dive, he asked, “can we go again tomorrow?” I laughed, canceled my plans, and said, yes we definitely can. When asked what his experience was like, one of the things he said was, “I will now be on every dive with the fellows, thank you for changing my life”.
*Faine Loubser is one of the winners of N.E.W Pitch 2019, she produced a film entitled Azilali.
By Mogamat Shamier Magmoet
