Read more »

Read more »

Read more »

So, I went skydiving on Saturday – all to raise money for the great cause of Christians Against Poverty – they provide financial education and sustainable debt relief to people right here in Australia (check out my previous post for more details, including how you can support them for my Dive Against Debt.

The skydive was absolutely incredible. I’ll let my friend and dive-mate Rae explain it, then scroll down for the video.

We boarded the small plane which could take up to 8 -10 divers at a time. We sat on the floor with each person leaning his back in between the legs of the one behind him. After take off and the initial 4000 feet I was able to relax and I enjoyed the flight during the remainder of the climb, which was about 15 minutes.

At 14000 feet a red light was flashing, indicating that we were about to reach the drop zone. My tandem, Bob, then strapped the harness which I was wearing to that of him and we were ready for our jump. By now the aircraft was flying over the drop zone and a siren sounded and the door was opened. There was a huge gush of wind and it was cold. There is a difference of 20c in the temperature at 14000 feet. The experienced skydivers jumped first, which gave me my first clear view through the open door out to the nothingness of air and blue sky. Panic engulfed me. I turned and yelled to Bob that I had changed my mind. As Bob was shuffling me toward the door I found myself desperately trying to twist my body in the other direction. I vaguely heard Bob shout at me, cross your arms, chin up, arch your back. It’s difficult to hear to each other because of the rushing wind, which is just as well, because at that point fear had taken over and as we lunged out past the wing of the plane I screamed “I love you Bob!”

Bob activated the drogue chute and even though we reached a speed of 220kph in 10 seconds there was no relative motion, (physics, they tell me) so it didn’t feel like I was falling. He tapped my on the shoulder to indicate I could now spread my arms open wide. Touching nothing but air you feel the exhilarating rush of adrenaline as you hurtle through the sky.

This was an experience of a life time. I had time to appreciate the view and think about what I wanted to remember the most. First I thought this is unbelievable, I’m actually really here, really doing this, I am skydiving. Then I laughed and thought “I’m not flying I’m falling with style.” It’s really intriguing, because you actually feel in you are in control. But I guess that’s just the adrenaline that has sharpened your focus, slowed time, and heightened your senses. Poetically speaking, the smooth collage of color below maybe where you live but this is where you are right now and you want to stay here forever. The free fall continued for about 1 minute and although my ears really hurt, (physics again!!) I enjoyed every second.

Suddenly, there was a huge jolt. Bob had released the main parachute and our rate of descent suddenly slowed to 20 feet per second. The mad rush of wind had suddenly transformed into a peaceful calm. So, there I was hanging under a canopy at 4000 feet up in the sky. Bob then gave the toggles of the parachute to me and I tried to steer it. You pull the left handle you turn left, right handle you turn right. Pull both together you break the descent. He helped me turn around so that I could see my friend Tim, who had jumped after me. Slowly my ears adjusted to the new volume and I could hear the flapping of that magical fabric above my head. Keeping an eye on the landing pad, we glided and turned adjusting direction to stay in close range to the target. So gentle all the way down.

As gravity reasserts itself I see the ground coming at me and although it’s faster than I imagine it’s still not enough to worry me. Bob quietly instructed me to raise my legs out in front of us and at a mere twenty feet above the ground he pulled on the toggles to slow our descent and gently sat me on the terra firma of the earth.

I dared to defy gravity, I dared to defy my fear and I have emerged victorious. And I begin to wonder, would I do it again?

And here’s the proof that we actually did it:

Would you consider supporting Christians Against Poverty? Please donate to them online today (choose a $10, $25 or $50 donation – or another amount of your choice). Just mention “Dive Against Debt – Tim Malone” in the comments. Thank you so much!

“My life was black with no hope for the future. I could not provide for my children and felt that I had failed them as a mother. I would punish myself by inflicting cuts and burns on my body. I couldn’t take the suffering anymore and attempted suicide as I felt a burden to my children. It was my role as a parent to provide for them and I had failed them in that. The pain I felt when they told me they were hungry and I knew there was no food in the cupboards ripped apart my very being. I could see no way out except through suicide…. I no longer live in darkness. For the first time in my life I see colours in my world….For the first time in my life I believe I have a future. Through CAP, I have been given a second chance at life. I want to live!”

That’s a quote from a client of Christians Against Poverty, that was sent to me once I decided to “dive against debt”. And it’s not an isolated story. I’m going skydiving this Saturday to draw attention to the work CAP does with people – right here, in our own society – who are struggling with unmanageable debt… and all of the personal consequences that come with it.

I got out of credit card debt myself recently. From the flow-on effects of three months of unemployment after moving to Melbourne at the end of 2009, I had managed to rack up about $7,000 in debt. This is a pretty small debt – but to someone who was brought up to spend responsibly and save abundantly, it was a burden over me for almost 11 months. I avoided purchasing things I wanted but didn’t need (a good lesson, actually!), and in some cases I avoided purchasing things I probably did… almost.. need (such as a bed). But I never went hungry. I’m not in a relationship. And I don’t have children. No-one was relying on me to provide for them, and I was in a share house with four other people where the split bills meant relatively cheap living for each of us.

I got debt easy.

But I’ve got a friend who has had to default on a loan, and has debt collectors knocking and searching. And CAP has clients like the one quoted above who are under a cloud of depression, can’t afford to eat properly, have to hide from collectors, and one previous client (now debt-free!) who used to hide the mail in the cupboard without opening it – she was afraid of what demands would be inside. People in debt tend to be ashamed of themselves, knowing that it was their choices that got them to where they are.

Started in 1996 in the UK – by a man named John Kirkby who had just £10 in his pocket – Christians Against Poverty has now spread across the world, opening in Australia in 2001. It’s a charity that provides professional debt counselling, financial education, and other practical help to release Australians from poverty. CAP helps anyone, and all of their services are provided for free.

CAP don’t provide cash handouts. They empower people to help themselves out of poverty, and teach vital budgeting skills that will last a lifetime. CAP operates through a growing network of local centres, each of them run in partnership with a local church.

And CAP’s vision – which I found out after deciding to support them but just makes what they do all the more exciting and effective – is to “answer the national problem of debt in Australia by having at least one CAP centre in every major town and city by the year 2021″. [CAP website]

This Saturday, the 13th November, On Saturday 20th November, I’ll be diving against debt to raise money for the vital work that Christians Against Poverty does. Will you please support me?

NOTE: I am not asking you to pay the cost of my skydive (I am covering that myself), and neither are you paying for cash handouts to people struggling with debt. All money raised goes direct to the Christians Against Poverty Australia head office in Newcastle for the purposes of running their programs free of charge to people in debt.

All donations $2 and over are tax deductible. Please donate responsibly and don’t use money you don’t have, particularly if you are struggling with debt. Are you in debt? CAP can help you out.

Skydiving photo by Flickr user divemasterking2000.

I’m generally not very good at using my hands – i.e. I’m not a very good handyman. It annoys me sometimes. It’s manly to be a good handyman. It’s manly to know how to build and how to manipulate things and how to generally help in a physical sort of way.

There are lot of things about me that aren’t manly that I’m a little insecure about. But that’s another topic.

On Friday we did a bit of demolishing inside LightFM’s new building, which we move into in less than two months time. It mainly involved taking walls and cabling apart – by using tools like crowbars, hammers, saws, sledgehammers, pliers and chisels. All stuff that I’m not very confident using.

But after a bit of time gingerly getting used to it and making sure I was doing the right thing (and not making any irreversible mistakes!) I started to realise something: building – which before was something that seemed far off, incomprehensible, and only for the “real men” – is actually not hard when you understand how to do it. It’s methodical, it’s enjoyable, and it’s creative too.

That’s a really, really simple realisation, but it was an epiphany for me.

It was because it was experiential learning – one of my favourite things to do.

Cool things to check out:

• Motivational coach Craig Harper shares wisdom on experiential learning on LightFM
• A video wrapup of Demolition day at LightFM

I tried, I really did!

Earlier today I visited the Red Cross Blood Service donor centre in Ringwood, Victoria, after deciding that despite a fear of needles, I still owe it to other people to donate my blood to save lives.

I was doing some reading beforehand, and discovered that the fear of needles is actually a known, documented and named phobia: trypanophobia. And today, my trypanophobia got to me.

Here’s my video blog of the afternoon, which follows exactly what happened on my first attempt at giving blood!

I haven’t decided yet whether I will try again. But I am afraid now that my trypanophobia will cause me to reject potentially live-saving medical treatment should I need it in the future… so I really need to work out how to cure myself!

Needles make me faint.

I first found this out in grade six. We were heading to get those essential Hepatitis B injections, which required walking past many school buildings to get from our upstairs grade six classroom to the library. There, was a makeshift injection centre. This was going to be my first injection in many years – in fact, probably my first injection at school alone without my mum beside me.

I was feeling a little worried. That worry probably largely had something to do with the older kids telling me that I’d be able to feel the fluid pumping through my veins. I was told it would hurt more than any other injections I’d had before. And I didn’t really understand what it would be doing to my blood stream. I think as far as I was concerned, there was this fluid entering me and it wasn’t supposed to be there. It was certainly enough to worry an anxious 11 year old kid!

I got the injection. It pricked and hurt a little, but other than that I was fine. I waited about for about 20 minutes in the library as the rest of the class had their jabs, and we then took the walk back to the classroom. I sat down and quietly continued my work.

A short time later – probably about 5-10 minutes – the worry about the injection must have got the best of me. I started to feel a bit light-headed, and then pretty dizzy, so I got up to ask the teacher if I could take a rest. That’s all I remember… the next moment, everything was black and I could hear commotion: “Tim fainted! Is he ok? Tim, here’s your glasses.” It turns out I had started swaying as I was walking up to the front of the room, and I eventually went down in front of the blackboard, hitting my neck on the way down. Apparently my eyes were open – although I could not see. I could hear, but not respond. It took at least 20 seconds for me to come back into it, and I was probably out for around 20 seconds before I fell as well.

A similar episode happened some time later at home when I had to take a nasal spray. I had never taken a nasal spray before, and I thought it was a pretty weird place to be spraying something. Once again, I blacked out, walked and swayed for some time, and ended up on the floor.

After speaking to my doctor, it became clear that it was nothing in the medication or the injection that made me faint – it was simply psychological. I was scared about a procedure that I hadn’t had before, or didn’t fully understand, and perhaps, I just couldn’t cope with that.

This happened in grade six. But ever since, I have hated needles. I have been avoiding them wherever possible (including avoiding an injection I should have taken before a visit to Thailand). And when a jab was absolutely essential I would make sure I had a long period of lying down afterwards.

Whenever the question of donating blood came up, I’d say it’s not for me. I’m happy to donate my time and my money, but my blood? No, not if it requires a needle.

But… donating blood saves lives. I hadn’t really thought that being just a little uncomfortable for about twenty minutes, less than 5 times a year, could save people who I will probably never know.

And for me, it’s simply my view of the world that says to me: if it’s possible to donate my blood to benefit other people, then it is something I should be doing.

The other day, I took the interactive eligibility test – passed it with flying colours – and am now waiting for contact from a Red Cross Blood Service representative. My closest donor centre is in Ringwood, Victoria and I’ll probably be heading there real soon. I’ll just make sure I lie down for 20 minutes afterwards, and take the train home just in case.

World Blood Donor Day is Monday 14th June 2010. You can donate blood online at donateblood.com.au.

It’s Blog Action Day tomorrow and while that’s about all bloggers around the world posting on a topic they want to generate action on, I figured it’s a good excuse as any for me to create some action on my blog again! Last post January 09? Hopefully I don’t leave it for that long again!

There is so much I could write about, so much I’ve had the privilege of learning this year, and so many people who have been a part of it. But the biggest thing that has happened to me this year is meeting the beautiful Lillian Yau from Melbourne – and we’ve now decided that I’ll be moving to Melbourne soon so that we can be a little bit closer to each other!

This will mean leaving my job at 1WAY FM and searching for new work – hopefully within media or Christian ministry – in Melbourne. There’s a lot I can share about this so I will be doing so through this blog, Facebook, Twitter, and on air at 1WAY FM over the next month or so.

I look forward to conversing with you and sharing with you some of what I’ve learnt this year.

Tim