Little Optimist stands tall

TTHE Volvo Ocean Race has welcomed The Little Optimist to the Race Village to raise funds for children in hospitals. With every purchase of the book, visitors will be helping a child in n need.

It started when Greg Bertish, big-wave surfer, lifesaver, businessman, humanitarian, cardiac patient, survivor, founder and author of The

Little Optimist, picked up a rare tropical bacteria which attacked his heart valves about 16 years ago.

“I spent 200 days in hospital, underwent two open-heart surgeries and suffered from reinfections,” says Bertish.

To mark his 200 days in h hospital, Bertish sailed his Little O Optimist dingy from Hangklip to Langebaan in April last year, to show kids and people that great things can be achieved through determination and commitment, no matter the size or age of the challenger.

He says that “200km represented my 200 days spent in hospital fighting the bacteria.

“We raised an astounding R300 000 for the new ICU at the Red Cross Children’s Hospital, and raised R1 million to renovate and paint the hospital.”

Bertish then wrote the children’s book, The Little Optimist (also available in Xhosa and Afrikaans), illustrated by Chip Snaddon.

He explains: “It was inspired by my own real-life little Optimist, the 2.4m ‘bathtub’ sailing dinghy which I sailed…It has a huge heart and aspires to be a big yacht and prove to its peers that The Little Optimist, the dreamer, can and will be a real yacht and can sail and go where no one ever believed it could.”

The book is filled with adventure and brimming with life lessons about optimism and never giving up. It costs R120 at the Volvo Ocean Race Cape Town Stopover Race Village in the V&A Waterfront until December 10.

For every copy bought, a copy will be donated to a sick child in hospital.

Bertish is a South African champion lifesaver and has surfed some of the biggest waves in the world. He is an ambassador for the Children’s Hospital Trust.

Read the story of the Little Optimist and see how they have helped those in need.Visit http:// thelittleoptimist.org