Articles
Meet Alison & Ewan…
For Alison life has always been about family and doing things together. She is a born and bred Lowvelder, with really close family ties and an inbred love of the bush and nature. She comes from an entrepreneurial family on both her mother and father’s sides, her maternal grandfather being the founder of the Coke factory in Nelspruit, just to give you an idea of the scope.
So, it is no wonder that as far back as grade school she has always been that mover and shaker, the one that organizes everything and makes things happen, both on and off the field. Sport and physical exercise are as much a part of Alison’s life as eating and breathing. She did her first half marathon with her dad, the Skukuza Half Marathon, more than twenty years ago.
A love for the Lowveld
Alison completed her BCom Marketing degree in Midrand and stayed on the Rand for a few years, but her love for the Lowveld, and the family structure she had grown up with, drew her right back here soon after graduating.
MOMSNOTES was born in 2012, when Alison saw a little advertising booklet which had been distributed through a school in Natal. She immediately saw the potential for much more than that and the idea grew. Alison and Tabita, her partner at TwoRedPens Marketing, worked tirelessly to get if off the ground.
Five and still not talking
Through a friend Alison found out about the Star Academy in Johannesburg. It’s not a school, but more of a learning centre that focuses on autistic children. They focus on applied behaviour and handle each child’s specific needs and level of development. At this stage Ewan was 5 and was still not talking. “I realized that this was the perfect place for him and towards the end of 2014 I started driving up to Johannesburg for a week every month. We stayed with friends while he had this intensive “prompt speech therapy” on a one-on-one basis. ”With this intensive ‘therapy’ and training with the most amazing teacher, Ewan actually said “Mommy” for the first time at the age of 5½ years. “Ewan has a very strong memory and his visual ability is excellent. When he was about three years old he knew all the car brands, although he could not talk we would walk around parking area and he would point at a car and I would say the brand. I sometimes teased him by saying the wrong name and he would just stand there and shake his head and not move on until I said the correct brand.” Intellectually there was nothing wrong with him, he just did not know how to form the words.
“After 3 months I realized that I had to move to Johannesburg; the treatment and doctors that he needed were there and living half there and half here was just too disruptive for both of us. Uprooting my entire life, selling my company, leaving my friends and family was extremely hard, but doing that for Ewan was just a no-brainer. We left Nelspruit at the end of May 2015 and by the end of that year Ewan had made much progress – the reward was just so worth it.”
By this stage Ewan had to get into grade 1, and Alison really wanted to get him into a remedial school. “I knew my child did not test well; if it was somebody he did not know asking him questions and expecting him to give verbal answers it would just not work, because even if he knew the answer he could not verbalise it properly, so the assessor would mark it wrong as they could not understand him.”
This led to his assessments, placing him in a special needs school environment, and because Alison knew and understood him better, she knew that this was not accurate. She knew he would cope and thrive better in a remedial school. Despite these challenges with the system, she eventually managed to get him into a very small main stream school in Johannesburg. “He did grade R and grade 1 there. I am still in contact with that teacher – she was just phenomenal.”
“He did have to start grade 1 again, but I was ok with that as he was in a place where he was able to communicate and learn. He is my social secretary, he is constantly organizing our social lives, suggesting whom we should visit and when, and his memory for people’s names and details about their lives is amazing.” Flamboyant has just been brilliant for Ewan. He is in grade 5 now and is really coping very well. His communication skills have improved significantly, but they still have a long road ahead.
“2018 was our year!”
“Everything just seemed to fall back into place for us in 2018. Ewan was in a school that he just loved, I was able to come back to the Lowveld, to family and friends, I got my Marketing Manager position at Mopani back and I started running again. My only hope is that Ewan will become an independent adult, able to live an independent, happy life. He will certainly find his niche. He struggles with physical activity – at first we were told he has low muscle tone, but apparently it’s not that at all – his proprioception is undeveloped.”
Proprioception refers to the body’s ability to perceive its own position in time and space. “Even when he sits on a chair, he needs to pull his leg up on the chair to feel grounded or stable.”
Hooked on Ironman
“In 2017 my brother got into triathlons and I supported him at one event in 2018, where I had serious FOMO. So at the end of that year I got a coach, started training and 6 months later competed in my first Ironman 70.3 Durban and now I’m hooked! Cycling is still my weakness out of the 3 disciplines, but I work hard on it.” This year Alison will be competing in her 3rd 70.3 Ironman. “I am so excited for Ironman 70.3 Durban in 2022! It will be my first year in the next age category, so I’m hoping to improve my age category placing.” Alison’s latest entrepreneurial venture, Lowveld Today, founded with Janine Venter, is an innovative and efficient online hub for ‘Living the Lowveld’. From renewing your car licence discs to booking and managing your events online – these are just the few of the awesome services already available on Lowveld Today.
Be sure to visit their website: www.lowveld.today or their Facebook Page to find out more. Registration is free and there are no obligations to make use
