DWAYNE de Beer is not only going to be one of the SACLI Scat-Chatters for 2019, but he is also co-owner of Trippin, the Adventure Events and Training Company, who will be taking this year’s SA Country School Leadership Indaba participants on a unique Amazing Race-type adventure through Cradock.
De Beer is truly a jack of all trades. Not only is he a qualified river guide, fully trained barista and coffee roaster managing Karoo Brew Coffee Roasters and Pizzeria in Cradock, but he is also studying to be a youth minister, while avidly persuing mastery of the art of tae kwando, assisting in the adventure tourism business run by his family and to top it all off, he is trained in snake handling.
De Beer wanted to become a vet when he was younger, he says, but, after roughly weathering his parents’ divorce during Grade 10, he got a bit derailed.
It was his hockey coach who was influential in bringing the wayward teen’s life back on track, leading to De Beer eventually choosing a career geared towards youth ministry, inspiring him to be a role-model for the young people in the community. He became deputy head-boy at CHS, but his wanderlust had to be sated.
So, as soon as the last bell of the last day of Grade 12 rang, he rolled up his sleeping bag, packed his tent and set off to the USA. Freedom was winking and Dwayne travelled with a touring carnival, North American Midway Entertainment or Astro Amusements Co, as they are also known, as a merry-go-round operator through Illinois, Wisconsin and Texas, before injury meant a plane ticket back to South Africa and yes, to Cradock.
Secretly, he says, he was glad when it happened! It was in America that it became crystal clear what the two things were that really made him happy: working with people and being outdoors. De Beer and his brother, Kyle, grew up at the awe-inspiring Correctional Services Terrain, behind Oukop, overlooking Cradock. His dad, being an instructor, travelled a lot and during this time Dwayne grew very close to his mom.
He fondly remembers spending quality time with her in the kitchen cooking away, when he was not out exploring on his bicycle. He ascribes a lot of who he is today to those shared moments. Always an outdoorsy type of person, punishment would not have meant taking away his cellphone – even though they didn’t make them yet – but taking away his bicycle.
Being in the English class at school in Cradock Primary and after that at Cradock High School meant being in a cross-cultural group of youngsters from as early on as he can remember and he thinks this gave him a better understanding of and empathy for people of all walks of life.
As soon as he set foot back in Cradock, barely nine months out of high school, he bought a house with his mother; paying it off with the proceeds of the various projects he takes on while step by step building the future he envisions for himself.
Success for him? Being able do work steadily towards a goal from having nothing to having something worthwhile, not necessarily for the monetary value, but for the value it can add to other people’s lives.
My last question: Would you change anything?
“Maybe not really change anything, just maybe realise earlier that it is toxic to carry anger around with you about things you cannot change. Today I have a brilliant relationship with my dad! We are even business partners.”
Speaking to this young man, one finds that he may not realise it, but there is obviously a third thing that makes him the happy, mature and level-headed person he is today – family!
- The SA Country School Leadership Indaba will take place from 12 to 14 April in Cradock. Phone 082 092 4770 for more information.
