What Sophie did next

Sophie Neville leading The Waterberg Trust Challenge Ride 2016

My dream of riding through the game reserves of South Africa became a reality. In February 1992 I flew to Johannesburg and became a horse safari guide in the Waterberg, a beautiful upland region where I was able to live in the Africa bush and spend time painting.  

Even now, twenty-five years later, I grab the chance to return to Africa whenever I can. This March I persuaded twelve experienced British riders to take up the challenge of raising £1,000 each for Save The Waterberg Rhino and local community projects.

The idea was to traverse 175kms of remote country while taking the opportunity to learn about rhino conservation and discover more about the Waterberg.

Since the horses live out on the reserve the wild animals allowed us to get unusually close.

We spotted quite a few wildebeest along with warthog, zebra, giraffe, buffalo, hippo and many different species of antelope including sable, nyala and rare Livingstone eland

Meeting white rhino was an extraordinary experience, especially since I was on horseback. They are accompanied by armed guards 24 hours of the day and have had their horns saturated in poison to render them worthless in an extreme measure to prevent their illegal killing.

Riders were given an update on the poaching situation and urgent needs for extra protection in the Waterberg, which is home to the second highest population of white rhino in the world.

While there are a number of complex issues to take on board, we all determined to do what we can to protect this iconic species. If you would like to get involved or find out more The Waterberg Trust have a Facebook page here. I am raising sponsorship on Justgiving.com here

Sophie Neville at Ant's Nest in the Waterberg

'Funnily Enough' in the December issue of IBelieve, the Christian Lifestyle Magazine

The last extract in a series that has spanned eleven months,

when I have often been given a line on the front cover:

More stores of Mum and her tame otters

It was another hot summer, 22 years ago - and Mum and the otters were still keeping me entertained during my recovery from CFS ~

You can subscribe to the iBelieve print magazine at www.newlifepublishing.co.uk

This month's cover story features former US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice ~

iBelieve - a glamorous new magazine for Christians

~ click on the photo to enlarge ~

To buy two issues of iBelieve please click here 

~ Churches can apply for special rates for magazine orders ~ 

Quite fun: The diary I kept when I first went down with CFS features in the June issue of iBelieve magazine

Am very excited! I didn't see that I was given billing along the top of the front cover.

The photo was taken on the jetty at my parent's house last summer.

To buy two issues of iBelieve please click here 

~ Churches can apply for special rates for magazine orders ~ 

iBelieve, the Christian lifestyle magazine full of interesting testimonies

I was dazzelled to find that this month 'Funnily Enough' is being included alongside feature articles on such great Christian authors as Joyce Meyer, Nicky Gumbel and Sarah de Carvahlo

And there is an hilarious cartoon of me, looking GLAMOROUS and organised.

I'm always packing things up for the post but never this neatly.

For two issues of iBelieve please click here

To subscribe to iBelieve please click here.

Facts about ME or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or M.E. affects 250,000 people in the UK. Typically the most active and talented people are afflicted. More than 33,000 children are affected in England alone, causing them to miss school for long periods, often years. About 20% of the total number of patients have severe ME, lying so ill they are unable to move. It can last for decades. 

Very little progression has been made in last 21 years. I suffered from it in 1991. There is still no test for it, no cure, standard treatment or drugs available. We urgently need to raise awareness about the disease (known in the US and Canada as CFFIDS) to ensure Government funding is made available for research, tests and treatment. The danger of total trust in alternative medicine also needs to be highlighted. 

For more information please see:

  CFS Research Foundation website

and 

Action for ME 

Suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is not funny at all.

Gloria Gaynor and me - in iBelieve Magazine

The third installment of excerpts of Funnily Enough in iBelieve ~ the Christian Lifestyle magazine

~ Please click on image to enlarge ~
illustration provided by the publisher

To keep reading, Funnily Enough is available on Kindle and in print.

To subscribe to iBelieve magazine please click here

A Radio Broadcast in the USA ~

On Saturday 23rd March 

at 10.00am

Sophie Neville was interviewed by Dr Diane Dike

on 

Second Chance Radio Show in the USA.

Diane, who also loves dogs, is interested in raising awareness about invisible diseases.

As well as talking about Funnily Enough she told listeners about the sequel Ride the Wings of Morning. Free Kindle copies of the E-book were offered on the show.

~ Click here for the link ~

To get a free Kindle app for your I-phone, Lap-top or other device 

please click here for details

Funnily Enough excerpts in iBelieve ~ the Christian lifestyle magazine

~ More extracts from 'Funnily Enough' in this month's iBelieve magazine ~

For two issues at £5, or to subscribe to the print edition, click here and scroll down to see prices on the left. For other subscription options and a preview of an earlier issue click here.

~ Click on the images for Amazon links ~

Home cures for the relief of joint pain and symptoms of CFS ~

Everyone asks me why I wear two watches. I wear a Bio-flow magnetic leather wrist strap to help circulation, which I find does help alleviate joint pain.

Some people are allergic to ginger but I'm not. I eat as much as possible. It is wonderful for the relief of joint pain and nausea: Ginger jam, ginger tea, ginger biscuits, rhubarb and ginger. New Forest Ice Cream make the most delicious oriental ginger ice cream.

If you grate ginger and garlic in equal proportions and add it to curries or roast chicken you don't taste either too much and yet the result is delicious. I know it is good to recommend eating large quantities of green and purple vegetables with any meal. We have purple sprouting broccoli ready for lunch.

You can also add ginger to the bath. Cut in it long strips if you do, otherwise it makes an awful mess.

Make sure your pH balance is right. I have to avoid acidic foods such as tomatoes and satsumas or counter-act them by drinking a lot of celery juice.

Trampolining? We found the trampoline in South Africa. I'm not that keen on them but they say that it is very good for the brain - especially children's brains - to jump up and down. Have fun!

Home cures for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or M.E.

I take:

Sunlight or cod-liver oil ~ for Vitamin D and joints

Marmite and more Marmite ~ for Vitamin B intake

Epsom salts in long baths ~ for Magnesium 

Prescribed to me by my ME Specialist

Since I am not a doctor I feel uneasy about giving advice to others about how to cope with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. We are all different. However, as someone with personal experience, I cautiously add my sixpence:

Graciously accept everything the National Health Service can offer you.

Ask to be tested (and re-tested) for other conditions such as Thyroid problems, Glandular Fever, Bilhartzia, Tick-born diseases such as Lyme's disease, allergies, intestinal worms etc. I found I had developed a new allergy to mold and so did well in an arid climate, albeit with sunglasses.

Listen to your body and keep still until you feel inclined to exercise. Suggest friends ring for a chat rather than visit until you are up for it.

My life was transformed by having all my teeth crowned. Now free from mercury-amalgam fillings I no longer catch bugs or viruses going around. 

Having taken herbal worming tablets I now buy broad-spectrum Vermox worming tablets over the counter in South Africa and take a dose every year. You would do this for an animal and I have no intention of losing my health to nematodes. Their evidence does not always reveal itself in NHS tests.

I buy Epsom salts for my bath from agricultural suppliers: Scats or the Farmers Co-op. You'll find boxes in the section for horses. Use when you need re-vitalizing rather than before you want to go to sleep. 

We found that acupuncture was not good for ME patients. Spending time on a General Hospital ward was not a healing experience but I concluded that it was important to accept the tests and scans offered to in-patients.

Funnily Enough on Premier Christian Radio ~

I really enjoyed being at Premier Christian Radio in London 

where Maria Toth invited me on her morning show 'Woman to Woman'.

You can listen to the programme on this link
only certain browsers will get you there,
You will need to use Internet Explorer or the latest versions of Chrome of Firefox 

A message of hope for 2013 ~

This is a page from my diary of February 1992 ~ nearly twenty-one years ago. It was the day I can truly say that I started to recover from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I was camping in the mountains of South Africa with my friend, Rebecca Hunter, who was recovering from injuries caused by a terrible road accident.

I hope you can read the original ~

Having been a teacher, Rebecca went on to write numerous wonderful books for children ~
click on: Books by Rebecca Hunter

A review on Goodreads ~

Nov 01, 2012

Carolyn rated it four stars

This book is rather esoteric in nature, so unless you have M.E. and are a Christian, much of it will not be of interest. However, I am both a Christian and have M.E. so I really enjoyed the book and found it helpful. I also enjoyed the rather understated humour...

Read more

Do write your own review on Amazon.co.uk or Goodreads

Now with colour illustrations on Amazon Kindle Worldwide ~

http://sophieneville.net/books-by-sophie-neville/

Funnily Enough, the e-Book is now available with colour illustrations

click below for the book's Kindle page, on either

Amazon.co.uk  ~  Amazon.com ~ Amazon.de ~ Amazon.fr ~ Amazon.it ~ Amazon.es

“I am LOVING this book! A great read!!!! Funny as promised, interesting and encouraging. Well written and I love the illustrations. Very enjoyable. ” Jenny Nash

I love the Kindle app on my iPhone, and know I always have a book to read if I find myself waiting endlessly at the hospital or stuck at the airport for hours. Rebecca was stationary on the highway for 8 hours not long ago.

A book review from British Columbia

A highly enjoyable, beautifully written & illustrated book! 

by Dave Miller

I first downloaded a sample of Sophie Neville's Funnily Enough book for my ereader a few months back and immediately loved it. I searched all my local bookstores to no avail but finally ordered it from Amazon. I devoured the book in a few days!

It's chock full of beautiful little illustrations throughout (done by Sophie herself...you've got to love that kind of personal touch!) told in a day by day journal over a year. Most journals can at times be boring and mundane in thier details but Sophie has chronicled her illness superbly. Not an easy thing to do when one's sick. It's interspersed with a great cast of characters (human as well as animals) that will make you laugh and cry and want to know more about them.

Having a few relatives that have/had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome I found the book to be an insightful read. I know back when they were diagnosed in the early 90's there wasn't much known about it at all. And they suffered the "it's all in your head" stigma. I'll encourage them to read this book!

From donkeys to otters and even a trip to the Lake District (which I've never been to but hope to one day) where she all to briefly mentions Swallows & Amazons (the movie in which she played my favourite character Titty). I'd like to think that the character Titty as she grew up would have led a very similar life as the actress/author who portrayed her. World traveler. Artist. Author. I wonder if Sophie maybe was inspired by the character too?

As I got near the end of the book I was a little saddened it was over so quickly (always the sign of a very good book though!). I'm delighted that there's a sequel of sorts (Ride the Wings of Morning) which I'm about to order soon. And if it's half as good as I found Funnily Enough I know I'm in for another fantastic read!

A book review from South Africa

Funnily Enough: funny, real and inspiring

I laughed the first time I read "Funnily Enough" and as I re-read it now, I am laughing at exactly the same places.

As much as the book is humorous, it also brings home the reality of how we push ourselves for fear of falling behind or losing what we have built up. We forget that all this can change in the twinkling of an eye and ultimately is not important.

The book helps to put life back into perspective and to remind us of where our hope, trust and faith should lie. Sophie's diary entries of the goings on within herself, the family and pets and with her friends over a period of a year while she is coming to terms with her illness and working towards recovery are thoroughly entertaining and illuminating. Her sketches add to the already vivid pictures that Sophie conjures up through her writing. Some of the incidents are absolutely bizarre but yet so typical of our journey in life. It was a completely enjoyable read the first time and even more inspiring the second time around. Superb. 

by Jennifer Hutcheon, Gauteng, South Africa
~ 3rd July 2012

Chronicle of a year in the ME zone ~

A review in The Church Times ~ June edition ~ Book's page

Click image to expand:

Questions for Book Clubs

1.  Is it important that Funnily Enough is a true story? Why?

2.  Whilst most readers say they laughed out loud whilst reading 'Funnily Enough' one reviewer thought it a sad story. Another said that it is not a funny book.  Is it sad?  Is it funny? Would the funny stories lack appeal without the reality that ME or Chronic Fatigue is a disease that needs to be taken serioulsy?  

3.  Do you think the story could be made into a stage play?

Or could be read on stage with music and sound effects?

4.  How would you alter the story to make it into a feature film? Would you make it into a romance, a thriller or both?

5. One Book Club thought that the Christian content would hinder sales and book reviews in mainstream newspapers and magazines. Do you agree?  If you were a publisher would you reduce or cut out the Christian sections?

6.  Do you want to know what Sophie did next?