Now it’s Mission South Pole for Jamaican-born explorer
WE may never know for sure why some men keep risking the most precious gift of all — life. Oddly, they often put it on the line on a whim.
The fact is, they have been doing it from the advent of time; the space between and till this very day.
Man appears to have an uncanny obsession of proving himself to his fellow being and to explore and ultimately discover the unknown.
But one unqualified school of thought is that man is driven to test and push the boundaries of his limitations to the scrutiny of the toughest taskmaster of all — himself.
Apart from seafaring men who set sail to plunder and conquer for the sake of enriching their homelands, most other adventurers and explorers, it seems, have a point to prove to themselves.
But, whatever the inspiration for them to wager their lives so readily, with no promise of success in their chosen field or exploit of danger, people of a more timid nature will always look at them with an eye of suspicion: sane or insane?
When Jamaican-born adventurer Dwayne Fields first announced to his family and friends that he was going to walk some 300-odd miles across the icy wilderness of the North Pole in 2010, he, too, received that inevitable gaze.
“As you can imagine, when you’re a black man and you come out and say something like ‘I’m walking to the North Pole’, initially people, friends and family, do think something might not be quite right with you.
“But as they start to come to terms with the idea, they accept it more and more. Also, I was very passionate about doing this from the moment the idea came into my head, and as you know passion is contagious,” said Fields, who emigrated to England as a six-year-old.
His amazing conquest was unique in numerous ways — he was the first black Briton to accomplish the goal; and the second black man to do so after Mathew Henson in 1909; plus, he was of Jamaican stock, and island people don’t often go to that extreme.
But he had his motivation.
“I wanted to stand out from everything and everyone that was around me, because I was so fed up of people talking about the usual roots — football, music, and in many cases crime — for young people in and around my area. I wanted to demonstrate a different path.
“Also, I thought that by doing the walk to the North Pole, as a Jamaican, it would demonstrate that anything is really possible,” said the 30-year-old who hails from Go-Go Lane in Linstead, St Catherine.
Growing up in the urban jungle of London, Fields, the bachelor of science student of psychology and international development at the University of East London, had a few brushes with death on the capital’s mean streets.
His blood-curdling tales included being stabbed twice and coming face to face with a trigger-happy gunman. In a weird way, these near-fatal occurrences could have been preparing Fields for the man he is today — fearless and hungry for adventure.
“The truth is that, without those experiences, I may not be in the position that I’m in today, by that I mean everything you go through in life plays a part in making you what you are, whether bad or good. Those instances were crucial to getting me into the state of mind that drives me to do the things I do,” said Fields in a Jamaica Observer exclusive interview.
Still, he continues to work closely with the youth of depressed communities in London, giving motivational speeches and contributing to charities from monies earned from his expeditions.
“The truth is, I grew up in the very same communities as the young people, so I would hope to inspire them by my travels… when I look at them I don’t see strangers, I see myself and my peers, and like anyone else, I wish the best for all those I care about and will do whatever I can to support and promote change for the better,” he said.
“In the end, if the young people have more ambition, drive and motivation we can all look forward to a safer, more prosperous and all-round better future,” Fields added.
His fund-raising efforts benefit two London-based charities — African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust (ACLT) and Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice — but he adds that he would be willing to work with Jamaican youth in some form.
“My dream has always been to bring what I have experienced of the world back to Jamaica in the hope that someone, be [they] young or old, could gain strength, encouragement or just a touch of hope from my stories and journeys,” noted Fields.
His travels — with the highlight being the North Pole walk with friends Ali Bajwa of Pakistan and fellow Briton Linda Pomeroy — have been dotted with danger.
On the North Pole odyssey, that lasted just over two weeks and covered 370 miles, danger lurked around every corner and with each step.
In 30 degrees below zero temperatures, in one of the most inhospitable places on earth, one slip can be fatal should the sometimes thin icy underfoot give way. And it did on his trip. But Fields and his team went through rigorous survival training before the first step on their treacherous walk, so their deathdefying contingencies became second nature in such an event, and death was postponed.
But being stalked and later charged by a starving polar bear on the 12th day of the journey in that wretched wasteland was no laughing matter.
“On the walk to the North Pole we were faced by an approaching polar bear; it looked huge. We did everything we knew we should do under the circumstance; we made loads of noise, tried to make ourselves look big and even used our flares, but it continued to advance,” Fields related.
“We finally frightened it off by using a shotgun we had just for such an incident… we fired off three or four shots to frighten it off which, thankfully, worked,” said Fields, as he recalled the hair-raising confrontation with the land’s apex predator.
He said tips on how to deal with polar bears, should there be an encounter, came from Eskimos he met in Resolute Bay, Nunavut, the most northern town in Canada, and who expressed surprise that he was going to walk to the North Pole.
But while the beast drove fear into the hearts of the party, another enemy of equal terror was everywhere — the deathly frigid terrain.
“As you can imagine, this (bear experience) was possibly the singlemost terrifying event for me, but there were others. One particular day when we were caught in a blizzard, I had never felt cold like it before… it lasted for almost two days, the temperature — I was told — bottomed out close to minus 50 degrees, and I could not feel or move my hands, so I started to genuinely worry that I was doing permanent harm to myself,” Fields recounted.
He said that while he and his group were alone on the chilly, unforgiving trail that has claimed numerous lives, distant standby help was just a phone call away if things got too dicey to fix on the spot.
“If the worst should happen I will have a satellite phone with me, so I can expect help anywhere from a few hours to a few days. Also, my team at base camp will have a copy of my route and I will update them on my progress daily, so they will have a good idea of where I am if we’re out of contact,” Fields explained.
The Londoner’s successful quest speaks eloquently to the human spirit and what can be achieved when one — irrespective of race or class — puts his or her mind to doing something. And that has been the basis of Fields’ gospel to the youth in his country, and for those on the outside who have access to his inspirational story.
But his story is still being written, as Fields has now set his sights on a more dangerous expedition — a oneman 750-mile trek across the South Pole, an infamous track across the frozen continent of Antarctica.
Fields has been in training, physically and mentally, for his next adventure which he expects to start in “early November” of this year.
“The preparation to walk over 750 miles in the freezing cold is always going to be tough, mainly because it’s hard, if not impossible, to recreate those conditions in the UK… for me it’s all about doing what I can, building up my endurance and my core strength, so I spend a lot of time walking, pulling tyres, and I’ve even taken up yoga,” he said.
“I will also spend time learning different techniques to cope with the times when inevitably I will feel low. Nearer to me leaving for Antarctica… I will spend some time in a cold chamber just to reintroduce myself to the extreme cold I will be facing,” he said.
Temperatures have been known to drop 80 degrees below zero in this icy hell.
And at what point, one wonders, does the adrenaline kick in when a human is about to embark on a highrisk journey like this?
“For me, the adrenaline doesn’t really kick in until I’m there on the ground, because there are so many things that can go wrong … I find it’s best to put all your energy into planning and preparation and ignore all the nerves,” he said.
The North Pole experience, said Fields, was exhilarating from the first step to the last, but the South Pole mission promises so much more and will last a projected 53 days, all things being equal.
“The South Pole will be a lot more challenging than the North Pole, simply because it’s more demanding, it’s colder, the journey will be twice as long in mileage and in time. The terrain is different and I think the main contributing factor will be that I have no one there to share the hardship with this time around,” he said without a hint of anxiety.
As a gesture of his endearing love for his birth land, Jamaica, Fields said that he will plant the Jamaican flag next to the Union Jack, if and when he completes the Antarctica trek, which he will start at Union Glacier Hercules Inlet to the west and end at the Geographic South Pole.
“I will most definitely carry both flags and plant them side by side at the South Pole. I didn’t make any grand gestures at the North Pole, I guess I just wanted to get there and get out. I am going to make up for it this time,” he vowed.
Fields is hoping to raise at least £100,000 for the South Pole expedition— £60,000 for expenses and £40,000 for his London-based charities. Those wishing to contribute can visit the explorer’s website www.dwayne-fields.com.
Those efforts are ongoing and Fields said he’s still a long way off meeting his target, with each mile being sold for £5.
With his spirit of adventure and craving for exploring the depths of the unknown, Fields’ love for the outdoors and the wild has inspired a book aptly titled Far From Myself.
“My book is about my life as a journey. It follows my story from the start in Jamaica to current day in London and maps the changes I went through at different stages of my life, it also details my exploits at the North Pole, including my preparation and motivation for it. I talk about things that I have never said out loud before,” he told the Sunday Observer.
And there will no doubt be another chapter to be written in the life of this Jamaican man of courage and purpose with his impending solo travel to the South Pole and his 2015 plan to reach the top of the world — Mount Everest.
“I have a lot more that I want to achieve, but for now I have my eyes set on what’s known as the third pole, which is Everest,” Fields said with an air of excitement.
Apart from conquering the North Pole, the son of Jamaican parents has spent time in the mountains of Norway, and only last year did a walk-about in the Sinai desert.
When he returned from the North Pole, three years ago, Fields was invited to Buckingham Palace and sat with The Queen, which he said is a signature moment in his life so far.
“Being invited to meet Queen Elizabeth in Buckingham Palace was one of the most amazing things that has ever happened to me… it was a very emotional experience for me as I kept looking back over my life and just appreciating the journey as a whole; by that I don’t just mean the journey from Jamaica to London or from London to the North Pole, but more the change within myself. I was finally certain about what I wanted to do,” he said in a tone of reflection.
Adventurers and outdoor people before him, especially his heroes Mathew Henson and Sir David Attenborough, would have been proud of Dwayne Fields — a black man who has survived not only the meanest elements of the wild, but the tough streets of London’s ghettos that threatened to consume him.
But Fields’ motivation also comes from closer home.
“At the time of my decision to tackle the North Pole, I didn’t have a family of my own, so that was an easy choice to make, I didn’t have to consider anyone else. Now I have a family made up of my partner Angelique, daughter Miah and son Nathaniel, all of whom seem to be fond of the idea of one day going on their own adventures, and the truth is, I will encourage them to do so,” he said.
Strong indoctrination of the Jamaican culture, while he grew up in England, helped to shape his general outlook on life, plus it fuelled that intensely competitive Jamaican spirit.
“The family members who were around me spoke of Jamaica often and in a Jamaican accent. I would eat mainly Jamaican cuisine, and we would always have Jamaican newspapers in the house, so I was being exposed to things from the place where I was coming from,” said Fields, who claims he has memories of his early days growing up in his Linstead heartland.
He last visited his relatives in Jamaica in 2008 and said that he can’t wait to be back to enjoy his favourite Jamaican foods, cooked on the island like nowhere else. But a trip to Jamaica will not likely happen until he returns from the South Pole.
“I always smile when I get asked about food, because most people who know me, know my stomach’s never full. I have so many Jamaican favourites, but in my opinion, you can’t beat a well-cooked serving of oxtail, rice and peas with all the vegetable trimmings,” Fields noted.
Another Jamaican-born who achieved a recent major first was Barrington Irving Jnr, who became the youngest person to pilot a plane around the world solo.
He is also the first black person and first Jamaican to accomplish this feat.His airplane, a Cessna 400, is named the Inspiration, was built with donated parts costing $300,000.
See comments from a local member of the Field’s St Catherine family in tomorrow’s Observer.