A real 'Boys' Own' adventure film

MARIA PRIESTLEY
Last year Twyford's Josh Neilson found himself fighting for his life in an overcrowded Ugandan hospital. He didn't know who he was, where he was or what he was doing.
Like many of the other patients there, he had malaria. Now, months later and home again, Josh is adamant to help the people he met - and the five million people worldwide who die from malaria each year.
Tonight Josh, a 22-year-old professional kayaker and filmmaker, will premiere his film My Eyes Will Never Dry at 7pm at Twyford Hall - and the money raised will go toward both his trip to the kayaking champs in Canada next month and to malaria prevention in Uganda.
It's a film about life, travel, the world's natural beauty and - boys will be boys - a bit of action/adventure.
Chronicling Josh, who has an outdoor education degree, and friend and filmmaking partner Brendan Bayly's five-month trip through California, Ottawa, Uganda and Zambia, the film is a tribute to what was a life-changing, life-threatening adventure.
After months of working hard at the Great Outdoors in Hastings and other odd jobs, Josh's journey began in June at the steep rapids "that were like waterslides", waterfalls and high sierras in California.
After "the bus trip from hell" - a seven-day, 30,000 mile non-stop trip from California to Ottawa, Josh was placed 22nd in the world in the Kayaking World Champs on the Ottawa river.
But it was his next destination that had the most impact on Josh - Uganda was "life-changing".
"It was the most beautiful place. The kids. The lifestyle. Living in Africa was overwhelming."
Josh, in his two-person tent (where he spent almost every night of the trip) camped near Lake Victoria and spent his days kayaking the rapids of the White Nile, doing volunteer work at schools and hanging out with the local kids, who were "such an inspiration".
"We'd go outside and we'd just be bombarded by kids. They'd climb all over you and always want to play.
"They live in mudhuts and their clothes are falling off them but they are the happiest kids I've ever met.
"Everyday we have our jobs, our lives. We go buy stuff we don't actually need. Over there, everything they do is for survival. They have nothing but they are so happy, so friendly and eager to share the little food they have."
After a month in Uganda Josh began to feel "a bit tired, a bit sick". He was diagnosed with malaria (likely to have been caught from a disease-carrying mosquito) two days later and was in a critical condition.
He lost 10kg and at one stage "I didn't even have the energy to pull my bed covers up", he said.
"I didn't know who I was, I didn't know what was going on. "On one of my better days I walked about 100 metres and collapsed."
After he got better, "It became apparent that I needed to help out," Josh said.
"Thirty percent of the kids under five in Uganda die of malaria. It's the biggest killer in the world.
"The kids were the reason it was so memorable for me there and malaria affects them the most. I want to help them. I need to help."
Part of the money raised from this film and future films will go to Softpower Health, the clinic he was treated at - which was built by a female kayaker - "So it will directly affect the people and kids I met."
Ten days after he was diagnosed with malaria, an improving Josh flew to Zambia, where "kayaking actually helped me feel better".
There, he survived another wayward bus trip "flying full speed in an overcrowded bus swerving past people and livestock" from Lusaka to Livingstone, got up close to giraffes, elephants, lions, was chased by a crocodile (yes, really) and kayaked at one of the seven wonders of the world - Victoria Falls.
Now, back home at Twyford, he has been working hard again to help fund his next adventure which begins next month with the Kayaking World Champs on April 29 and will see him and Brendan travel through California again, Bolivia, Mexico and Papua New Guinea.
Josh, who has had one relapse since being back in New Zealand, will always have malaria.
"It's dormant in my liver. I just have to live with it - treat it when I relapse and try to stay as healthy and keep my immune system up as much as possible."
Josh, who also almost broke his back twice last year while kayaking, says knowing that he will always have the illness "doesn't scare me at all".
"It brings me back to reality. But it doesn't mean I'm going to stop."
And as for the meaning behind My Eyes Will Never Dry, the title of his film?
"Whenever I see water - whether it's up close, on TV or in books, I'm always interested. My eyes are driven by water - where there's water, I will go."
Then, he coyly adds "and then, well - with what I've been through - there's the emotional aspect too".
* Josh Neilson's My Eye's Will Never Dry, 7pm tonight at Twyford Hall (next to Twyford School), Thompson Road, Twyford, Tickets are $10 on sale at the door or call 879 8864.