Clint on the Brink!

Driving to Pirates Rugby Club in Greenside, the anticipation to meet a man who is loved by many was the core of my excitement, either for his brilliant acting, phenomenal singing and of cause his devilish good looks that leave thousands of women swooning in front of their screens every night around South Africa. I had the opportunity last month to conduct an interview with Mr Brink; the friendliest, down to earth and straight-forward celebrity, that I’ve had the pleasure of meeting. I had to ask him how old he is and my goodness for a 32 year old he looks amazing. I believe that through this interview many can gain advice and insight on how important it is to work hard for what you want, things don’t just happen , you have to make it happen!

“If you not going to do something to the best of your ability; dan moet jy dit nie doen nie, jy doen dit heeltemaal of jy doen dit glad nie”

A: What are the words you live by and what has inspired you to live by those words?

C: Throughout my life and throughout my career, I think there are seasons for everyone, there are times when you strive, you have struggles, and there are times when you are victorious, you blessed… Currently for me the words that I live by “You know better, you are to do better” I try to apply that to everything I do; in my work space, the way that I treat people, my spirituality and I feel it’s important that if you see people who are not necessarily clued up on certain things, without being preachy, without being pushy and nagging, it’s important to share things so that you can educate. As through sharing you give people the opportunity to grow as well and they know better. If they know better, they should do better!

A: What was your Childhood like growing up in Paarl?

C: My childhood growing up in Paarl was cool. It’s pretty quiet, not much industry things happening in Paarl, in fact it is very far removed from the hub of Cape Town. I mean I grew up riding bicycles on a dirt road, walking far, alles in die Paarl is ver. Like you walk for everything so it’s like the people from central Cape Town look at people from Paarl like farm boys, julle is van die plaas, you don’t know much, you don’t dress like the inner city guys, and you don’t speak like the inner city guys. But the one thing I can say is that growing up in Paarl you meet people with a lot of credibility, you meet people who are down to earth, when they do something they mean it, so I mean I come from a community, a deep church community.

I also played a lot of sport, Paarl is synonymous for rugby, Cricket, a lot of people who play SA rugby are from Paarl, and we actually have a lot of good sportsman coming from Paarl. So living there was nice, it’s like living in a town where everyone knows everyone else.    Growing up for me there with my parents; my mother was a teacher, my father was working in insurance, so my family actually come from a poor background, my mother is the youngest of nine, so a massive family. My parents being from a poor family were striving and working hard to live a middle class life; so that my sister and I could have a better life. At one point it was really cool because my dad was doing well, for a large portion of my life was very difficult like most coloured people have it you know, you struggle you do your best, your parents will always tell you they’re doing their best to make sure that they can give you the best, at times you have family trouble because of that.

Overall me growing up in Paarl was blessed man; I had a lot of people always singing my praises, because from a young Age I use to participate in drama stuff and like music stuff. My mom was very strict and she was very strict on me and I remember the one thing she would always tell me “If you not going to do something to the best of your ability; dan moet jy dit nie doen nie, jy doen dit heeltemaal of jy doen dit glad nie”. So I grew up having heavy values instilled in me and looking back; if my parents didn’t raise me the way they did I would have probably fallen by the waste side when I was twelve years old like most of the people in our community.

A: When did you start realising your dream to be an artist?

C: (Laughs) I think from a young age I was always like creatively inclined and once again I have to, when people ask me who do you look up to, who is your idols, your mentors; I can’t really say that I had people who I aspired to be like, the people who inspired me the most was the people in my community, ordinary people, I was always interested in people who were ordinary people but had extraordinary circumstances; that made it difficult for them to achieve certain things, but they still persevered and still had an opportunity to put a smile on someone else’s face. I would say my parents; I would have to thank them for noticing that I had certain gifts at a young age and then exposing me to those fields, my mom from first grade started coaching me pros and monologues and being part of plays, I mean I turned five in my first year of school, I was always younger than everyone else in my class. So when I didn’t understand pros and long monologues, my mom was politically affiliated, so she understood the dangers and the difficulties that we have as coloured people in the country and so many things that we will have to overcome just to be noticed, not even to be respected or be celebrated, just to be noticed. You have to be extraordinary so to speak and my mom as a four year old I just thought that the pressure that I got from my parents at such a young age was too much. Looking back now it was all just to make sure that I would be able to sketch out a good living for myself, so I would say they were the people who actually made me realise, I mean I grew into that realisation the older I got, because that’s when I started understanding that I do actually have a neck for being creative, I do actually have a gift and there are certain things that I possess within. Talent is only like 20% of everything, like my mother always taught me to be a hard worker and that’s what I always do! I would say being younger than everyone else in my class and being faced with a physical disadvantage, I always felt like the underdog I always felt like I had to do more work, than everyone else just to get there, and that kind of like humbled me to the point that I never got to a point where I felt  big headed, about anything, because I felt like I always had to work hard, so it kept me on my toes, so I would say all thanks once again to my parents.

A: What came first your passion for acting or singing?

C: (Laughs) as of late that’s always been the question, because the music has come to the forefront now, uhmm… Music and acting for me is branches of the same tree, stems of the same thing, the same person, the same love, the same passion and they are both arts they complement each other. You find like a lot of people across the world, like no one knows that Keeanu Reeves is a Base player. He has been in a band for a long time, like there are many actors who are musicians, and like very creditable and good musicians.

Like I said I from the age of four has always been involved in competitions and all of these things like the Eisteddfod. So like from age four I use to do monologues, pros and be part of the choir, from age four all the way through to 12th grade. So I have always done it together, it’s just like it’s difficult. The thing about growing up in a coloured community people are so naturally gifted when it comes to art, I mean you walk around the corner a girl would sing a Beyoncé song and it’s just like normal it’s not like anything special and you like ok… She sings all the ranges properly, and it’s like no problem this is what we do, so there was always pressure when it came to music and stuff. I have been fortunate, I’ve sang in like three choirs at the same time Paarl, Wellington regional Choir and both my Primary and high school choir and Boys Ensemble, when I was part of a boys group, you know I would say; acting was the first window opportunity that opened itself up to me, and gave me the opportunity to have it as my career and now I think that I was growing and growing into the expectancy of myself being a musician. You know I’m also very hard on myself, there are certain things that I want to do a certain way otherwise I won’t do it like my mother said. The people that I emulate and simulate within music are people like; Stevie Wonder, Donnie Hathaway, Earth, Wind and Fire, Marvin Gaye, so the stuff that I look to doing is not just singing but; like your sound, your producing, and your instrumentation. I remember Brian McKnight did an interview once and he said “Great singers come and go, but a good song can last forever.” So I’ve always been the type of guy that focuses on things that have longevity and that lasts. That’s why I think I’ve also been fortunate and God has blessed me with the career that I’ve had for this long. I’ve never been the guy to buy into the hype and look for fame. I mean we have artist now that blew up in a year and they are like the biggest stuff in Joburg now and I’ve been doing this consistently for fourteen years now. So it’s been a long time, I’ve been blessed!

A: Indeed you’ve been blessed. Take me through your journey of becoming an actor?

C: Becoming an actor there is a lot of things that you go through, see these days in the industry it is so easy for people to just get hired of the street and then put into a soapie and then say they an actor in six months, because the show is giving them that scope you know. But, you can see in their eyes and in their delivery that there are certain things that they have not been exposed to, they haven’t like dug into themselves deep enough to understand why they are doing what they are doing. Their intention behind doing it is a little bit skewered and I’m generalising obviously. For me; the journey of becoming an actor there is a lot of self-realisation you go through, you know there is a lot of discovery that you go through, I. Think if you talk to a lot of people locally and internationally. Will talk about actors being like divas, Primadonna, and the thing about being an actor is that you have to question everything before getting to the truth. You don’t ever just accept the truth at face value, because you don’t understand. You put up with a lot, you experience being in other peoples shoes a lot, and you experience other people’s pain, loss and joy. Life is like my library, I look at everything that people go through, I take the time to listen to people, I talk to people, I try and connect to people to the best of my ability. Also as an actor you are very open, you know things affect you, most actors, the true actors to the core would say; it’s important to them, their craft is important to them, people who walk around with their hear on their sleeve and if you that type of person the world can be a difficult place for you.

Being a young kid and being from a coloured community, being an actor, not a lot of people know how to mould you, how to guide you, how to protect and keep you safe in that regard. So you kind of like have to switch between being hard and being soft. It’s like living in a coloured community where there are gangsters, you a church going guy, you care about your mom, so when the gangsters are there you have to speak a certain way, walk a certain way and be a certain way so that you don’t become a victim of your circumstance and a victim of your environment. So for me fortunately my parents noticed that I had a gift from a young age, you know they expose me to a lot of stuff, I was always involved in competitions and performing at different schools. So after I finished primary school, I realised that there was not a lot of iconic coloured people, you know, that was like the “Moses of the people” you know; like leading the people out of the ghetto. Being in Paarl without having infrastructure and exposure, no TV crews, no film studios and no music studios. So you know people just went purely on passion. So after I finished primary, I went on to high school, so I was head boy at the primary school and head boy at my high school. Talk about being an over achiever (laughs).

A: Look where you are now so it’s worth being an over achiever…

C: After finishing High school I was a lot more active in the arts, playing a lot more piano, learning a lot more, doing a lot more singing, travelling a lot more with the boys group, and the ensemble. I went to Europe for a few months with the choir. As soon as I finished high school I was part of a competition called the drama organisation of performing arts for competitions. The one year I came close to winning the competition in standard nine and Kim Stotal, a white guy, and I remember after he won an Afrikaner guy got up and was so cross and he shouted across the theatre ” we all know that, that Brink guy should have won, this is bullshit” and he walked out. That was the first time that I actually realised that hey… There might be things that are prohibiting me from actually being the best I could be, because I felt like I did well, like most artists would tell you, I could feel it felt right, I gave it my all, I connected with the people, I connected the dots and then they gave me a scholarship to study at Pretoria Tech for three years for free. Which I didn’t take, because I was in love with a girl (laughs) that went to a different University, so then I followed this girl to that University, she was also a drama student and she played the Cello actually, she was a beautiful girl. So I went to Stellenbosch University, because that’s where she went and they also have drama majors there. I took the train for four hours a day to get to University and back. Most people will tell you that if you at Stellenbosch university and you in your first year, you not going to act in your first year, you basically build sets and look after the second or third years and forth years, jy doen niks nie man. So I was not having it, because I’m use to like doing competitions every year. I was used to doing well. Now you are not giving me an opportunity to grow further. So eventually I was looking for this girl one day and I was like I had it now I’m going to tell this girl that I like her, this is the day! So I looked for her, and on the day that I decide to suck all my worries away and sorrows. I get to the drama faculty and I hear that she just left for the UK.

A: Oh no…

C: The next week I left University. I told my mom, I’m not going to do this they holding me back. Obviously it was not just about the girl, but I think that she was also a catalyst for a lot of things for me and it’s so funny when I look back now, the one thing that has propelled me this far in my life , is my love for things, my love for what I do. It’s so funny that my love for that girl was also the deciding factor to take me away from that University. I ended up at City Varsity, because I actually wanted to do film and television. I was more interested in the refinering art and the subtleties of being an actor, than the theatre stuff, because the theatre stuff I’ve done since I was five years old. So I went to City Varsity, they closed auditions already; it was like two weeks already, so I had to hustle to get in. I did an audition for them, I got in. After my first three weeks in first year they moved me straight through to final year and I got my degree literally in like 6 months of being at university. I was so fortunate; the lecturer looked at me and was like “this boy is advanced”. Because like a lot of people only start doing it when their parents have money, and a lot of people at the University was white people and if their parents don’t drop them they drive their own Porches, and here I am taking the train just to get by, sometimes I didn’t even have  money for lunch, or even how to get back home, sometimes I had to steal my way back onto the train, thinking if the cops catch me they going to lock me up!

Two months after my graduation at City Varsity I auditioned for a movie and that movie basically led me to get my audition for Backstage.

A: Wow so that’s where you started…

C: And that was 14 years ago, so then it was Backstage, Generations, Dallas in Pipes, a lot of local movies and international movies like short films and eventually Scandal.

A: Oh wow that’s amazing! So see being an over achiever has its perks!

C: (laughs) I guess, I guess

A: Your music is very soulful; would you describe yourself as a soulful person when it comes to your music?

C: Uhmm… You see music is also like a different thing, it’s a different application, it’s a different understanding of who you are and what you need to do, but I would say yes soul music definitely encapsulates most of what I would like to embody in my music, also it must have meaning. The people that I listened to are people who wrote music and sang it from their hearts.

A: Old school!

C: Yeah! Old school, you know what I’m saying, that’s my thing. So whether it’s RnB, or Neo soul. I would never be able to write something just for the sake of writing. You know you talk to a lot of musicians and they like yeah I’m going to write a “HIT”. What’s a hit? If you listen to Reasons by Earth, Wind and Fire, you know the lyrics of Reasons is actually a pretty messed up song!

A: (laughs) definitely!

C: Like the lyrics is contradictive. Because everyone when the song starts, are like “Yeah! Reasons the reasons that we here…” They think it’s so cool, but really the song is talking about the reasons that we together is fading away, its bullshit, you know! (Laughs). But they sang it with so much conviction, and the way it was delivered was spectacular. So for me I talk a lot about relationships and heartbreak, being in love or social issues. You know the intricacies of being human, stuff that we all go through in society, but we scared to talk about it, now that’s the type of things that I address in my music. So yes I would say soul is the right word to encapsulate everything I do.

A: Oh wow that’s beautiful! Because your music is really soulful!

C: Did you listen to some of the songs?

A: Of cause! They are really beautiful…Powerful, truly speaks to the soul!

C: Thank you!

A: What other interests do you have?

C: Well as you saw today; I’m an avid martial artist, my father was an Honouree Black belt martial artist in Karate. He played in the Virginia league cup, he was a striker. He was the Captain of the table tennis team, Karate champ. So I got a lot of that stuff from my father as well, including the discipline and determination that goes along with being an athlete and I also took a lot of other things into consideration. So here I am I’m in standard six and I’m 12 years old and I’m surrounded by these big rugby guys. So I was at a huge disadvantage. So I always felt like I lacked certain things, sometimes I went home crying because I got cut from the basketball team, because I’m too young or too short. I just turned all of that anger and disappointment I just turned it into fuel to do better, to go out and work harder.

So I run and own a gym with my trainer Henry Modini, a Muay-Tai school, in Greenside at Pirates rugby club. So this is my other passion. The thing with me is that I try and make sure that everything I do, whether its acting or music, I would like to use that as a means to uplift my people and inspire my people. It’s so funny when coloured people start talking about coloured people issues, the rest of the country seems to frown upon us, and they think we being racist to a certain extent. It’s not the case, and without sounding disrespectful, I find that a lot of black people endorse other black people. A lot of black people stick together and when it comes to coloured people, every other race in the country feels like they have the need to tell us crap. I’m like please shut up! If you have not lived, or spent a day in our shoes, I don’t think it’s at your best interest to stand there and point fingers! Let me tell you I got into so much trouble for saying stuff about the SAMA’s, people were mad at me you know, people on twitter they felt like I was making it a race issue. For me when you looked at the screen it was obviously a race issue that someone else made, I was just pointing out, actually just highlighting, what other people did not have the guts to say. There were no coloured presenters, no coloured performers and no coloured nominees. So I said it on Twitter, “Why don’t I see any coloured presenters, performers or nominees?” And people were like “Yeah, but who is there to nominate?” And I was like are you SERIOUS… Myself, Lorcia Cooper, Ernie Smith, what about Jamali, what about Jimmy Nevelson he is one of the biggest coloured acts from Cape town right now and he is doing so well. What happened to all of the Idols people, Sasha Lee David’s, Jody…? You telling me that there’s no one? It’s ok for people to say that there’s no one… That became very evident to me that there is a bigger problem. I felt like people are trying to cover up certain things, or eradicate coloured people from the picture, because it’s too much effort to spend time and understand where we coming from. Obviously this is just my personal opinion and I’m saying this with no hate, because I do love our country. I love our diversity, I love what we stand for, I love the progress that we are making and I love a lot of things that we are doing. But I also think that you can’t get to the truth of certain things if no one is willing to be honest about stuff, it’s not going to change anything if no one stands up and says I think what u doing is not a 100% cool. I remember people started telling me that I’m making it an issue about race, and I was like well I think someone else has already made it an issue about race I’m just showing it! For me it was simple; if you in a Ferrari and I’m in my Daihatsu standing at the robots and there’s a beggar at the robots, at the traffic light, we both have eyes, you in your fancy car and me in my little car. We both see that there’s poverty right in front of us, which means that we can see that there could be a problem. Why now I’m being singled out for being a trouble maker where as we both can see that there is a problem. I’m getting carried away…

A: No you not because that is so true, it is something that is really happening in our country! Would you mind elaborating more on the art of Muay Tai?

C: No not at all. I use to be an avid basketball player and swimmer, but then I needed something a little more competitive. I’ve had a few struggles in my life; at the age of 21 I was in a car accident and I lost my fiance in a car accident, the state charged me with Culpable Homicide. The two people that forced me off the road just drove off so I was the only person left to answer everything. I had to leave Backstage ended, so I came up to Joburg to do Generations. I wasn’t given any money or incentive to start a life up here, I was sleeping on someone’s floor for about two months with nothing to cover me, but the cloths I had in my suitcase. Having gone through a traumatic experience like that and being in a foreign place; I was scared, I was anxious and I didn’t know what to do. Obviously there was other challenges that I had to face in my life that was very difficult for me to grasp with and I didn’t really have anyone to guide me. So I just stored it, I just put a lid on it and tried to deal with it as best as I could. But it ate away at me for a long time while I was trying to make peace and try to understand exactly what I’ve been through. When I discovered Muay-Tai, one of the things that you learn very fast is that the only person you can rely on to save yourself is YOU! You know if you take a look at life, if you have a financial problem, there are people you know; it’s their job to assist you and to help you with your financial problems. If you have a spiritual problem… There are pastor’s priests who can aid you in that. But for you to progress from point A to D and you have 50 push ups to do, you can’t ask someone else to do 20 for you, for you to get to your goal. There is only you that you can count on to do it. I got to a point where I realised that the people that I fight, my battles and the things that I deal with within the sport is just my own; my own insecurities, my own difficulties, my own weaknesses, my own perception of myself. Like if I’m strong enough to do this on my own. I think our physical is our primary base as human beans. For me the sport and obviously the discipline and spirituality that goes along with Tai boxing has just been something that refocused me, it gave me a place where I can be centred, train and think that there’s nothing else in the world that bothers me, there’s nothing, everything in my mind just leaves. It’s unlike life, its life when you go out there, you can do the best you can, but you cannot control the thoughts and actions of the people that impact on you. You know you get people saying that you the master of your own destiny control your own thoughts, destiny or law and attraction… Bullshit aside there are other people that makes things hard and there’s nothing you can do about it, even if you try and avoid these people and cut them out of your life. You know you can’t cut a government out of your life, that’s the ruling party; those people make decisions at the end of the day that impact on your life. What are you going to do about it? So for me Muay-Tai became away to just overcome a lot of things that I was unable to fix myself. It’s something that I come here and I train hard and I try and find peace and resolution within myself so that I can still go out there every day and smile and motivate those around me. Working outwardly might not solve the problem, but working inwardly you will find peace within yourself.

    

A: Wow, where do you see yourself five years from now?

C: Five years from now…The Governor of California (Laughs) just joking…

A: Go for it!

C: To the best of my ability I will always strive just to be more and strive to be bigger, like the people that I try to emulate, people like your Richard Branson you know who started selling CD’s out of a boot, do you know what I mean, and look what has he done now. Owns airlines, owns gyms, he influenced the world on a financial level and he goes out there and does good by donating money. I mean this guy starts businesses, than sells it off and gives it to other people. For me I looked at him and asked why I have to settle being one thing, so that other people can benefit. I find a lot of people in South Africa, saying I didn’t know that you sing and I’m like I have been doing this for fourteen years how don’t you know. I mean I’m busy producing my 7th Album and I’ve just noticed man it’s gotten to a point where other people want to keep a lid on you, a lot of people want to box you and block you, because they actually don’t want to see you grow, because they know u actually have something more to offer. I was fortunate to be a part of Neville Diedericks Digi music videos, a Gospel singer and Neville Diedericks is from Cape Town and I remember when Neville launched his first album I was the one that opened up for him, his album launched in Cape Town. Yesterday I met up with; Ernie Smith, Verd, Neville, Jolene an actress and producer. I spoke to him (Neville)  and told him wow you have a lot of coloured people in your video and he told me it’s getting to a point now if we don’t show the rest of the country that we actually do have love for each other and that we do support each other and that there’s valid substance in what we do, than no one else will believe it. Within the TV and acting industry I think the reason why we don’t see too many coloured people coming to the forefront, firstly; because there are no coloured people making films and there’s not a lot of coloured people going out there and producing content about stories of our community. If it gets to a point where we can do that more than the demand will grow and people won’t be able to deny it. Also the other thing that I find in our country; if you take a look at people who have true success in our country; if you not a sportsman you either have to be a businessman or a politician to make money. Now businessmen want to own the arts.  So therefore you cannot turn being an artist into a business for your selfish needs, arts have always been the subconscious and the voice of society. South Africa does not endorse the arts at all, how can people who released albums such as Lady Smith Black Mambazo die poor? So many artists in the country who are famous. These guys don’t have a consistent job, they can’t afford a house, and they can’t afford a car. I mean you find actors who have been acting for a long time who must still take the taxi, there’s no respect. I mean if you don’t support your artists, than you are stripping the country off a much needed Identity. Imagine you go into a country and they have no music and no actors and like nothing to do with arts, it will be like eating a plate of serviettes with no taste, no colour, there’s no nutrition, no nourishment, it’s just, I feel it’s getting to a point now where we really have to endorse that, people need to start seeing. I was interviewed recently by a few TV stations when they had the Jameson First Shot Short film competition and Kevin Spacey came down and we had a local director who won and she had the opportunity to have Willem Defoe in her movie, her short film and it was shot on the stage. One lady interviewed me and asked me what do I think about it and I said I think it is great for the arts, we have cross pollination with brands, local and international people working together, there’s respect now for what we do and people see the value of what we contribute here in South Africa. One person said than, many people feel that it was not a proper depiction or representation of South Africa, because there was no South African people in it. So I said firstly South Africa makes it so difficult for film makers just to get funding and to make a proper movie, why must Americans come into our country and give money to people and actually give them the creditability and the chance that they deserve, when our people can’t do it for ourselves, no wonder our people like Jonathan Butler left because he hit the ceiling fast here, and then what’s he going to do play in the club for the rest of his life in South Africa and not be recognised. I can understand completely. It’s gotten to a point where everything either has to be political affiliated or you now have to be aligned with this political party or this business person just to make sure that you can make a decent living. At the end of the day as artist you know, we don’t get born choosing what skin colour we must be, you don’t get choosing what gender you want to be, you get born as who you are; so if you are an artist right and it’s in your blood, it’s your passion, this is your heart than I think there has to be provision made to make sure that these people can actually do what they love. I mean you don’t get perks as artist, you don’t get medical aid, you don’t get pension, you have to do that all by yourself and you get taxed 25% if not more on everything. So it’s like they make it so difficult for you just to have a living, what happens if you want to have kids and they have to go to school? What happens if you want to get married? So it’s so difficult. So I think in that regard our country and our people just need to have more respect for what artists do from a very young age, just to make a living from what they do and stop sitting on the side line criticizing and pointing fingers if you haven’t done anything like that one day in your life!

A: As a coloured person do you believe that it is possible for you to achieve your dreams? And what words of wisdom do you have for someone striving to be like you?

C: Yes it is possible for you to live your dreams, with a lot of things that I said, I am still able to have, and I’m one of a very few people that has been able to be blessed with the career that I have, there were a lot of contributing factors and a lot of people, as much as I would love to say I’ve got here on my own, I worked and sacrificed. There were people at certain points in time who believed in me enough, and that’s despite colour, despite race. They believed in what I’m doing, in what I stand for, they provided me with opportunities, because they believed that much in me. I would say for anyone who wants to be like me or be in the same industry like me; you just have to equip yourself well, challenge is not good enough, go out there and study make sure that you have other ways to supplement an income for yourself, when the rainy days come, when the seasons change, when winter comes and you don’t have any money make sure that you have established yourself well enough, so that when you do go out there and do the arts and you have an opportunity, make sure people have respect for what you do you don’t go out there and doubt or come across as desperate. You stand up, you stand up with your back straight up, and deliver the best that you can do and give a 150% everyday even when your legs are broken and your hearts broken, you stand there and you deliver! That’s what I do, that’s what I do every day, I lay it all on the line, because tomorrow might be my last day and then what do I stand for. So I feel it is important, I really feel for my people it is important to stand there and really be the best that you can be and that’s what I do what I do. I face a lot of adversity every day , I have people every day trying to shut me down or people not believing in what I’m doing enough; family, friends, and industry people. You know what I remember there’s a lesson, one valuable lesson that I learnt from my mom;  I was playing with my sister and we were in Wellington, walking into town, it was a hot summers and my mom bought me ice-cream it was like New year’s or Christmas. As we were walking back home I had ice-cream in my hands and I was walking on the sidewalk and I fell down and I cut myself, I was four years old and I was lying on the pavement and I was crying and crying and I looked up to my mom and I thought she was going to pick me up. My mother just stood there and just looked at me and I looked at her and I was confused, and my mother told me that day that “Clint you must stand up, you get up and you stand up now, because there is going to come a day when I’m not here and no one’s here and you going to break like this, and there’s no one there to help you get up, learn how to stand on your own two feet, so get up.” I take that wherever I go, because a lot of people have a certain expectation, a certain idea about what the world might be. It could be a lot worse and a lot more difficult than you want to have people saying you didn’t give me this and you didn’t give me that, stand there take it on the chin and move, there’s nothing that hits you harder than life, not even hitting back is going to solve it, you must learn how to stand there, but I want to do things the way I want to with honour and integrity, so that my children, the people who believe in me, live the same values. Because if I fold, how many people around me are also going to fold.

All  Muay-Tai pictures exclusively taken for Through Coloured Lenses

Other pictures from various websites

All answers by: Clint Brink (C)

Questions by: Alexandria Allan (A)

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