Learning never ends
How Oliver learned to dive
By Linda Whiteley
We all love to read stories of someone achieving their dreams and goals and never giving up even when everybody says it can't be done. This is one of those "feel good" stories. Oliver Holt had dreams of one day becoming a fully qualified scuba diver and has achieved this goal despite major mental and physical challenges. He is a well-known figure around these parts as the constantly smiling and helpful customer service clerk at Save-on-Foods in Powell River, where he's worked since moving here three years ago.
Born near Liverpool, England, Oliver suffered severe medical complications in childbirth resulting in brain and motor skill damage. It also affected his optic nerves causing near blindness in the right eye. Oliver immigrated to Vancouver at the age of 10 with his parents Julie and Jon Paul Holt.
While at school in Vancouver, he worked weekends at his father's hair salon. He got to know many TV and film celebrities as well as great local musicians like Bryan Adams, Loverboy, and many other clients. This was thrilling as he loves everything about music. His father didn't let him just sit around but taught him how to serve the clients. Oliver made them tea and coffee, got them magazines and made them feel comfortable. He would make sure the salon was spotless, towels washed, and, more importantly, make the clients feel special and happy. This experience proved to be a huge advantage to him later in life making him comfortable with people in many different social environments. He had learned about "work ethic."
The Powell River Assisted Community Living (PRACL) organization has been invaluable to Oliver both in the life skills and also job assistance areas. He receives life skills assistance from PRACL for his shopping and cooking. They encouraged him to set his goals high and work hard to achieve them all.
Oliver has tried quite a few surprising sports including parachuting, parasailing, trapeze, even skiing at Whistler! So we were not too surprised when he mentioned he wanted to try scuba diving. He remembered a wonderful holiday he had with his family in Mexico where he tried scuba diving with his father.
We hadn't realized that he loved it so much and that he wanted to do it again. We considered all the available choices here in town, and after much discussion with his parents we signed him up with Kathy and Scott Friesen at Alpha Dive who were brave enough to give him a shot. As all divers know, this is not a sport to be taken lightly as it carries a high risk with it. You have to be fit, sharp and be able to think quickly, especially if anything goes wrong.
Oliver was so exited when he found he had been accepted to start the course but then the long road of reading and studying the diving course began. He went every Monday to Alpha Dive with his instructor Helen Whitaker and took lessons in the swimming pool. He took to it like the proverbial duck to water and moved forward with the course taking his first dive into the ocean. He did more ocean dives with Helen and Scott proving he was more than capable of handling the incredible amount of things needed to be thought about once submerged.
He worked his way through the 16-chapter course ready to take the final exam where the minimum pass mark is 80%. This didn't put him off though as he had his dream to achieve. He failed the first time with a mark of only 58% but studied even more and took it again this time with a result of 78%, but still a fail, but he was not put off. He went back and studied even harder and took it for a third time and eventually achieved a pass of 98%! We were all so happy, proud and amazed and Oliver was ecstatic as he had received no help in answering the questions at all. It came just a week before his 40th birthday! What an achievement for a very determined young man and against all odds. I asked him what his next great wish and dream would be and what his biggest challenge is. His answer is "Friends. I'd love to meet and have some more friends, but I'd especially like to have a girlfriend one day!"...We are sure he is still working on that one and another dream he can achieve!
Congratulations Oliver!
