By Patience atuhaire

Kampala, Uganda, 14 October - From Cape Town-around Africa-to Cape Town, in less than a year. This is the mission, with which they hit the road, bearing a banner of unity, communication and shared development for all of Africa.

On April 15, this year, Johan Botha, Elizabeth Cloete, Rosie and Joseph Jovani set out from South Africa in a Toyota Fortuner, a heavy-duty off-road 2006 model, to traverse the continent. Purpose? To put pressure on the UN so it can campaign for G8 funding to Africa that hardly ever materialises.

Having prepared for more than two years, the four put it to the UN that Africa can on longer feed on promises. And they were going to do something towards effecting that. The Toyota was fixed with a water tank and food storage space in the trunk. Then the crew started out on that April morning, with the campaign for a decent railroad crossing from the Horn of Africa to cape Town, which would ease communication, and transportation of peacekeepers as well as aid to hunger and conflict ravaged areas, as item number one on their agenda. Botha, a retired crude oil dealer born in Johannesburg, who is the head of the crew, selected the group.

“I looked for people who love Africa and its people, people who love nature and were ready to endure the hardships on the road,” he says.

Unfortunately, two crew members (Rosie and Joseph) travelled as far as Egypt and dropped off the mission since they couldn’t cope with the hardship on the road.

The 56-year-old father of four relates the highs and lows of the trip, “If a thousand more Africans could share our vision, our dream would be realised a lot quicker. We’ve witnessed suffering in conflict and hunger-ridden rural areas that policy makers and charity organisations know nothing about. Yet, it is good to sacrifice your time and energy to push for a change that will help many. It’s beautiful.”

The crew started out with a $ 35,000 budget only to realise that some unforeseen expenses weren’t going to make it possible for them to go by it. They spent $ 24,000 on a ferry from Egypt to Sudan, an item that was never a part of their budget.

Through tropical forests, deserts and savannah, Botha and cloete have so far traversed 36 countries, spending an average of six days in each, delivering the message of a unified and equally developed Africa.

In Tanzania, Zanzibar, Libya, Morocco, Sierra Leone and Guinea, they met the presidents (and have an appointment with the Zambian leader), who they urge to put pressure on the G8 to deliver on their promises. According to Botha, a good number of the world’s greatest economies depleted a lot Africa’s resources and it’s time they paid back.

The remnant crewmembers have braved the desert heat in chad, muddy roads and submerged bridges in Sudan, just to see a little change in Africa’s development. At some point, especially in Mali where they trod the worst roads, they had to drive 300km through forests to get to the next point.

In Sudan, they waded through inches of mud for seven days and nights on the flood-plagued track of the Nile, only to reach the crossing point into Uganda and discover that the bridge had been washed away. With just Fanta (a soda brand) to feed on and flood water to wash, the two spent another four days and two nights driving back the same road, searching for another crossing point. “It is the longest nightmare I have lived through,” cloete details.

In Eritrea and northern Algeria, due to closed borders resulting from conflict and wars, it was totally impossible to gain access inland- a stark reminder of the urgent need to bring Africa to peace.

But that was child’s play compared to what they had earlier stumbled upon in Somalia. About 300km inside the border, the crew stumbled into a warlord’s territory, who controls an empire that mints its own money. “He demanded $100 from each one of us.

We couldn’t afford the money. We had the task of explaining to him that we were harmless and talk him into letting us go without hurting us. He told us he was headed in the same direction as we were, we offered him a ride. Luckily, soon we drove into a UN base camp and they helped get into Ethiopia,” Botha narrates, with nervousness, as he recalls the warlord’s arsenal of human and mechanical artillery.

Yet, the journey has not been one of bumpy and impassable roads all through. Somewhere amidst Chad’s sand dunes, the couple lived so far their fondest memory.

“We got to a point where there was no one in sight for miles. The heat of the desert was getting to us so we decided to take baths in the open,” says 63 year-old Cloete, a widowed mother of one and retired community development worker. But that was before they were walked in on, pants down.

As they scooped water out of buckets and plashed it on their grime-clogged bodies, two men on camelback suddenly appeared. Botha adds, “It was a moment of confusion for both parties. They were shocked to see us bathing in the middle of the desert. We struggled and got some clothes on as fast as we could. Later we talked to them; they invited us to their home and hosted us for the night.”

And while crossing into Uganda at Atiak, the voyagers experienced the warmest welcome. “It was about 7pm and we were aware that borders close much earlier than that. But we tried our luck. The officer had already gone home but he came out and cleared us,” delights Cloete, whose roots are in Musina- northern South Africa. What’s more, the trip has not come upon any accident or car breakdown so far, except for a flat tyre in the centre of Addis Ababa.

To the eye, the two might appear like rich tourists traveling around in a posh car, basking in Africa’s beauty. And they agree that, on more than one occasion, they have had to contend with authorities and locals doubting their good intentions. Botha argues their case, “Rich tourists don’t travel by road, brave bad roads, desert heat, blood-thirsty warlords, dry their clothes on a string tied to the back of a car and sleep in a tent on the car roof.”

Though they admit that they are adventurous and nature-loving people who revel in the beauty of their continent, they insist that they are on this tour inspired by the vision of a united Africa.

Even with the millions of mileage covered, the mission seems to be just in its youth stages. Botha and Cloete are now headed for the DRC, Zambia and a few other countries in the central and south before the sphere is complete in the next seven or eight weeks. Back home, they plan to launch a website and approach media venues such as Time Magazine and National Geographic, to put their mission across to a wider audience. They also plan to do the trip all over again a year from now. Their vow is to carry on the advocacy until a better Africa is realised.

Source: The Monitor

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