Participant Blogs

  I learnt many new words while in Zanzibar. Amongst others, one that apparently describes me: "Mzungu". That's the Swahili word for Europeans, though quite derogatory. According to my new friend, Ussi, a venerable Zanzibari wiseman, the name comes from the "mzunguka", meaning "one who comes and goes", which was first used to describe the white explorers of earlier centuries, the likes of Vasco da Gama and David Livingstone. Today, the word is thrown around willy-nilly mostly by dala-dala drivers trying to make an extra couple thousand shillings off unsuspecting tourists who never stay long enough to know better.  Zanzibar,...

To you, the school of the nations   This is a thank you. Or an attempt at acknowledgement. To the countless faces and people that I have crossed paths with in the past few years.    I once heard a sermon of the way that we are rocks on a river bed, being tossed and turned and swept downstream. And as we bump shoulders with one another, a forming takes place. God determines the length and the depth but still - we are formed in different ways by the people around us.   Words cannot describe the forming that has...

In the late afternoon dusk the city is settling down under a cloud of dust. A few blocks away the image of dreary stone coloured houses is broken by a blue and green kite that sweeps over and through the buildings. Yells of delight are carried on the early evening breeze toward where I am sitting. Sarah sits on the steps outside her house, crying. Her brother has passed away today. The image of a broken girl is a far cry from the one I met this morning before school. Laughing when she introduced herself, screeching as she ran after...

  It is our first morning in Yogyakarta in Indonesia. I wake up at around 4:30am to the now forgotten but still familiar sound of the call to prayer being boomed into the neighbourhood from the rooftop of ten plus mosques. Not long after as the dawn starts breaking another strange sound claws its way through my sub-conscience. It's a clanging empty noise accompanied by the shouts of a man...    Later the day I see that the centre where we are staying at is surrounded by rice paddies. And it is a ritual for the workers that sleep around the...

From the north to the south, the beaches of the Galilee to the stone-cobbled streets in Jerusalem, the country shouts the name of our Emmanuel - God with us. But the echoes in the religion and the hate and the noisy youth murmur the depravity of our human souls. This is my second time in Jerusalem, and again the wailing wall is exactly that, a cause for despair. Against the wall an old woman is rocking back and forth.  Pilgrims come from afar to leave their prayers rolled up in wads of prayer, stuck in between two rocks. On the...

Oh Zanzibar You greet me with a white-toothed smile A glimpse of breakthrough behind veiled face Poa you shout from your squeaky bicycle Skipping through the streets in your fancy dress You laugh at my attempt to speak with you. Always room for one more in your dala dala Your karibu the sound of a warm openness Explaining your history of nations walking through your cobblestoned door. Your search for knowledge keeps you young Asking and seeking, eager to learn. Behind the salaam in your mouth A question in your eyes meets mine Revealing a deeper ancient quest for Peace....

This being my second year on global challenge hitchhiking has become one of those skills that I might consider putting on a CV, I've been working in the hours and can honestly say that I love the adventure of putting out my thumb and expectantly waiting to see who will pick us up. My heart is filled with fond memories as I think back to drinking late afternoon coffee on a smallholding close to the border of Costa Rica - Panama, and then being stranded in nomansland on the same border a few hours later. Going at hair-raising speeds down...

During my stay in Jordan I have developed a new outlook on life.  As we disembarked, the name of this capital city of Jordan came to mind.  Amman means steadfastness and perseverance.  Now, looking back on our mission in Jordan, I realise that the people here are blessed with these two noble qualities.    We were welcomed with open arms by our hosts, their friendly hospitality made us feel completely at home. I felt humbled by these people who so unselfishly deliver humanitarian assistance to the hundreds of refugees fleeing from the war-torn Syria.  What a heart-rendering experience to see...