“Did you see that herd of 25 elephants by the road?” Asked Andrew “What elephants?” I replied. I had ridden within 100 meters or so and had been scanning the other side of the road apparently. Sometimes you just go into your own head when you are riding hundreds of kilometers a day and somehow I missed them!
The one thing I couldn't miss though was the material poverty I saw all around me. We were riding through the Caprivi Strip, a narrow but long ribbon of land in Namibian territory that we needed to cross back into to get towards Zimbabwe, one that separates Botswana and Angola. It’s very arid and sandy, with not much fertile land, yet as in everywhere in Africa, people eke out an existence there, living in rough huts and clearings, surviving, as people do.
I have seen enough of the world that this is not new to me but I still find the evidence of the disparity between my life with theirs deeply shocking. We whizz though on our motorbikes at 110Km an hour heading for a good meal in the lunch stop I am writing this from. But this is their everyday existence.
I truly believe that God loves these people. That He has a heart for the poor that pours itself out in scripture and in reality. That we are called to do all we can live justly and to prefer one another. It’s why I work for Wellspring and one of the reasons why Andrew is pursuing the Youth Hub idea. People matter, no matter where they are born. We are all humans. No matter what our background. They deserve dignity, the same dignity that Jesus always treated people with, no matter what their race colour or creed, and we should do all we can to make sure we give it to them.
On of the things I have loved about this trip is meeting people. They may be restaurant or lodge workers, campsite attendants or people we meet on the road, and just stopping to talk with them is fascinating. Everyone has a story, from the young South African student cycling to Cairo, to the guy in the village yesterday who is trying to set up a business to feed his nine children. Everyone is human and we are all in this together. There is no “other”, there is just us
For those of you interested in the mechanics, the bikes are holding up great. A few minor issues but nothing serious. l love this old KLR with a passion! We are over 3,000Km in now and have a rest day planned tomorrow just near the border of Zimbabwe. We’ll cross over there on Saturday and visit Victoria Falls on the way to Bulawayo.
I’ll try to keep my eyes open for elephants on the way.