World Run II / Reports

The map shows the position of which the pictures for the day are taken (if any). The start and finish markers are placed at the first and last valid registered position. This is not nessesary the actual start and finish position, if GSM or GPS signals was not available.

Goto: 2009-04-11 2009-04-13 Africa

2009-04-12:
Distance today: 52.0 km (Accumulated: 12458.8 km)
Elapsed time: 05:14:21
Country: Africa

Start 09:34am. At km-marker 597 on the main rd. to Addis Abeba. 25c, clear and med. wind. Finish at 17:01pm. At factory sign"Shewaba" brick factory (in amaric language) at the South end of Bahir Dar on the main rd. to Addis Abeba. 27c, a few clouds and same.

Stones and Politeness

- Today once again stonethrowing.. This time 3 insidents of groups of kids expressing their greetings w. stones. The same yesterday ! Indeed a sad culture ..

Fortunately the only contry of 4 1/2 continents crossed in world run 1 and 2 where you see this ugly response to a friendly meeting.
Along with the common opening phrase or scream "Give me MONEY !!! it slowly changes yourself and your approach. To remain positive towards new people you encounter, it takes some contemplation on the background of the behavior.

Ofcourse many are poor (but far from all) - yet that does not nessecearily mean loss of dignity or friendship: for example the people of Siberia and Sudan; seldom did I enjoy more friendliness and see more dignity than there :-)

- Itcould be because of the 'novelty' of the "mazungo" (white man in Kenyan language or general description in E. Africa) or other strangers in the remote highlands that I have been running through !
But again the contrary reaction is my experiense in similar circumstances..

The nearest explanation is the disturbing one of help !!
How political incorrect it may sound, it is my experiense that when massive aid is given, a contry slowly changes culture; from"lets do something !" to "Give me something". Sadly. As there certainly is a need for the simple version of aid during drougth, deceases and famine. Butit apparently comes w. a cultural Cost not to build longterm solutions based on the contrys own potential !

- often the stonethrowing begins when they realize that I havent any other to give than the run. None of the handouts that is expected at different levels.

No, what helps to cope in this case isthat Ethiopia is a very complex experiense. One oppinion or "general impression" doesnt seem to fit :-)

For example more often than not you hear a "Good sport ! You make a hard effort !! I appriciate it!", in the typical ethiopian softspoken english from bystanders in the small villages ! :-) Sometimesthe same villages where its farmfields met you w. stonethrowing kids... ;-)

While writing this (its send direct by sms to the web) during the run a teenager comes up besides me on his bicycle and follows along while I am running and writing. After a while he smiles: "Goodbye brother" in perfect english, and turns the bicycle back to the village..

You have to take each experience at a time :-)

NB: In Ethiopia gprs-service (global phone roaming service) is not yet avaliable for datatransmission. Therefore the Live-gps data cant be transmittet to the website as usual. It may first be avaliable in Kenya. Untill then traditional documentation is used: photo, logbook, video, wittness etc. !