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: 2009-11-28 2009-11-30 Africa

2009-11-29:

21
Distance today: 41.0 km (Accumulated: 18482.8 km)
Elapsed time: 04:07:06
Country: Africa

Start 09:02am. at green roadsign "Vilanculos 100km, Inchope 474km" (in Northern direction), on the EN1-hwy to Maputo. 25c, cloudy and l. wind. Finish 15:53pm. At M-Cel teletower 1km N. of Unguana village, on the EN1-hwy to Maputo. 40c, humid/haze and same.

Another hot & humidday, hoping for a few drops of cooling rain :-)

It didnt come. But after the stage Louiz drowe us to a good accomodation where we could deal w. the present infections and getting the clothes washed.

During the run I went over yesterdays interesting conversation w. a teacher at a village school where wetented. ..Its no secret that its been a bit of a shock to see how foreign aid affects the daily life as seen while slowly running through the African continent. Even though not polite to write, it appears that often its mostly a benefit to the contries 'elite' who works for the various organisations and perhaps the governments as the power to choose/impact the distribution often could seem to be used by local government to facilitate aid in 'friendly areas' but perhaps not where the need is most evident (I was surprised to see much more aid-activity in S. Ethiopia and S. Kenya - in areas in favor of present governments, than in N.; where the poverty and drought was evident as opposed to the green Southern parts (and from reading the Economist, Sept. 26. issue, it appears that also the main media sometimes identifies the "drought" in those more government favored areas).

Yet, from a sociological perspective the disturbing thing is to experiense an apparently widespread mentality that development is something wich comes from outside the contries themselves - or a "give me money !" culture, as is the most common first exchange of words in many of the rural are as (meaning almost everywhere except the capitals). This is far from to say that there is not a need for development - but that solving these problems by food or money aid may be a very shortlastingbenefit, with the possible loss of peoples initiative (both local & governmental) as a long term expense for the contry ! An example to illustrate: when running through villages where most men and women were sitting at roadside waiting, despite fairly green and fertile landscape to be cultivated, the answer would be "Why should we work in the field ?? Its better if you can give us something !".

I had during months of running been wondering if it was just a naive observation and that surely I must have got it wrong somehow ! To hear the teacher lay out his oppinion while the sun was sinking behind thebao-bab trees gave a better understanding wich I'm very gratefull for :-)

- He told that he (and many others in the village) didnt understand why the "foreign" brought food and not tools so they could do agriculture and produce the food themselves ! "We have a green contry and we are many people to work. We only need the maschines to make the harvest big." .. It definately makes sense to me as most of the areas in E. Africa (except for the severely dry area around Marsabit in N. Kenya) are far from as dry or barren as I expected when seeing tv-news home in Europe from the region, But very often agriculture is hardly present at any efficient scale at all ! At a streatch of approximately 7000km of running straight through Ethiopia, Kenya and Mozambique I saw 2 - 3 tractors (!). But a lot of aid-agencies in new 4wd' cars..

Its a pleasure, though, to see a contry like Mozambique where the attitude is much more "lets make it happen" than to wait !! And, as you can see from the live pic - things Are happening in Mozambique w. small businesses growing :-))

Goto: 2009-11-28 2009-11-30 Africa

2009-11-29:

21
Distance today: 41.0 km (Accumulated: 18482.8 km)
Elapsed time: 04:07:06
Country: Africa

Start 09:02am. at green roadsign \"Vilanculos 100km, Inchope 474km\" (in Northern direction), on the EN1-hwy to Maputo. 25c, cloudy and l. wind. Finish 15:53pm. At M-Cel teletower 1km N. of Unguana village, on the EN1-hwy to Maputo. 40c, humid/haze and same.

Another hot & humidday, hoping for a few drops of cooling rain :-)

It didnt come. But after the stage Louiz drowe us to a good accomodation where we could deal w. the present infections and getting the clothes washed.

During the run I went over yesterdays interesting conversation w. a teacher at a village school where wetented. ..Its no secret that its been a bit of a shock to see how foreign aid affects the daily life as seen while slowly running through the African continent. Even though not polite to write, it appears that often its mostly a benefit to the contries \'elite\' who works for the various organisations and perhaps the governments as the power to choose/impact the distribution often could seem to be used by local government to facilitate aid in \'friendly areas\' but perhaps not where the need is most evident (I was surprised to see much more aid-activity in S. Ethiopia and S. Kenya - in areas in favor of present governments, than in N.; where the poverty and drought was evident as opposed to the green Southern parts (and from reading the Economist, Sept. 26. issue, it appears that also the main media sometimes identifies the \"drought\" in those more government favored areas).

Yet, from a sociological perspective the disturbing thing is to experiense an apparently widespread mentality that development is something wich comes from outside the contries themselves - or a \"give me money !\" culture, as is the most common first exchange of words in many of the rural areas (meaning almost everywhere except the capitals). This is far from to say that there is not a need for development - but that solving these problems by food or money aid may be a very shortlastingbenefit, with the possible loss of peoples initiative (both local & governmental) as a long term expense for the contry ! An example to illustrate: when running through villages where most men and women were sitting at roadside waiting, despite fairly green and fertile landscape to be cultivated, the answer would be \"Why should we work in the field ?? Its better if you can give us something !\".

I had during months of running been wondering if it was just a naive observation and that surely I must have got it wrong somehow ! To hear the teacher lay out his oppinion while the sun was sinking behind thebao-bab trees gave a better understanding wich I\'m very gratefull for :-)

- He told that he (and many others in the village) didnt understand why the \"foreign\" brought food and not tools so they could do agriculture and produce the food themselves ! \"We have a green contry and we are many people to work. We only need the maschines to make the harvest big.\" .. It definately makes sense to me as most of the areas in E. Africa (except for the severely dry area around Marsabit in N. Kenya) are far from as dry or barren as I expected when seeing tv-news home in Europe from the region, But very often agriculture is hardly present at any efficient scale at all ! At a streatch of approximately 7000km of running straight through Ethiopia, Kenya and Mozambique I saw 2 - 3 tractors (!). But a lot of aid-agencies in new 4wd\' cars..

Its a pleasure, though, to see a contry like Mozambique where the attitude is much more \"lets make it happen\" than to wait !! And, as you can see from the live pic - things Are happening in Mozambique w. small businesses growing :-))