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Friday 25th - Sunday 27th March The next day was Friday, and Kate's frequent trots to the toilet still hadn't subsided. It had now been 48 hours and we decided it was time to visit the nice doctor and his clinic. This was a somewhat unique experience. First they took a blood sample which although was done with a new disposable needle, was about as painful a blood sample Kate has ever had … maybe the chap needs a bit more practice! The hole-in-the-floor latrine (which had apparently been cleaned!) had a scenic view out of the kitchen where 4 ladies were sat cooking injera and so producing the usual samples was a little awkward for Kate. The lab assistant also succeeded in spilling half of Kate's hard-fought urine across the utensil laden work surface, and then announcing that her smidgen of the other sample was 'just' enough! We then had to endure an hour and a half of listening to the anguished wailings of very sick people, before being called in for Kate's results. We hadn't expected there to be anything wrong with her so the following news came as a little bit of a shock. Typhoid and Amoebic Dysentery … what a wonderful cocktail! And just in case, she had treatment for Malaria to take with the rest of her drugs. So it was Nurse Fritzi and Nurse Paul who had to look after the 2 invalids over the next few days. We were now prisoners in our hotel (zoo - we were almost always being stared at!) in such a quiet town with nothing to do. Our days consisted of lots of sleeping and going to the toilet, frequent excursions to buy bread and bananas, playing UNO, drinking Mirinda in the hotel bar, and the daily high point of a home-cooked meal in our room. The latter always brought a smile to Kate's face. The highlights of the week were the one-night visit of 4 British guys in their Land Rover (www.driveafrica.org.uk) and their kind offer of comforting Dairy Milk, and then the Saturday Market. It was the most exciting thing we did all week but being followed by 50+ curious locals as we tried to buy fruit and vegetables from amongst the sellers in the sea of umbrellas made it slightly stressful and short-lived! Yaleulet and his 2 sons became our frequent companions and made our stay so much more enjoyable. Monday 28th March By Monday 28th, both families were in Gondar and having found out where we were staying, they drove out to meet us. Although it would have been a wonderful finale to see our parents again for the first time as we rode into Gondar, it was great to see them and boosted our morale no end. It was also a comfort for them to see us relatively safe and well. We finalised the arrangements for the next day as frustratingly neither of us were up to cycling the last 60km, and so transport had to be organised. Tuesday 29th March When the day of the 29th finally dawned - the culmination of nearly 2 years of effort - we prepared ourselves for the final leg of our journey. We were definitely different characters to when we had started and we were both a lot slimmer (it's amazing what a week of typhoid and dysentery can do!), This, our final day, was going to be one of the most emotionally testing since we had left England 7 months earlier. We were picked up late morning by the dads and Ruth (Paul's not so little younger sister) and driven to just 5km away from the town centre. It was here we unloaded, stocked up on egg sandwiches and readied ourselves to cycle. Fritzi and Stephan's bikes had already been transferred to Gondar the day before and they were with us now, providing moral support and photographic services! We were due in the centre no earlier than 4 o'clock so we set off at 3.30 at a leisurely pace. Although we had been promised a memorable welcome, nothing prepared us for the fantastic reception that awaited us. As we rounded the first bend and reached the top of a small hill we were met by the unofficial advanced reception party. The Fasilides School had gone to the effort of organising a large group of teachers to give us our first welcome. We were presented and re-presented with a bouquet of flowers as they tried desperately to re-organise Chris's 'finely tuned' entry sequence. Matt and Sachin from Gondarlink were with us and eventually conceded to a short stop at the preparatory school for photographs. Also waiting with the teachers was a big group of students on bikes ready to join us on our triumphant final stage. As we set off again, our ever-increasing convoy was as follows: A taxi with Matt and Sachin decorated with Bike Ethiopia balloons was ahead of us, followed by us 'intrepid' cyclists in red Gondarlink T-shirts, a mini-bus with dads, Ruth, Stephan and Fritzi also bedecked with balloons, then the scores of eager cyclists with pro-Kate, -Paul and -Bike Ethiopia slogans posted on their backs, and to bring up the rear, a procession of teachers and well-wishers cars. This must have been quite a sight to everyone as we pedalled down the hill. Our swelling numbers started to cause mayhem as very enthusiastic cyclists decided to swerve towards the oncoming traffic, trying to overtake and reach the front of the line! You could tell we were approaching the school when the road was suddenly lined with uniformed school children and their teachers who were all clapping and cheering. The crowds pressed in on us as we passed, making us feel like a returning sports team after a major victory. After the photo shoot at the school we slowly pedalled up the hill, past the shops and cafes with cheering locals before turning into Meskel Square in the heart of the town. Wow! We couldn't believe our eyes. Literally hundreds of people were sat around the edges of the square and on the walls above it. Everyone was cheering and clapping. On the main central stage there was a mass of blue uniforms with little children holding banners and flags and singing a welcome. They were completely surrounded by hundreds more of these Bike Ethiopia balloons (thanks mums, Million and Abebe for your plentiful puff and patience!) and we swung our bikes to a standstill in front of them. Luckily for us, (even after just 5km we were exhausted and thirsty!) the proceedings were already planned and Chris made the first speech. His speech was followed by the director of the Fasilides School, Ato Baye, and then Paul was dragged up to say a few fumbling words (thankfully, Chris had given him notes) with Kate in the background before the official ceremony finally ended. We then sat down amongst the gorgeous children of Rekebnahas School (remember those blue uniforms) so that we could watch a special performance by the wonderful Azezo Circus. It was a spectacular show and their acrobatics were incredible. We know that Gondarlink supports Azezo Circus but we would still like to thank them for playing such an active part in our welcome. This was a grand finale to our reception, and as they made their final bows the crowd went crazy. All of a sudden all the children were running and clambering over everything (including our bikes) to get to the colourful balloons that were strung up everywhere. As we tried to retrieve our still fully laden bikes and make our discrete exit, things became a little more manic as the children turned their excited attention to us. Suddenly, the famous Bike Ethiopia cards were being thrust in front of our faces and autographs were being demanded. It was the strangest experience and we were glad to be finally escorted away by our bodyguards (parents and Million!) to the quiet comfort of the Quara Hotel for a well deserved Pepsi and samoosa! Later that evening, after a hot shower and some fresh clean clothes all the way from England, we all went up to the stunningly situated Goha Hotel. It was a special meal with champagne (also all the way from England thanks to the parents!) to celebrate not only our arrival but also Ravi's (one of the current GondarGap teachers) birthday. It was a lovely relaxed ending to a whirlwind of a day but a mixture of tiredness and alcohol soon finished us off and we were soon ready for bed. Wednesday 30th March onwards 5419.7 miles, Gondar, Ethiopia Our celebrity status didn't just last for one day and we have been treated like visiting royalty ever since we arrived. On Thursday we were invited along with Chris, Matt and Sachin to a grand reception held by teachers and parents of the Fasilides School. We had been given the impression that it was going to be a cup of tea and a few light snacks. How wrong could we be? This was an understatement in true Ethiopian style. We have never seen a spread like it. The only problem was that we had dinner arranged for later so could only eat a little. It was really difficult to not completely fill your plate as our movements for the whole evening were being filmed by a very attentive cameraman! It was then again time for speeches and boy, do these guys like to talk! They were actually quite interesting although the number of times the word 'heroes' was used got quite embarrassing, and never before have we heard Chris Grant and Bob Geldof in the same sentence! To show their appreciation for our efforts, they presented each of us with traditional Ethiopian clothing for which we were very grateful. They were incredibly generous and it would have been lovely to have spent the whole evening there. Eventually, after far too many Dashens (excellent Gondar brewed beer) we had to say our goodbyes…..to everyone personally! Friday was a busy day. Our first appointment was early in the morning for a visit to the Rekebnaha Kindergarten and Primary School. As soon as we walked through the gate, we were heralded with the familiar songs of welcome that we received at our reception. Both our families were with us, as well as Sachin, as our official GondarLink representative, and as we entered, each one of us was presented with a small bouquet of flowers. Rekebnaha and all her wonderful staff had somehow managed (the 'teacher' in Kate's mum was truly amazed) to get all the children immaculately dressed, into neat straight lines and singing (or at least miming!) the right words. They were also all so wonderfully photogenic so we couldn't stop taking photographs and smiling as we were seated as guests of honour, in front of this sea of blue uniforms and tiny grinning faces. Rekebnaha miraculously succeeded in keeping them chanting and behaving for what seemed like hours under the hot sun. We were really overwhelmed, and the words that they sang (when they had been translated) touched our hearts. It was April 1st, and Dean, Kate's dad's birthday. Somehow word had got round about this and Rekebnaha soon had the children switch from the heroes welcome to choruses of 'Happy Birthday Dean, Happy Birthday Dean….'. Dad was completely overwhelmed by this and soon tears were welling in his eyes …. Awhh, what a softie!...oh and us too! This was only the beginning though, as, again, in true Ethiopian style more gifts were being brought out. We were both presented with traditional Ethiopian dress which they insisted we donned immediately (a little sweaty over usual clothes!) They felt a bit strange but were a fantastic and generous gift, and were much of a delight to the children from the looks on their faces! We weren't the only ones to receive gifts though, as everyone else was also given a traditional scarf, much to their surprise. Rekebnaha, you shouldn't have but thank you very much! As we sat down for the coffee ceremony, in the newly finished library, two enormous celebration breads were produced….one for Dean (dad) and one for us. They tasted so good but even with us all helping out, we hardly made a dent in their huge mass. All the more for the children then! As a final thank you (although why Rekebnaha needs to thank us after all the wonderful things she's done for the children of Gondar, we don't know), Rekebnaha brought out copies of her own exercise books from which we might be able to learn Amharic. What a truly lovely morning, a memorable birthday for dad, and a great reminder of why the work of GondarLink is so important. Next up was an interview with a local newspaper on the top floor of the Circle Hotel. The young man who interviewed us (sorry, too many names to remember) was really friendly and seemed keen to promote the work of GondarLink as well as gain some human interest to support the facts of his story. It may even have been a national newspaper we're not sure, so fingers crossed, as anything that can help spread the word can only be a good thing. Our last and final appointment was later on that afternoon at Fasilides Secondary School. Ato Alemayu is commendably very interested in promoting gender equality and was keen to invite all of us along, including our parents, and Stephan and Fritzi for a question and answer session in the grounds of the school. At first it was fairly daunting being surrounded by hundreds of faces of students not that different in age to us, but we soon got into the swing of things. It wasn't long before we had the usual questions of 'What problems did we face along the way', and 'How did we overcome these difficulties', as well as the importance of teamwork. We're not sure how successful this discussion was as the students were quite shy and weren't so forthcoming with their questions. Unfortunately, there also seemed to be some internal politics with the teachers, with some of them wanting to wrap things up earlier than Ato Alemayu had planned. It was still an interesting exercise and very good for the girls to see Kate as an example of how women could succeed just as well as men. This is something we take for granted, culturally, but is not the case still with lots of people in Ethiopia. Although our main objective was to raise money for GondarLink, we hope that we've been able to act as an example for students of both sexes who feel that they've been trapped by convention and culture. It was an interesting afternoon and the tour of the classrooms and library was an eye-opener for us all. These final receptions have brought us to the end of our seven-month journey. It's not been without its highs and lows but we've both had a truly amazing experience, and have met wonderful people so often in the least likely of places. Passing through so many different cultures has allowed us to re-evaluate our own lives and has given us an insight into countries that otherwise we may never have visited. Much of our judgments of other countries have been based on the popular media at home. Although we always realized that this is often inaccurate it's hard not to fall into this way of thinking. Having visited places such as the Middle East and Sudan, we can only say that there are so many cultures in the world that we don't fully understand but could learn so much from. We also hope that our eventual success has shown others that if they want to do something that isn't perhaps part of the accepted scheme of thinking that with a bit of thought and perseverance, there's no reason why they shouldn't succeed. Forgive us if we sound like we're preaching but if there were more people in the world who were willing to give up some of their time and energy to helping others then many of the problems we've seen on the road wouldn't exist. We hope you've enjoyed joining us on our journey and thank you so much for continuously supporting and encouraging us along the way Love Kate and Paul x
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Challoner's, Fasiledes, Amersham, Buckinghamshire