It goes to the Nile! It will accompany us for many months. This mystical river, whose waters made the advanced civilizations of Egypt and Nubia possible in the first place. The lifeline of eastern Africa.
In Tunisia, the Mediterranean coast accompanied us for a while. We will not see the sea again on our run until we reach South Africa.
Even as I write this, new information continues to come in from second and third hand sources about how difficult it is to cross Egypt at the moment.
The attunement
After the prologue, the respect for the distance to be covered has increased once again. How will we reconcile the many new impressions and our daily work with the head in Europe, the logistics and the communication? Conditions are constantly changing and there is not much left of the original planning.
Our bus, which we specially redesigned for our reportage trip, will remain behind for the next leg in Europe. Instead, we will rent a car in Egypt. This means: less luggage and concentration on the essentials with the equipment. What remains is the constant search for a sensible route and accommodation.
Yet the run is strenuous enough. I constantly listen to my body, where it hurts, where pain develops, how the muscles and the circulation react. The communication technology with which we surround ourselves constantly demands some kind of action. I feel alienated. The technology wants to dictate to me how I have to go the way that I have chosen myself.
There is a difference between participating in an organized run and organizing it.
Added to this are the administrative problems that the states we pass through hold in store for us. Despite all the difficulties and shortcomings, the core of our undertaking must also be constantly sharpened, namely to provide as objective a report as possible on life in the respective region we pass through.
How to inform about art, culture and society
How we cover the country, people and culture depends on chance and the route. Of course, we plan to visit the most important testimonies of the past. Likewise, during the research phase, we have received addresses with which we make contact. By far the greater number of our contacts, however, develops en passant during our run and around it. Thus, the opinions of our interlocutors are not pre-filtered, but also not representative.
We try, if possible, to give the partners room for their own imagination, so that our reports do not act as filters. Of course, we also describe our impressions. The headline over these blogs should be: "Mareike and Horst experience Africa."
Why didn't it go on right away?
In addition to the ever-changing logistical challenges, health problems also arose after our return that required clarification. Although not everything is ideal again, we can take the next step now. We will keep you informed.