Travel Reports
Thumbs up for Africa: Kate Richardson
(2000-2002. Elizabeth)
On the dawn of my second year at Bristol University I've learnt many lessons since arriving at my Alma Mater, but one branch of my university life stands firmly at the forefront of my mind as having taught me the most about myself, others and our world in terms of society, culture and politics.
This event was a sponsored hitch to Morocco in aid of Link Community Development, a small charity working to improve education in sub-Saharan Africa so children and their communities have better opportunities. This involved raising a minimum of £300 for the charity, spreading the word about its work, and last but certainly not least, travelling I,600 miles south through France and Spain to an entirely different continent all by sticking out a thumb!
I discovered that the spontaneity enforced by not having a time scale or a set route, other than anywhere south, gave me immense satisfaction. The trip was very basic and it awakened in me the joys of everyday life, away from material pleasures and excess.
Within more economically developed countries everything is so immediate; this detached, rather sanitized experience of our world prevents discovery, it prevents taking the less direct routes. Yet it was these side roads that were infused with character, it was here that we had the opportunity for impromptu meals with strangers, chance conversations with market vendors and were invited to participate in spontaneous flamenco through to dawn.
When Washington Irving travelled from Seville to Grenada, he wrote in Tales of the Alhambra that he considered 'the people are more marvellous than the land'. I agree that it was the people I met that brought the landscape to life.
I8 rides, 3 countries and I,600 miles later I had completed the hitch and raised £800, which Guild contributed to substantially.
At the outset of this report I questioned which channel I'd learnt most from since arriving at University, and concluded that it was the hitch. Predominantly this was because it was the experience that enabled me to learn most for myself, and as is the case with so much of education, it was a journey, not just a destination.