Rotary AIDS Hike 2006

Leading the Way in the Fight Against AIDS, six international students in South Africa will hike 2010km - from Johannesburg to Cape Town - to raise awareness of the AIDS Orphan Crisis and highlight the needs of orphans and vulnerable children in Africa. エイズ問題に関する意識向上のため、5人の国際親善奨学生が、2006年12月、ヨハネスブルグからケープタウンの距離を徒歩で行進します。エイズ撲滅のための道を切り開きます。

Saturday, April 21, 2007

ROTARY AIDS HIKE A HUGE SUCCESS!!!

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In just 20 days...

we hiked over 2010 kilometres across South Africa...
visited 33 Rotary Clubs...
spoke in 20 communities in 4 provinces...
raised awareness through dozens of local newspapers articles...
and interviews on KayaFM, RSG and Cape Talk Radio...
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and...
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WE RAISED MORE THAN US$10,000
FOR AIDS ORPHANS!


Die Burger (the largest Afrikaans newspaper covering the Western Cape of South Africa and the city of Cape Town) featured the Rotary AIDS Hike as its lead story on the front page!

Yomiuri Shinbun (Japan) covered about our 20days walk from Johannesburg to Cape Town on their New Year's Eve Edition!

To learn more about the HIKE and to follow OUR STORY day by day, see below...

Thursday, January 04, 2007

Day 20: Somerset West - Cape Town

Total Distance Covered: 2,010 km

Distance Remaining: 0 km

WE’VE ARRIVED!!!!!!!

We had a great surprise this morning…Lisa, a member of the Somerset West Rotary Club, joined us to hike the last 94 kilometers into Cape Town.

Then, as we hiked through Somerset West on our way to Cape Town, we received an unexpected phone call to inform us that Bidvest – a South African based holding company has agreed to donate R9,000 to the Hike. What a great way to start the last day of the hike!

We began this twenty days ago…the six of us hiking together through Johannesburg’s Soweto Township. What an amazing feeling to now hike through Cape Town – having crossed the country, covering 2010 kilometers – to finally reach the Waterfront.

As we hiked into the Waterfront, we were met by the Rotary Club of Cape Town, the Waterfront Rotary Club, and members of other clubs from the area. After a lot of hugs and pictures, and an interview with Die Burger – the main Afrikaans newspaper covering Cape Town and the entire Western Cape – we went to Mugg and Bean at the Waterfront to celebrate.

It was great to have so many people there to celebrate it with us, and the gifts and donations that were made to the hike were a wonderful surprise. What a great way to celebrate the completion of the hike!

After the reception, we walked back to where we’d parked the support vehicles. It was a bit sad to peel the Hike logos off the van…our long trek now at its end.

We checked out our tan lines and blisters…the physical record of the last twenty days on our bodies.



Kelly and Ikumi are flying back to Johannesburg tonight. Ryan is heading back home to Boston in the morning. Keegan is heading up to the West Coast to spend Christmas with Ruan’s family. And Jacob is joining his cousin in Cape Town

so, with hugs and smiles, a very real sense of accomplishment and a lot of memories…we all said our goodbyes and hit the road.


The 2006 Rotary AIDS Hike – Johannesburg to Cape Town

2010 kilometers in 20 days to highlight the needs of the 20 million children that will be orphaned by AIDS by 2010.

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Day 19: Caledon - Somerset West

Total Distance Covered: 1,916 km
Distance Remaining: 94 km

We were all extremely tired this morning and had a hard time getting out of bed.



After a delicious breakfast, we hit the road. Now that we’re getting so close to Cape Town, the traffic has become extremely heavy. Thankfully, we had a pretty light day of hiking as we only had to cover 93 kilometers. Again, the mountains in the distance and the vast open scenery was gorgeous!

It was quite amusing at one point…having hiked 8 kilometers, Ikumi came up to the van complaining about something poking her foot through her shoe…She took the shoe off and found a screw had gone all the way through. WOW!

The view of Somerset West as we came over the mountain was absolutely gorgeous...it’s hard to believe we’ve come so far.

We had a great afternoon and evening with the Somerset West Rotary Club!

Only 94 kilometers to go to Cape Town…WE’RE ALMOST THERE!

Day 18: Rest Day in Swellendam

Total Distance Covered: 1,823 km
Distance Remaining: 187 km

Ryan and Ikumi cooked us a delicious breakfast and we were able to relax all morning which was a great change of schedule! Over the last few days, we’ve been able to cover a greater distance than we had mapped out, so we were able to take today off.

So…after hiking over 1,800 kilometers, what does one do on their rest day? HIKE SOME MORE! We spent the whole day playing tourist and walking all over the beautiful city of Swellendam, the third oldest city in South Africa after Cape Town and Stellenbosch. We checked out the local art galleries and shops, admired the gorgeous old architecture, and we found the perfect bag for Kelly and the girls tried on matching outfits.

We headed up to the berry farms at the base of the mountain and had a great time raiding the blackberry bushes…the area was stunningly beautiful!


While the day was mostly one of rest and relaxation, we were still quite productive. Around 5:00 this evening, Keegan gave a great interview on Cape Talk Radio – spreading our message throughout the Western Cape!

We’ve been really lucky to have received great media coverage throughout the hike…especially with radio stations. Ryan, Ikumi and Kelly were interviewed on Kaya FM in Johannesburg. Ruan was interviewed on RSG, the primary Afrikaans radio station covering the entire country. And now Keegan’s covered the Western Cape with Cape Talk Radio.

We spent the night at the stunning Athenian Villa Bed & Breakfast (www.athenianvilla.co.za) in Caledon, a town famous for its natural hot water springs. It was an amazing place and the Caledon Rotary Club made us feel right at home. Thanks Peter & Carol!

Day 17: Mossel Bay - Swellendam

Total Distance Covered: 1,775 km
Distance Remaining: 235 km

The day started off amusingly. As we packed our bags and were preparing to leave this morning, Kelly & Ikumi accidentally locked themselves in the bedroom. For 10 minutes, the girls struggled with the door, trying to free themselves. Thoroughly amused by the situation and wanting to tease them a bit, the guys were none too helpful in getting them out.

After having breakfast and saying our goodbyes to Kate, Guy, Georgie and Thomas, we hit the road. It was just another day on the long road…we covered a good 144 kilometers and were quite worn out by the end of it all and in a good bit of pain.


We haven’t written much about the injuries and the pain we’ve gone through over the course of the hike, but there have been several hours and days of excruciating pain.


Kelly, Ikumi and Ruan have all struggled with heat rashes (Kelly’s heat rash in particular became quite bad and began blistering). We’ve all struggled on and off with sunburn, although this has, surprisingly, been the least of our concerns. Normally little more than a painful annoyance, the pain of blisters has been the bane of the hike so far. The pain of the blisters is amplified hour by hour as you continue to hike on them nonstop. At this point, new blisters are forming on top of existing blisters and the pain is unbelievable. Beyond the blisters, it is amazingly painful to get up in the morning and to try to keep an 8km/hour pace with sore muscles and cramps. Given the speed we’re trying to maintain, it is extremely hard on the shins and, now two weeks into the hike, the first hour or two of hiking every day is excruciatingly painful. The muscle strain and stress on the bones and joints seems to be accumulating as well. While there were times in the beginning of the hike where a muscle would be very sore or you’d feel like you twisted your ankle, there is now constant aching in the joints and old injuries seem to be coming back. If we all get through this without any stress fractures, it will be quite surprising and a real blessing!

We’ve hiked through blood, sweat and tears. And while it’s been extremely challenging physically, and often quite painful, it’s been an exceptionally meaningful, amazing experience and we are so happy to be making this trek across South Africa. We still have a couple hundred miles to go to reach Cape Town and, while we’re going to be very happy to reach our destination, there will no doubt be a very real sense of sadness as well. We’ve become very comfortable with our daily routine and the constant companionship of 5 sweaty, tired, sore friends. There will, no doubt, be a tangible sense of loss and sadness amid the excitement and joy of reaching Cape Town.

The land is absolutely beautiful here and the natural flora and fynbos of the region is unlike anything we’re used to.

We enjoyed the fine company of Marie & Garrick over dinner and headed off to the Swellendam caravan park for the night. The guys all shared beds and slept on the floor in order to allow the girls to have their own beds. WHAT FINE YOUNG GENTLEMEN!


Day 16: George - Mossel Bay

Total Distance Covered: 1,631 km
Distance Remaining: 379 km

It’s a great day…Ikumi is back! Her bus arrived in George this morning and we picked her up and hit the road. She’d worn her hiking outfit on the 17-hour bus ride, so she was ready to hit the pavement the moment she arrived. Words can’t express how happy we are to have her back…it just hasn’t been the same the last five days without her!

To celebrate Ikumi’s return…we decided to splurge and open up the jar of mayonnaise! For two weeks we’ve eaten tuna out of the can everyday without anything but a little salt and pepper to enhance the taste (which woefully is NOT enough). Without proper refrigeration we’ve been unable to open the mayo for fear that it would go bad. So, to celebrate her homecoming, we threw caution to the wind and treated ourselves with a can of warm tuna AND MAYO!

Kelly was absolutely amazing today. Hiking for two hours straight, Kelly covered 19 km (on the best of days, at our fastest, we average just over 16km in 2 hours). Ruan and Keegan tried jogging three times to keep up with her walking pace, but couldn’t handle it and finally had to give up (Ryan did a much better job of keeping pace with her today). By the time Kelly reached the support vehicle waiting for them, the rest of the hikers were almost 2 km behind her. Despite the longer legs on the guys, no one could keep up with her. Way to go Kels!

We finished up early today and hit the beach to hike our last 5km...a nice treat at the end of a long day. The beach was beautiful, but a bit dangerous. There were thousands of jellyfish close to the shoreline and many were washing up onto the beach. They look like little jelly bubbles with a long bright blue jelly string. In Afrikaans, they’re called Blou Blasies (Blue Blisters)…and if you make the mistake of stepping on one of them on the beach or have the misfortune of swimming into one in the ocean, a blister would be the least of your worries as the searing pain of the blasie is debilitating for days. So, while it was fun to hike on the gorgeous beach, we had to spend most of the time staring at our feet (to make sure we didn’t take a wrong step) and couldn’t actually enjoy the view of the ocean breaking on the sands or the gorgeous mountains in the distance. We’re all exceptionally sore and injuries are beginning to accumulate, so we can’t afford to lose a hiker to, of all things, a jellyfish sting.

Kate & Guy (and their great kids) were our hosts for the evening in Mossel Bay. Quite thankfully, Kate is a pharmacist. Ryan’s been nursing the massive blisters he developed at the start of the hike and Kelly has been struggling with several small, but very painful blisters on her feet over the last few weeks.

A friend of Kate’s is a doctor who quite graciously offered to treat the blisters. The process, however, turned out to be quite disgusting and immensely painful (but hopefully effective). The liquid is drained from the blister with a syringe and then surgical spirits (alcohol) is injected in its place, causing the most immense pain for about 10 minutes. Jacob had to hold onto Kelly through the painful ordeal as Ruan rubbed her back and patted her leg (Keegan took the semi-sadistic photos of the ordeal so that we could save these beautiful memories for posterity…and so we can share them with you all). Ryan was next to be treated and after the blister treatment found out he had sand under the skin of his heal. So, without warning, the doctor literally ripped the skin off his heal and poured alcohol over it in order to prevent infection. The flesh of the heal being pealed off was, without question, the most painful looking thing we’d ever seen in our lives. It showed a lot of strength and character for Ryan to remain positive and not get upset through the whole ordeal. We can only hope it will speed up the healing process and he and Kelly will be able to hike through the pain over the next few days.

Day 15: Plettenberg Bay - Knysna - George

Total Distance Covered: 1,516 km
Distance Remaining: 494 km

It was a very special day today. We hit the road at 7am and put in a strong 4 hours before we were met by some of the members of the Rotary Club of Knysna (pronounced Nie-S-Nuh), the wonderful woman heading the Knysna AIDS Council and 14 of the vulnerable children her program provides for (only the 14 were around this time of year as most of the children supported by the program were with extended families and caregivers for the holidays).

The kids were absolutely precious and it was so much fun to talk to them and play a bit as we all walked through the town together. As before, it was great to see the kids and be reminded of the purpose of this long trek across South Africa and why we’re all here. It was hard to leave these beautiful children behind in Knysna, but we’ve got a long way left to go and only a few days to hike it.


It was a beautiful day as we hiked through the ostrich farms of George and Knysna. At a few points, the road became quite dangerous, however. As Keegan and Ruan hiked out of Knysna, there was 2 kilometers of road with no safe space to walk. A gorgeous stretch of highway, the sheer rock face of the cliffs rises two feet from the edge of the road. On the other side, the road immediately falls away to the water of the bay. A beautiful, winding road to drive…you would be hard pressed to find more unsafe hiking conditions. Ruan and Keegan had no choice but to hike on the road itself, trying to stick as close to the cliff face as possible as the cars rushed past less than a foot from their bodies. Thirty minutes and a lot of nervous energy later, they made it through that stretch and were very happy to be back on regular roads.

As we all hiked towards George, a dozen paragliders flew overhead and the most beautiful dark blue waves were crashing pure white into the sand in the distance. The ocean is stunning here and in places, the rocks of the cliffs bank down onto the beach and into the water…it’s absolutely beautiful.

Hiking up and around a massive hill, we were surprised to find six large adult baboons walking only a few yards away. All of the “WARNING – Feeding the Baboons is Prohibited” signs we’d seen since entering the Western Cape now made sense. It’s a good thing the baboons didn’t know how much tuna, fruit and peanut butter we’re stashing in the van to get us through the hike…if they had, none of the hikers would have been safe!

Fortunately, we made it past without incident, attack or any unrequited baboon love interest.

As we came into town, we were met by members of the George Rotary Club. The daughter of one of the club members had brought along her pet rabbit and Jacob quickly became attached and we weren’t sure if the poor girl would ever get her bunny back!

We’ve been lucky to see a lot of absolutely gorgeous architecture from the road…especially some of the old Cape Dutch houses and churches. In George, there’s a breathtaking, historic Dutch Reform Church…when we came upon it, it was flanked by ominous dark gray clouds and you could almost smell the brimstone of a century of Calvinist sermons.

We had slightly different sleeping arrangements in George. Ruan’s aunt and uncle live there, so Ruan and Keegan stayed with them to help celebrate his cousin’s birthday. It was a great time, although the guys were worn out from the day of hiking and had to head to bed 6 hours before the party ended. The rest of the gang – Ryan, Kelly and Jacob – stayed with members of the George Rotary Club and had an excellent braai that evening!

Most importantly…we’re all really excited to be getting Ikumi back! After struggling with the incompetent bureaucracy of the Department of Home Affairs for two days to try to work out her visa issues, she’s taking a 17-hour bus ride to catch up to us. She should be arriving at the bus station tomorrow morning around 9am…barring any unexpected breakdowns of the bus. It’s been a tough five days without her (emotionally and physically). Ikumi has an amazingly calming influence on the group and it just hasn’t felt the same without her. Her absence has also meant we have to hike, on average, an extra 24 km each day…so having her back will be a blessing for our feet as well as our spirits! COME HOME IKUMI!