The Hindu : Globetrotting with a mission

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 14, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Madurai

Globetrotting with a mission

By Our Staff Reporter

MADURAI, MARCH 13. Nothing deterred a globetrotting British couple in accomplishing their mission to raise funds for the ORBIS International, which envisions a world in which avoidable blindness is eliminated.

It was as challenging as any other adventure for Simon, a political consultant with a pharmaceutical company in London, and his wife, Suzi Harby, an interior designer. But the difference was that they were on the roads for a cause. As members of the Royal Geographical Society, they were naturally interested in these kinds of adventure.

Travelling past 15 countries on sandy tracks under testing road conditions on two-wheelers, the duo arrived at the Temple City on Wednesday on a visit to the Aravind Eye Hospital.

"It demanded supreme fitness for undertaking this trip for which we have planned for more than two years. We were impressed by the ORBIS charity as it works in developing countries to save sight through hands-on training, public health education and improved access to eye care. We had already mobilised 18,000 US dollars for ORBIS. We also want to propagate the aim of bringing sight to millions of needlessly blind," said Mr. Simon.

"We started on December 9, 2002 under freezing cold weather conditions, then ferried to France with our Hondas, where we suffered our first setback when Suzi contracted pneumonia at Carcassonne. We were left with no other option but to ferry back to our place to get fit. Despite that incident, we were determined to complete our journey and then travelled to Spain before entering North Africa where we visited Morocco. We could never forget Mauritania as I met with a bad accident. I ran over a donkey at over 100 km speed. Luckily, I escaped with minor injuries, but my motorcycle was completely damaged and I had no other go but to leave my bike there. This incident really upset our routine, as we flew to Johannesburg in South Africa, where I purchased a new bike. Only then we were able to proceed on our journey," he said.

They still remember their travel through the highest mountain peak of Africa `Jbel Toubkel', at an altitude of 4200 km.

Their nightmarish journey through the 600 km long Western Sahara deserts still haunts them.

They travelled through Botswana, Namibia, Cape Town, Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and then from Kenya they flew to India. "Barring the problem we had with Indian Customs officials which was immediately resolved, we are absolutely happy with our journey in India," said Suzi.

"There are a lot of misconceptions among the British about the quality of the Indian roads. But we found them good and also the Indian curries. However, traffic was the problem we had to tackle with," she said.

After having travelled almost 40,000 km (15,000 km on sandy tracks), Simon remembers the statement in the Daily Telegraph (London), which said that only one per cent of those who planned for such an adventure left the country on their mission. And only 50 per cent completed the venture.

The duo, now plans to enter China through Nepal and Tibet and from there, would leave for Mongolia, Vladivostok and then fly to the Americas. From there they would reach their destination via Boston.

"Every day is a different challenge. Though we had thought of winding up our mission at least on couple of occasions, our self-confidence propelled us to pursue our goal. At the end we would have completed 1,20,000 km on our motorcycles and that would see us through," gushed Simon.

"At the end of the day it was decency and hospitality that we had come across in Africa and India that helped us to proceed on our mission and nothing else," said the couple and left for their next transit point, Coimbatore.

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