Put Your Foot Down

Heart & Sole Tour – Day Day 22: Beautiful ubuntu for lunch… before we grind to a horrible halt

kai@thesoleofafrica.org.za (The Sole of Africa) — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 12:33:05 GMT

Three gee. 3G. My newly fave number and letter. The reentry of 3G internet connectivity into my life means that I can (possibly) avoid blogging suicide after days in the Vodacom Desert and get a post out to my Heartpeople. I’m sorry.

And this is a post of two halves. Yes, the joy and the sorrow. From high to low. Just like the story of The Heart and Sole Tour. Rollercoasterness, babies! With your permission, I’ll give you the bad news first. Yes? OK. Good.

Here’s the thing. The unavoidable, somewhat inevitable, awful, chuffing nightmarish thing. After three weeks of toiling up mountains in absurd heat, rain, majestic electrical thunderstorms and a spot of hail, The Heart & Sole Tour has come to a grinding halt. Why? No money. Geen geld. Asinamali.

A humungous thank you to all of you who have contributed dosh to us but we simply do not have enough to continue. Apart from our “Spirit of Ubuntu” lunch (which I will shortly pictorialise for you) we had a bad day on Monday. Searing heat, virtually no hard shoulder on which to cocoon ourselves from flying trucks, crazymaking and potentially dangerous potholes and very, very, very tired bodies and minds.

The Heartman still managed to push himself 32km or so away from Engcobo towards Queenstown. But, because of the heat from hell, we only really rolled off after 5pm and, eventually, at after eight, we gave up and drove to Queenstown to rest minds and bodies. In fact, when we found a place to sleep, I didn’t so much find the bed as the bed found me. We came together as one. No shower. No brushing of teeth. El Collapso.

The next day was our birthday. Yes. Ours. Both born on January 19. Similar characters. With differences. I woke up The Heartman to give him a present. I had thought of getting him a pair of grey socks from Pep Stores, I told him, but I had something better. “Whashat?” he gurgled from his nightly slightly parallel universe. “Look. We’re not going to get much further. We’re knackered. We need a break. We need more funds. It’s your birthday. Spend as much of it as you can with your woman and your dogs at home.” His eyes opened. Wide. “Go. Get a flight from East London. Rest. Raise money. See you on Sunday.” He grinned and said something about Hatman not being so bad after all. He went. He’s recovering. And approaching some corporates about giving us the support we need to finish what we started and achieve our objective of raising awareness of the madness that are the millions of landmines still blowing off the limbs of people all over the world.

We are excruciatingly aware of the near-apocalyptic horror that is post-quake Haiti. It is only right that the compassionate eye of the world should be trained in that direction. But we are not asking for much. Just enough to cover fuel, food and airtime coasts to cover the rest of the Heart & Sole Tour from near Queenstown to Cape Town. We are closing in on the 600km mark, which means that old Heartie and I are a third of the way into this beautiful adventure.

The Heartman has used his rent money. I have exhausted my savings. It has been a giant leap of faith. But, even as we hang suspended somewhere along the arc of that leap, we still believe. I have always seen the two of us rolling into Cape Town and that vision is as clear and golden as the day this crazy wonderful idea was born. Please continue to help us achieve that.

OK. I promised you some snaps depicting what I am calling the “Spirit of Ubuntu” lunch. Quick preamble. We ride out of Engcobo on Monday. Blisteringly hot. We find a couple of trees offering shade. There are a few colourful rondavel huts nearby. The children come. Then the adults. The questions about the bicycle that has lost a wheel. The smiles. The shaking of heads. Our new friends sit around us and talk animatedly about the mad mlungus (white people). Heartie naps. I talk with the small crowd we have collected. They are hungry. Yes, we have some food (stored for camping) in the truck. Ah, I will cook it for lunch says Mama Cordelia, clearly the Big Mama of the community.

I bring out Imana beef mince, rice, a couple of onions, tinned tomatoes and some Aromat spices. Mama C sends oldest daughter Nosipho on a long walk to the spaza shop to get paraffin for the stove she has conjured up from a nearby hut. Pots and spoons magically appear. Mama Cordelia cooks lunch for us, her two daughters and assorted new arrivals, numbering about eight. It is beautiful. We sit on the grass under the trees next to the road to Queenstown eating Mama C’s impromptu lunch. Deliciousness. It tasted something like this…

Our Heartie is chuffed to have lunch served up for him by the redoubtable and indefatigable Mama Cordelia

This shy and delightful child rocks up for lunch. Nobody knows where her mother is. It doesn't matter. She is part of a bigger family. The community. She is duly fed...

Yes. I thought you might want to have another look at this adorable little girl. So I took this. Are you glad I did?

Mama Cordelia, unnamed sweetheart, Mamasolo, me and Nosipho devour the "Spirit of Ubuntu" lunch. Yes, those are (yugh) "Crocs" on my feet. Heartman gave them to me. Because I left my Havaianas in Umdloti. There. That's my story. And, yes, I'm sticking to it!

Ndiyabulela (thank-you in Xhosa), Mama Cordelia. And to your lovely daughters. And we’re sorry that we couldn’t accept your offer for us to marry them, even if they do cook as beautifully as you do!

Right. Back on the road…

Heartie gives a thumbs-up to the sign registering 117km to Queenstown. But the heat and dreadful road surface got to us...

And I was going to give you a small closing ceremony provided by Mother Nature as we drove towards Queenstown but the internet connection has slowed down in solidarity with the Heart & Sole Tour. I’ll try again later. In the meantime, if you are able to help in any way – no matter how small – to fund our ride, here are the bank details…

G. M. Brink, Standard Bank, Musgrave Rd, Durban. Acc. 056706804 / Branch Code 042626.

Thank you!

* And, should you want to read Shaun Trennery’s interview with Geoff “Heartman” Brink on the excellent izimvo.com, please go right on over to http://www.izimvo.com/geoffbrink

Heart & Sole Tour – Day 17: Are we on top of the world… or what?

kai@thesoleofafrica.org.za (The Sole of Africa) — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 06:37:08 GMT

January 14, 2010 in 2009/2010 Heart & Sole Tour, SA-positive, Uncategorized, fredpix
Tags: Fred Hatman, Maclear, SA-positive, South Africa, The Heart and Sole Tour, The Heartman, Ugie, unicyclist | 3 Comments »

The locals keep telling us that the hills will get less prolific and less steep and easier to negotiate on a unicycle. But they don’t ride unicycles!

Yowzerness! We have every reason to believe that, bar Everest, we have reached the summit of the earth. They come. And still they come. Hills. Mountains. Uphills. And The Heartman somehow finds the strength, the resolve, the sheer bloodymindedness to defeat them.

After a rest stop – which involves glugging two bottles of Glaceau Vitaminwater, snuffling about in sports nutrition powder mixes supplied by Gower Power, icing his knees and growling at me for driving too close to him or too far away – he yells at the next hill, daring it to defeat him with words of warrior defiance.

I chortle in the back-up vehicle and pump up the volume of Joe Cocker, Grace Jones or, ahem, John Fogerty… for these are the tunes which seem to rouse him sufficiently for mountain wars.

This tour is tough. Flipping tough. We somehow ate up 43 kilometres of tarmac yesterday, most of it uphill, and wobbled into Maclear, up in the armpit of the northern Eastern Cape just before 10pm. Just in time to procure a room at the Royal Hotel. This establishment has personality. Actually it has two. One that suggests a longlost association with a more genteel era, when ladies in long skirts and parasols, and accompanied by sniffly corgis, took tea in the shade of the oaks and the cha-cha might have been danced in the banqueting room.

Those scenes have peeled away along with the enamel in the baths, the floorboards don’t squeak but squeal and, lying in bed, one might be forgiven for thinking one is camping under a waterfall given the amount of water which runs, flushes and boils in this quaint old building. The pigeons certainly appear to be enjoying their stay.

Right. It is 3.26pm and the 38 deg C heat – accompanied by a surprising high level of humidity – has subsided enough for us to take to the road again. We hope to make it near to the tiny hamlet of Ugie, the next point on the arc of our magical mystery tour to East London. Nocturnal unicycling appears to be very much in vogue!

While old Heartie straps his creaking knees in preparation for a new battle, let me play you out with a few pictures from yesterday…

Don't ask. I don't know. Maybe a local farmer was a big fan of Chevy Chase... and had also had a sense of humour. All I know is that Heartie couldn't resist an impromptu AmaOneTyre cabaret underneath this curious sign!

This gorgeous "gogo" (granny) fancied herself as a unicyclist and wouldn't give up trying, much to the amusement of all of us!

These rondavel huts were catching the late afternoon sun as we, er, cruised past

Does our unicyclist feel on top of the world? Not really. It just looks like he is!

The big kahuna who is in charge of our universe reminds us yet again that no artist on earth can match his or her creativity

Time for just one more… um…

Oh lawksness! There's The Heartman... riding off into yet another South African sunset. All pix: Hatman

Please excuse me, dear Heartpeople. I must run. Old Heartie is all strapped up and raring to get at those hills. Yee-ha!

Heart & Sole Tour – Day 15: Stillness after the mother of all storms

kai@thesoleofafrica.org.za (The Sole of Africa) — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 19:24:08 GMT

Eurekaness!!! After staggering through an internet desert for days on end, I have a semblance of connection! It’s trickling in at the speed of a unicyclist rather than, say, the infamous Winston the Pigeon but I’m not grumbling.

OK. So I have a backlog of about 1,000 pictures and dozens of weird and wondrous anecdotes on The Heart & Sole Tour… but I’ll do my best to get our loyal “Heartpeople” up to speed with our slow but sure progress. First, a picture. Look. It may be nothing more than what we old newspaper hacks term a “boring handshake pic” but, for The Heartman and I, it captures the spirit in which South Africans have received our crazy unicycle ride…

Where's a doctor when you need one? On the road between Matatiele and Mount Fletcher is the answer! This wonderful man, one Doctor Joe Thusi, stopped his car when he saw us taking a quick rest stop, crossed the road and gave us R900 cash to help with our fuel, food and airtime costs! Just like that!

This was beautifulness on an out-of-this-world scale! Heartie and I were simply blown away by Dr Thusi’s generosity and it took us a while to get going again. South Africans of every ethnic background are known for their generosity of spirit and nowhere more so than out in the sticks, where life generally is very challenging to say the least. Out of the basic dynamics of what is deemed newsworthiness, we often get a distorted view of what is happening in our beautiful country. What is generally happening in South Africa, my fellow countrymen, is a whole lot of good stuff. And, after more than two weeks on the road, straining our guts out on behalf of landmine victims, the Heartman and I are well placed to tell you that!

Right. Quick update on our mind-bogglingly beautiful road trip before I take you into a series of pictures taken over the past few internet-free days. We’ve made it to a point 12 kilometres beyond Mount Fletcher towards Maclear. The landscape is mutating into the drier, rockier and more stark terrain typical of the Cape. We have left behind the lush, green rolling topography of KwaZulu-Natal. But still the mountain passes come. The heat has been unbelievable. And we have been pushed to our limits. In fact, old Heartie and I “hit the wall” yesterday. Exhaustedness. The Heartman’s knees, heavily strapped to his physiotherapist’s requirements each day, were giving him pain. Even more exacting has been the emotional and psychological impact of getting a grip on the enormity of what we are doing. It has hit home. We have returned to the rehabilitative sanctuary that is the Matatiele home of Dr Rob and Maggie Mears.

“Doc Mears” and wife Maggie have been fantastic to us and we are resting today, restoring mind, body and soul in order to continue our quest for Cape Town. Enough said. Allow me to guide you through a pictorial tour of our recent Heart & Sole history…

This truckload of young initiates passed us somewhere between Matatiele and Mount Fletcher. It is a Sotho custom that boys, once 16 years of age, are smeared head to toe in red clay and circumcised in a ritual that takes place up in the mountains

We found this dapper young fellow adopting a distinctly Chaplinesque pose beside the road. A definite shoo-in for the Matatiele Fashionista of the Year title?

Introducing you to the sweetness of Mieke Chapman, beautiful but feisty young daughter of Keith and Mandy Chapman, who looked after Heartie and I so well in Kokstad. We overnighted with their neighbours, Vaughan "Neighbour" Raw and his wife Meryl and were spoiled rotten by both families. Thanks guys!

Time for a gentle change of scenery. And it doesn't get any more pastoral than this, does it?

Look. I can't remember where I took this pic. I just know it depicts The Heartman at his classic best!

Aah, yes. We've been stopped by the cops (traffic police) just once. And they rushed over to wish us a safe journey! They were also totally chuffed to receive a couple of ice-cold cooldrinks from our cooler box on a stinker of a day!

OK. I’m pushing my luck with this intermittent internet connection. I could be cut off at any moment. It’s a rollercoaster ride, I tell you! Let’s see if I may regale you with any further snaps…

Oh, yes. The mother of all storms hit us as were preparing to roll out of Mt Fletcher. Torrential rain. And hail too. Let’s see if I can find the pic I tried to take of that little baby…

Some locals are totally unfazed by a storm. Not surprising. It happens every afternoon in summer in this neck of the woods!

But all of the locals are united in their bemusement towards a man riding a bicycle which has lost a wheel! These Sotho ladies are wearing their traditional Sotho blankets. The temperature can drop 15 degrees in an instant!

Yes. I’ve made a meal of this post because I cannot be sure when I’ll be able to get online again. So it seems appropriate to close with a shot of me old Heartie riding off into the sunset…

And a pretty glorious one at that, eh? All pix: Hatman

Yowzerness! This post has been a rare old rollercoaster ride! Pretty much like our 1,700km Heart & Sole unicycle tour from Durban to Cape Town. Hang on! Stop the presses! News just in is that good friends Shane and Netty (she who made the origami cranes to be sold in aid of the Heart & Sole Tour) have driven out from Durban to surprise us. And they most certainly have!

Awesomeness overload! The plan is to camp in their tent on the side of the road near to where we stopped yesterday. I hope they brought a braai (barbecue) and some top-notch steaks! Not to mention beer! Then Heartie and I will set off again in search of Maclear (the next stop on our magical mystery tour to Cape Town) and a man they call Mr Mountain… I will explain all the next time I find the most elusive of holy grails – an internet connection! Toodlepip!

Heart & Sole Tour – Day 10: Heartie and I style it at Ingeli… and photograph beautiful girls!

kai@thesoleofafrica.org.za (The Sole of Africa) — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 22:11:19 GMT

January 6, 2010 in 2009/2010 Heart & Sole Tour, SA-positive, Uncategorized, fredpix Tags: Amy Winehouse, Cape Town, cows, David Bowie, Donny Hathaway, Durban, Fred Hatman, Geoff Brink, Gil Scott-Heron, Glaceau Vitaminwater, Gower Power, Greenacres B&B, Harding, Ingeli Forest Lodge, Jazzanova, Jeff and Zanele Meth, Jethro Tull, Joss Stone, Just Jinger, Kokstad, landmines, Limpopo, Mr Scruff, Nicola Conte, Phalaborwa, Pierre Brink, SA-positive, snoring, South Africa, swallow, The Heart and Sole Tour, The Heartman, The Quantic Soul Orchestra, The Sole of Africa, Toni Rowland, unicyclist, Willowdale Lodge

I write this while ducking to evade the dive-bombing strikes of a highly perturbed swallow guarding its nest on the shady verandah of the Willowdale Lodge near Kokstad.

But this is the coolest spot I can find and, as much as I love and admire birds, I ain’t moving. Meanwhile, Geoff “Heartman” Brink, our intrepid unicyclist, is splayed out on a mattress under a stand of beautiful trees. He ain’t moving either. He’s not even snoring – which is a nice change. I suspect he is too exhausted. Good boy.

He’s just one-wheeled up a murderously steep pass – Brooke’s Neck I think the locals call it (Brooke had some neck!) – in body-sapping heat and we’re waiting for Madam Weather to chill a little before venturing further. But it isn’t all bad. Max of the Willowdale has picked up the tab for lunch (cheese platters and coffee) and also kindly offered us a room free of charge for tomorrow night.

This is how people are. Beautifulnesses wherever we go. I think that they are so gobsmacked that somebody has the gumption to ride on one wheel from Durban to Cape Town for a good cause that they can’t do enough to help. Like Dave and Gill of the lovely Greenacres B&B in Harding. They extended a very long arm of generosity and put us up in a beautiful room.

Heartie and I have been bowled over by peoples' generosity, such as that extended by Gill and Dave of Greenacres B&B in Harding

As did Brian and Naomi – along with manager Paul – of the superbly-appointed Ingeli Forest Lodge between Harding and Kokstad. The Heartman and I overnighted in a “double-decker” wooden chalet – aah, some much-desired private space for each of us! – overlooking a sumptuous valley and Brian waived all costs of lunch, dinner and a couple of beers to boot. Stunningness overload.

I'm always up at 5am... and this is what greeted me at Ingeli Forest Lodge this morning!

After a, erm, hearty breakfast The Heartman limbers up at Ingeli before we take to the road for Kokstad...

... stopping only briefly to snap this little beauty on the way out!

Support from bystanders alongside the road has brought us humungous chuffedness too. Local villagers stare in amazement at this man straining to get up yet another hill on one wheel before breaking out in an assortment of wide grins, clapping and cheering. We get stopped and asked questions and everybody, young and old, is fascinated by our strange road trip. Awareness of the scourge of landmines is reaching places where the far more pressing issue usually is how to put food on the table and find employment of some sort.

Drivers, many of whom I suspect have read about the Heart & Sole Tour in the newspapers or heard about it on the radio, hoot and lean out of windows to give us the thumbs-up. Whenever we’ve stopped on the roadside so that old Heartie may catch his breath, glug down a bottle of sponsored Glaceau Vitaminwater or be boosted by the Enduro sports nutritional mix provided by Gower Power, people will pull over and want to know what on earth is going on!

As did Jeff and Zanele Meth, parents of beautiful sisters Bonita and Bridget, who are from Phalaborwa in the Limpopo Province and were holidaying near Harding. Jeff was very curious about the unicycle and The Heartman never tires of explaining the delicate technique required to ride the monster!

I thought you might enjoy this portrait I did roadside of little Bridget. Now tell me you didn't enjoy that. You can't, can you? No. I thought as much!

Every word of support from the public gives us a huge psychological boost and, in the case of our unicyclist, a massive pick-up to enable him to tackle the next hill. The most common question we get is “Are you insane?” Fair question. We’ve asked ourselves that many times over the past 10 days. Our answer is that the Heart & Sole Tour is the most sane thing either of us have ever done. We think it is instead completely mad to spend two hours of every working day sitting in traffic… and between each of those two hours to stare at the same four walls of an office waiting for 5pm to come along!

So we are hugely privileged to be allowed to indulge ourselves this wild adventure, meeting wonderful people, accepting their kindnesses and, all the while, be raising awareness of an issue about which we both feel so passionately. And, as we trundle so slowly along, we are exposed to the most gorgeous natural beauty of South Africa, our beloved country. How fortunate we all are!

And here's a spot of South Africa's natural splendour... it certainly seemed to captivate The Heartman who found relief from his arduous ride in the scenery! Pix: Hatman

OK. So today’s ride was sheer madness. Steep uphills tackled in searing heat. But it beats being bored in an air-conditioned office, hey? Mmmm. Easy for me to say… I wasn’t the poor soul riding a unicycle in that lot!

* Today’s back-up truck playlist: Donny Hathaway, Gil Scott-Heron, David Bowie, Jethro Tull, Just Jinger, Toni Rowland, Nicola Conte, The Quantic Soul Orchestra, Jazzanova, Mr Scruff, Joss Stone, Amy Winehouse and Alice Russell.

* Pierre Brink, proud dad of The Heartman, is challenging other businessmen or women to boost our dwindling funds by matching his pledge to sponsor The Heart & Sole Tour at a rand per kilometre covered. If we make it to Cape Town – and we will! – that will be a cool R1,700. Anybody up for that? If so, please e-mail me at redh...@gmail.com and give me your name and contact details. You will be indirectly supporting our objective of raising awareness of the devastation caused by landmines. Thank you!

Heart and Sole Tour : Day 3

kai@thesoleofafrica.org.za (The Sole of Africa) — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 19:57:28 GMT

Heart & Sole Tour – Day 3: Fantasticness and disaster

December 30, 2009 in 2009/2010 Heart & Sole Tour, The Umdloti Vibe, Uncategorized, fredtube Tags: Brenda Spaan, Fred Hatman, Geoff Brink, Hibberdene, Ignacio, internet connection, Jimmy Reynolds, KwaZulu-Natal south coast, landmines, natural energy drink, Pussy, SA-positive, Scottburgh, The Heart and Sole Tour, The Heartman, The Sole of Africa, Umdloti, unicycling, video, YouTube

Look. I’ve been a journalist long enough to know how to expertly “fudge” an issue. But if this blog is to be an accurate portrayal of the peaks and troughs, nay hills and valleys, of The Heart & Sole Tour, then no way… I’m not making a silk purse of a sow’s ear.

This day has been both beautiful and disastrous. Beautiful in that The Heartman, aided by favourable conditions, chowed up no less than 40.2km. A gentle tailwind and cool, overcast conditions propelled him, despite painful knees, from Scottburgh to Hibberdene in no little style. The hills were tough but, with his stamina and strength on the rise, old Heartie wasn’t to be beaten. In unicycling terms, the best day so far.

Then dee-rama struck on a grand scale. Or not so grand. I’m not going into detail – there’s a Heart & Sole Tour objective to be accomplished – but suffice to say that it has been forcefully driven home to me that perhaps the greatest challenge faced on a marathon adventure such as this lies in the psychological and emotional dimensions. Especially with two such strong personalities at the centre of it all.

OK. Tomorrow is another day. Now, if this infernally weak internet connection allows me, I would like to treat you to a video that has just reached us of Geoff “Heartman” Brink showing off his considerable unicycling skills and talking eloquently about what it is that drives us to overcome all adversity to complete the 1,700km – wait, 1,600km! – which lies before us.

I’ve just been brought a cold “Pussy natural energy drink” to help me recover from this day. And find enough patience with this woeful internet signal to attempt to load up the vid. I suggest you pour yourselves a stiff one while I try…

There. I think it’s on. If you do actually get to see the above video, it was filmed and edited by bright Umdloti thing Jimmy Reynolds using footage shot in Mozambique by Brenda Spaan for The Sole of Africa. The gravely disfigured face in that footage belongs to Ignacio who stepped on a landmine when he was just nine years old. But not just any landmine. This particularly cruel piece of military ordnance was designed, when detonated, to leap roughly five feet nine inches into the air and explode into people’s faces.

This is what happened to Ignacio, a beautiful and innocent boy at the time. And this is precisely the reason why we need to put personal – and ultimately petty – differences aside and finish this Heart and Sole Tour. My connection has gone again. And so have I. Good night!

The Heart & Sole Tour – Day 2: Meeting friends old and new

kai@thesoleofafrica.org.za (The Sole of Africa) — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 21:20:35 GMT

The Heart & Sole Tour – Day 2: Meeting friends old and new

December 29, 2009 in 2009/2010 Heart & Sole Tour, SA-positive, Uncategorized, fredpix
Tags: Amanzimtoti, Cape Town, cows, football, Fred Hatman, Geoff Brink, laduma, Mike Perk, Olivia "OJ" Symcox, Port Shepstone, SA-positive, Scottburgh, Sheppies, Steers Diner, The Heart and Sole Tour, The Heartman, Total, Ultra City, Umkomaas, unicycle | 1 Comment »

Amanzimtoti to Scottburgh was tough. For Geoff “Heartman” Brink, our intrepid unicyclist, it was 34km of long hills and strong headwinds.

But our boy done well. There were regular stops and we even had the small 24-inch wheeler out for a bit. After having seen him for some weeks astride the mighty 36-incher, which lifts him to a vantage point above the roofs of the biggest cars, this made for a comical sight – like watching Dad sneak a ride on little Tyrone’s tricycle.

As always we had a blast. Bantering with garage attendants, playing football with a boy on the side of the road and old Heartie literally charmed a shirt off the staff at Steers Diner at the Ultra City near Umkomaas. And two surprise visits from old friends who dropped into offer support: Mike Perk and Olivia “OJ” Symcox.

OK. So this is how it unfolded…

The Total petrol pump guys were gobsmacked by the unicycle and one even offered to fill 'er up...

Heartman's old Cape Town work colleague Mike Perk seemed a bit shorter than usual... but, hey, travelling at 12km on the hard shoulder of a highway for hours on end can have hallucinatory side-effects!

Our boy was angling for a free burger and bottomless coffee at Steers branches all the way to Cape Town but was seen off with a kitchen staff T-shirt complete with "sizzling flame" sleeves!

Even if they were seen hotfooting it away from Ultra City, these cows are not, repeat NOT, the source of meat for Steers burgers. But they did have the effect of putting old Heartie off his stride!

And then… big surpriseness! Olivia “OJ” Symcox, a good mate, had just been heard interviewing Heartie’s bride-to-be on Lotus FM when she drew up behind us, bellowing a supportive chant at the unicyclist and flashing all manner of red lights and blaring sirens. Quite an entrance… but our OJ rolls like that!

Hello. A very understated OJ slips in quietly to whisper a few words of quiet encouragement to our brave Heartman. All pix: Hatman

OJ has given the Heart & Sole Tour some serious support over the past few weeks and we love her for this. In fact, Heartie and I have been knocked over by the interest in our unicycle adventure on behalf of landmine victims. People are good. People really do care. And we can’t thank them enough. Beautifulnesses all round us.

So after a day of being buffeted from the side by a plain nasty south-wester, The Heartman is hoping that a gentle north-easter will nudge him in the general direction of Port Shepstone tomorrow (Wednesday). We’re not sure how far we will go tomorrow but we’d love to make Sheppies by Thursday to share a New Year’s drink with some dear friends. Go, Heartie, go!

* Catch our Heartman being interviewed live on SAfm radio at 3pm on Thursday.

* We are aware that some very kind people wish to make donations towards our Heart & Sole “Fuel, Food and Airtime Fund”. I hope to put the account details on this blog tomorrow evening. We have limited dosh for this trip so every little bit helps to take us closer to Cape Town and “Mission Accomplished”. Ngiyabonga, good mense!

The Heart and Sole Tour : Day One

kai@thesoleofafrica.org.za (The Sole of Africa) — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 20:56:59 GMT

Heart & Sole Tour – Day One: From media frenzy to hoity Toti

December 28, 2009 in 2009/2010 Heart & Sole Tour, SA-positive, Uncategorized, fredpix Tags: Amanzimtoti, Cape Town, Chris and Jane Skinner, Durban, Fred Hatman, French television channel, fry-up, Geoff Brink, Heartman, KwaZulu-Natal south coast, media frenzy, Rotary International, SA-positive, Scottburgh, The Heart and Sole Tour, The Maldives, Wilson's Wharf

What a day! Excitement overload. It kicked off at Wilson’s Wharf this morning with quite a crowd very keen to send The Heartman and I off into the unknown. With friends like these…

With friends like these, I think we’re going to miss them. Right now we’re on too much of an adrenaline high to know whether we’re coming or going. But we went. We went from Durban to Amanzimtoti. And it was good. Nutty unicyclist The Heartman has been whingeing a tad about sore knees since his antics around a 10km mountainbiking trail. They held up. And he cruised. Impressiveness. We’re stoked.

So let’s run our eyes over a few images of the first day of our 1,700km one-wheeled madness to Cape Town, shall we?

Nice. The Heartman gets all the glory and is interviewed by a French television channel at Wilson's Wharf while the world's photographers encircle him (out of picture)...

Well. You know. OK. Next one…

And we're off! Should we stick on the Port Shepstone road headed for Cape Town or be diverted to the airport and a week in The Maldives?

We go to the airport, of course. For a lekker fry-up and bottomless coffee. No airline flies direct to The Maldives from Durbs!

But not before old Heartie has given a, er, crash course in unicycling to a very jovial car Park attendant at Durban airport

What's this? Living the holiday? After three hours of unicycling on the Southern Freeway, we reach Toti... and after a further two hours of unicycling aimlessly around Toti just for the hell of it, we find ourselves in first-night Nirvana!

Rotary International are generously helping us out and Chris and Jane Skinner of the Toti branch kindly offer us a bed for the night. Only it comes with a unsurpassed seaview, a right kiff swimming pool, a fish and chips supper, a couple of beers and a good few laughs before bedtime.

Here. Help yourselves to a good chortle…

The notorious Heartman Cabaret enters swimming pool right with a, er... um... what would YOU call this? All pix: Hatman

Nice. All in all a very good first day. Even if the lack of a hard shoulder on the freeway exiting Durbs and loads of traffic gave us a good few hairy moments. And the long hill after the airport approaching Amanzimtoti tested The Heartman big-time. But he styled it. Like he’s styling it with some serious snoring next door. So, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll leave you and go to get some shut-eye myself.

We want to get to Scottburgh tomorrow so we’re getting up at four to get an early start before the heat kicks in. Toodlepip!

The Heart and Sole benefits from Dilana and Toni Rowland

kai@thesoleofafrica.org.za (The Sole of Africa) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 20:34:29 GMT

Durban,South Africa : December 21, 2009
http://fredhatman.co.za/?p=2140

You know that sometimes I like to kick off a blog post with a picture. This is one of those times. Stick around. All will become clear. Possibly.

This is Dilana. This tiny woman has a humungous presence and an even bigger voice. On Saturday night, she spoke out against landmines for the Heart & Sole Tour. We love her.

Geoff “Heartman” Brink and I are being constantly amazed by the generosity of spirit shown for our Heart and Sole unicycle tour by people we don’t even know.

We are reminded time and again that people are intrinsically good. Better than good. People are generally kind, compassionate and full of good lovingness. And when we tell them that The Heartman is about to ride a unicycle 1,700km or more to Cape Town to raise awareness of the evil of landmines, there is very little they won’t do to help the cause.

When we tell them that every 19 minutes, somewhere on our planet, somebody – and it is usually a woman or child – has their life devastated by the explosion of one of the millions of military killing devices left scattered around after wars, they are moved to feel very angry indeed. Angry that it is totally unnecessary that people continue to be maimed or killed by unexploded ordnance that is left to lie treacherously around on our earth. Earth that otherwise could be planted and harvested to feed the mostly poor nations which are especially blighted by the planting of landmines.

People like Annette Oberholster, a friend of The Heartman, who has been folding origami cranes in a desert in Qatar so that we may sell them to raise money for fuel and food for our ride which will take around six or seven weeks. OK, so the paper birdies didn’t arrive in Durban in time for us to take to the Dilana/Toni Rowland gig in Pinetown on Saturday night to exchange for 10 bucks or so with people in the audience.

We went up there anyway. To meet with Toni, the beautiful musician who is the ambassador of the Heart & Sole Tour. And to experience Dilana, who had expressed her wish to support us in any way possible. When we meet the diminutive human dynamo who is Dilana, she cannot do enough to help. During her set of heart-wrenching songs showcasing her mega-kaaaBooom voice, she gets old Heartie up on stage to intro the audience to our adventure and ask the hardcore rockers and bikers there if they would like to part with a little cash to help us out.

They did. Big-time. Beautiful hairy, leather-jacketed, multi-tattooed, Harley-riding people. Who care. Let’s have a look at what unfolded…

Dilana gives The Heartman the big intro on stage, he threw his hat into the audience... and the donations came rolling in!

R970. Nine hundred and seventy ront, people. Do you have any idea how much of total coolness that is? Couple of tanks of petrol for the old back-up truck, my babies. Thank you Dilana, Eric, Toni, Bronwyn, John, Kai and everybody else who was at VMacs in Pinetown on Saturday night. You rocked. And we rolled. And we all, like, well, y’now… yeah, rock ‘n’ rolled. For people who have had limbs blown off their bodies.

OK. I’m going to play you out with a few more pics. Because you’ll dig them. Yes. You will. You’ll see…

Bronwyn Rowland, Toni Rowland and Dilana... nice, hey?

Another kiekie of Immense Voice Woman. Just because I dig it. Do you?

This is Heartman smoking a rare cigar. Somewhere around Pinetown at 2.30am. I bought it for him before the gig for R23. Because I knew it was to be a special night. And it was. That is all. All pix: Hatman

Thank you for coming. I love you, Hatpeople. Buy a T-shirt on the way out. And please find out more about Dilana and her tour with Toni Rowland right here.

* You might have noticed that I didn’t publish an “Umdloti Interview” at the weekend. That’s right. I didn’t. And I won’t until Heartman and I get back from The Heart & Sole Tour sometime in February next year. Because it’s all about the unicycle ride now, OK? We leave in a week’s time and there’s a lot of stuff to sort out before then. Excitingness overload!

How Netty’s paper birds are helping landmine victims

kai@thesoleofafrica.org.za (The Sole of Africa) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 14:39:54 GMT

I recently reported on this blog that, among the many wonderful people and companies which have stepped forward to support our Heart & Sole unicycle tour, an angel by the name of Annette Oberholster had offered to singlehandedly make 1,000 origami cranes for us to sell for fuel and food money.

“Netty”, as she is known to those lucky enough to be friends of hers, is waiting in a desert in Qatar for her man to finish a contract with a petrochemicals company and is currently blistering her fingers while folding as many of her “paper birdies” as possible for us to sell for a R10 donation at the Dilana/Toni Rowland gig at VMacs in Pinetown on Saturday evening, December 19.

This is pure beautifulness on Netty’s part. And I would now like to present to you a depiction of what her origami cranes look like…

Cranes over Africa... these origami birds will help The Heart & Sole Tour to raise awareness of the totally unnecessary scourge of landmines

I’m loving that. What about you? How are you feeling about Netty’s gesture? Does it move you? Does it make you feel warm and fuzzy down there, in the pit of your tummy? Does it encourage you to want to smile at strangers, both handsome and ugly, svelte and fat? Does it compel you to hum nice ditties while you do the ironing or while hovering over the cheese section at Woolies? That’s fine. I understand. Because it does me. Actually, it does me head in. That somebody could produce an act of such phenomenalness.

But, you see, Netty has witnessed first-hand the destruction caused by landmines. She has seen the killing fields of Vietnam. The lands littered with UXO (Unexploded Ordnance). And it makes her feel bad. Because she is disgusted by the fact that, decades after the warmongers went home to find something else to do, their detritus continues to kill.

Fact: Every 19 minutes, somewhere on our planet, somebody (usually a woman or child) has their life blighted by a landmine. The Sole of Africa, for whom The Heart & Sole Tour is raising awareness, is working to weed out the killer ordnance and giving assistance to victims by way of counselling and provision of prosthetic limbs.

This is why Geoff “Heartman” Brink is to ride 1,700km from Durban to Cape Town on one wheel. And this is why Netty is helping us. You can help us too. f...@fredhatman.co.za. We have yet to find a comfortable motorhome to use as a back-up vehicle. Please help us to help those who suffer unnecessarily. And we’ll help you.

http://fredhatman.co.za/?p=1995

The Heart & Sole tour Gets an Angel

kai@thesoleofafrica.org.za (The Sole of Africa) — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 06:20:38 GMT

http://fredhatman.co.za/?p=1833L

ook. I thought that kicking off with a picture of 90s supermodel Helena Christensen wearing only a few watches in my first post on this blog yesterday worked a right treat.

So I’m doing it again…

No, this isn't Helena. And she's not even wearing only watches. This a more beautiful woman. Wearing her heart in the right place. And don't you dig the flowers too? Beautifulnesses.

OK. Let me introduce you to our angel. Annette Oberholster. Netty to her friends. That’s her sitting smiling angelically among those gorgeous flowers above.

So what about her? I’ll tell you what about her. Netty, who gets around our world quite a lot, is currently living in the desert of Qatar while her boyfriend finishes a contract working with a petrochemicals company.

She, being a long-time friend of our Heart & Sole Tour unicyclist Geoff “Heartman” Brink, heard about our little 1,700km jaunt from Durban to Cape Town to raise awareness of the scourge of landmines. And got thinking. About how she could help.

I hope that she won’t mind me doing this but I’m publishing an extract from the e-mail I received from her yesterday:

“hello dear friends,

i have come up with an idea to try and help raise some money for the heart and sole tour, so i am going to run it by you to see if you think it will ‘fly’. i will definitely need your help to pull it off.

in my idleness here in the desert of qatar, i have taught myself how to fold an origami crane. : )

bear with me.

in japanese folklore, if you fold 1000 cranes you get to make a wish. so, i could fold 1000 cranes and my wish would be to enhance the lives of landmine victims … that i would do by selling the cranes and donating the money to the heart and sole tour. the tag line could be this quote: ‘I will write peace on your wings and you will fly all over the world.’ - Sadako Sasaki (1943-55).

folding 1000 cranes is a BEEEG job! weeks and weeks and blistered fingers. so, before i begin, i need to know that it is going to work.

the math is simple, sell each crane for R1 each and we make R1000. or better still, sell each crane for R10 each and we make R10 000. but there is a problem, i am going to need your help to sell these guys in south africa.

i am coming to south africa on dec 21 and could bring them with me. but do you think we could find 1000 peeps to flog them to? in my heart i think so, (friends, your church, corner cafe come to mind) and even though it’s a little paper bird, at least people are getting something for their ten bucks and so much better than soliciting a straight hand-out.

in your hands too, mr hatman, we could market the idea nice. i am going to get a quote from my pa who is in printing and see if someone can donate 1000 little stickers with the heart and sole tour logo to stick on the birdies’ wings.

so, what do you think? should i start already?

have a happy happy day.

love netty x”

OK. So I ended up publishing her whole e-mail. I couldn’t help myself. This offer had me in tears when I first read it and when I read it again five minutes later… and 20 minutes after that. It’s just done the same to me as I copied and pasted. This, and I’m sure my lovely Hatpeople will agree, is what makes the world go round. Well, at least my tiny bit of our world. In fact, Netty’s beautiful offer has shaken my world.

She has already started on making the first batch of the little origami cranes and her pa in Vryheid will print the stickers at no charge. He wants to his bit to support our cause. How much of loveliness is that, hey? Lovingness.

So we will be at the gig at VMac’s in Pinetown on Saturday, December 19, when our Heart & Sole ambassador and rock vocalist Toni Rowland will perform with Supernova Rockstar\’s Dilana… and we will be selling Netty’s “paper birdies” for R10 each. The proceeds will help pay for fuel (for the back-up vehicle) and food (for The Heart & Sole team) as we wend our merry way down to Cape Town over a period of six weeks to two months (or however long it takes) so if you feel moved to give us a little more, we would love you even more.

Coolness. Netty’s offer has blown us away. It is easy (or you think it would be) for a large company to sponsor or loan something to help us on our way – and we are immensely grateful to our tour supporters, whose logos you will see to the right of these words – but for an individual to offer to blister her hands in a desert far away to produce a simple gift like an origami crane warms our hearts beyond belief.

Now. Please hear this. The Heart and Sole Tour\’s negotiations with a large national to procure the loan of a back-up vehicle (a four-berth motorhome to be precise) has, er, broken down. They couldn’t see any “value” in lending us a vehicle for two months in “this harsh economic climate&rdquo.

So we are not going anywhere until we have secured the use (we will pay for the fuel) of a lekker motorhome in which the four of us can sleep and keep all the stuff we need. And from which I can blog and tweet and message on facebook and send photographs to everywhere and film to YouTube and contact the newspapers and radio about how The Heartman is doing and how wonderful you were in lending us a motorhome. Check?

So, if you can help – or know somebody who can lend us a cool back-up vehicle – please mail me at f...@fredhatman.co.za or use the Contact button at the end of this post.

Lekkerness. And, oh, we would prefer it to look something like this…

That'll do nicely, Sir!

… rather than this…

I mean, where exactly would our unicyclist sleep?

And he’s going to need lots of it. Sleep. And we need quite a snazzy motorhome in which he can get it. Can you help? Like Netty is. Please.

Tags: Heart+and+Sole, Dilana, Toni+ROwland, Landmines, Mineseeker, Unicycle, Sponsor

Progress Made In Eradicating Antipersonnel Landmines

kai@thesoleofafrica.org.za (The Sole of Africa) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:40:47 GMT

Friday, 13 November 2009

11th annual Landmine Monitor Report A new report finds significant progress has been made in eradicating antipersonnel landmines since the Mine Ban Treaty came into force 10 years ago. The International Campaign to Ban Landmines has issued its 11th annual Landmine Monitor Report showing the use, production and stockpiling of these weapons has gone down dramatically.

The Mine Ban Treaty is one of the most widely ratified in the world. Authors of the report say 156 nations have now joined the treaty, leaving 39 states that have not.

Steve Goose of Human Rights Watch and Landmine Monitor's Ban Policy Editor says those who have not joined include some of the biggest stockpilers and former and current users of landmines; China, Russia, the United States, India, and Pakistan.

"But, we do see that even with the vast, vast majority of these 39 States that have not yet joined, they are in de facto compliance with most of the key provisions," said Steve Goose. "The United States, for example, has not used since 1991. It has not exported since 1992. It has not produced the weapons since 1997. And, we understand that the Obama Administration is taking a fresh look at U.S. landmine policy."

Goose says the United States has registered to attend the Review Conference of the Mine Ban Treaty in Cartagena, Colombia in early December. He says this will be the first time the United States will participate in a formal meeting in 10 years.

The report finds that only two countries, Burma and Russia, are still using landmines. It says use by rebel groups has decreased in 2008.

The Landmine Monitor says 38 countries have stopped producing landmines. Only 13 countries, among them Burma, India and Pakistan, are still producing them.

Goose says during the past decade, 44 million stockpiled antipersonnel mines have been destroyed in 86 countries. Belarus, Greece, and Turkey have missed their destruction deadline in violation of the treaty.

Nevertheless, he describes the destruction of these weapons as a major achievement.

"When you destroy a mine from your stockpile, it is a mine that will never get laid, will never take a life or a limb," he said. "So, we put a very high priority on this preventive mine action, if you will."

Since 1999, the report says millions of lives have been saved by the removal of more than two million landmines, 250,000 anti-vehicle mines and 17 million explosive remnants of war in more than 90 countries.

Between 1999 and 2008, the Landmine Monitor identified more than 73,500 casualties in 119 countries. It says the actual number is probably higher.

Friday, 13 November 2009

VOA News

http://www.turkishweekly.net/news/92784/-progress-made-in-eradicating-antipersonnel-landmines.html

The MineSeeker Foundation and the International Astronautical Federation

kai@thesoleofafrica.org.za (The Sole of Africa) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:56:31 GMT

16th October 2009, Daejeon, Republic of Korea

During the 60th International Astronautical Congress (IAC) held in Daejeon,
Korea, the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) and the Mineseeker
Foundation announced a collaborative effort in the field of landmine
stand-off detection using both Space and Airborne systems integrating
remote-sensing, telecommunication and geo-localisation technologies.

A preliminary concept of this integrated application was elaborated by the
International Astronautical Federation (IAF), in collaboration with the
Mineseeker Foundation (MF). The IAF has contacted several potential partners
among the Federation member organisations. It is now important to involve
all relevant expertise to elaborate the system and thoroughly assess its
feasibility, on both a technical and an economic standpoint. At last the
study will pave the way to subsequent phases of development, prototyping and
testing, prior to commercially launching the service. The feasibility study
is expected to last about five months, starting in January 2010. A first
operational commercial service is planned by August 2011. An enhanced
service enabling reliable detection of individual mines is expected to be
mature enough for operations by mid-2013.

Landmines still kill or maim civilians every day, even long after conflicts
are over. Each year these weapons claim between 15,000 and 20,000 new
victims. Because resources (arable land, infrastructure, water, etc.)
located within areas suspected of mine contamination cannot be exploited,
landmines dramatically hinder the recovery of economies wounded by a
conflict. At the current rate, and assuming no additional mines are laid
from now on, the UN estimates that it will take 600 years to find and clear
the 100 million landmines around the world. Strikingly, a large fraction of
suspected lands investigated by traditional methods prove mine free. In
other words, the scarce resources of mine action are expended on checking
sound land instead of clearing contaminated land. A means to reliably
discriminate between mine-contaminated zones and mine-free zones is
critically needed. Stand-off detection can be immensely useful to this
purpose.

The International Astronautical Federation (IAF) is an international
non-governmental and non-profit organisation, founded in 1951.

The IAF is composed of space agencies, space companies, societies,
associations and institutes. There are currently over 200 members in 47
countries.

The Federation encourages the advancement of knowledge about space and the
development and application of space assets for the benefit of humanity. It
plays an important role in disseminating information, and in providing a
significant worldwide network of experts in the development and utilisation
of space.

The IAF organises seminars, symposia and events throughout the year. The
focus of activities during 2009 is the management of climate change. The
most visible product of the IAF is the International Astronautical Congress
(IAC).

IAC 2009 gathered more than 4000 space professionals in Daejeon, Republic of Korea between 12-16 October 2009. The IAC exhibition this year dedicated a special focus on Small and Medium companies working in the space field.

The Mineseeker Foundation had developed a skillful airborne landmine
detection system, with the objective of commercially delivering services to
demining companies and governmental bodies. The value of those services can
be significantly enhanced by exploiting space assets. In fact, relevant
space borne Earth Observation data can help determine the best times in the
year to operate the airborne system, for optimal detection capabilities.
They also help focus the airborne survey on priority zones, thereby
increasing the value and cost efficiency of the service. In addition,
navigating the aircraft on investigated zone would be significantly easier,
more accurate, and in turn more cost-efficient if supported by a dedicated
navigation application. At last, the transfer of collected data to a remote
processing center via satellite communication would enable a global
deployment of the system.

The Mineseeker Foundation’s vision, based on large area reduction and
climatic and geological prioritisation, using satellite-based remote sensing
from space, and aerial surveying from rotary and fixed wing aircraft, is to
reveal the location and nature of real threats, prioritise clearance
activities, and release land to agriculture. Vast land areas can be mapped
and returned to production, relatively quickly and economically,
regenerating economic activity. The areas identified as mined or having
unexploded ordinance, requiring clearance, can be dealt with in the optimum way on a case-by-case basis.

For further information please contact: Philippe Willekens, International
Astronautical Federation, 94 bis, Avenue de Suffren 75015 Paris, France
Tel: +33 1 45 67 42 60

http://groups.google.com/group/iafastro/browse_thread/thread/da70edc00e75b914/88e27dfb59e9a6f4?show_docid=88e27dfb59e9a6f4

World Leaders Call for Full Support of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention

kai@thesoleofafrica.org.za (The Sole of Africa) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 21:31:38 GMT

New York – Colombia, Norway, Switzerland and civil society representatives called today upon world leaders to fully support the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention and to rally behind the goal of a mine-free world.

The call for action was made during a meeting at the United Nations in New York. The meeting is one of the events leading up to The Cartagena Summit on a Mine-Free World the name given to the Second Review Conference of the Convention.

“We all are determined to promote full implementation and universalisation of the Convention. I hope more States will join this year and thus get closer to our goal of a mine-free world,” said Swiss Ambassador Jürg Streuli, current President of the Convention.

During the meeting it was noted how anti-personnel mines continue to be used in conflicts around the world causing human suffering and impeding post-conflict development.

Switzerland has formally requested, through a UN Resolution, that States not parties to the Convention voluntarily provide information to make global mine action efforts more effective.

“We must send a strong signal at The Cartagena Summit to prove that we are on the way towards ridding the world of the scourge of landmines.”

Although much progress has been made through the AP Mine Ban Convention, many challenges remain. Some countries that have not yet joined the Convention, such as China, India, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia and the United States, may have large stockpiles of landmines.

“It is a time for those yet to join to get on the right side of history and humanity," said Steve Goose of Human Rights Watch, on behalf of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL). “Civil society views The Cartagena Summit as a key moment in the life of the AP Mine Ban Convention. It is a time when all States Parties should reinvigorate their commitment to eradicate all anti-personnel mines - those in the ground and those in stocks - from the face of the earth.”

Goose made the statement as head of the ICBL delegation. The ICBL is a network of more than 1,200 non-governmental organizations in over 70 countries, and a 1997 Nobel Peace Prize co-laureate for its work on behalf of a mine-free world.

The Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention

The AP Mine Ban Convention seeks to eradicate the use of landmines and to end the suffering caused to victims. States that join are required to never use landmines again and to provide assistance to the survivors. 156 States are party to the Convention. Over 1,000 participants including heads of States and Governments are expected to attend the Summit in Colombia.

Delegations will review the work that the 156 nations have done to eradicate the use of landmines and to help the survivors. A new Cartagena Action Plan is expected to address the challenges that remain in clearing minefields across the world and in assisting the survivors.

###

23 October 2009
http://www.tolerance.ca/Article.aspx?ID=62015&L=fr

Algerian army defuses French landmines

kai@thesoleofafrica.org.za (The Sole of Africa) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 05:40:06 GMT

ALGIERS — The Algerian army in September destroyed 5,163 landmines laid by French troops along the country’s eastern and western borders, the APS news agency said.

The weapons were part of a total of 415,829 mines destroyed by the army in a latest operation by September 30, according to APS. The land mines date back to Algeria’s war of liberation from French rule in 1954-62.

Since 1962, the army has destroyed more than eight million of the 11 million mines laid along the borders of the country. In 2007, France gave Algeria maps of the minefields laid on what were known as the Challe and Morice Lines on the eastern and western borders between 1956 and 1959.

The mines were laid to prevent infiltration into Algeria from Morocco and Tunisia by fighters of Algeria’s National Liberation Army(ALN). (AFP
)
http://www.armybase.us/2009/10/algerian-army-defuses-french-landmines/

Vote with Google to remove landmines!

kai@thesoleofafrica.org.za (The Sole of Africa) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:08:41 GMT

You can submit your vote here!

http://www.project10tothe100.com/submit.html?id=T08

Google’s 10^100 finally open for voting

October 5, 2009 by tomjd

Just over a year ago Google announced 10 to the 100th. Timed to celebrate their 10th anniversary this competition called on people to “suggest a unique idea that would help as many people as possible.” They were going to sort and prioritize the ideas and then allow people to vote on the ideas they wished to see implemented. Voting was going to start on January 27, 2009. Google would devote $10 million to the winning ideas, although not necessarily to those who submitted them. Instead they would look for the most appropriate and credible organization to implement the idea. As you could imagine people got quite excited by the open-ended nature of the challenge and the considerable financial commitment to positive social change.

Then a funny thing happened: Nothing.

The January timeline came and went and now, finally, we know why. Google were overwhelmed by over 150,000 ideas which were submitted. Apparently it ended up taking 3,000 Google staffers to vet and categorize the ideas (you’d think they could have come up with a very clever piece of code to help with this) but at last the finalists have been announced. Only instead of them being the “unique ideas” originally requested they have released a list of 16 general concepts, ranging from “Create more efficient landmine removal programs” to “Enhance science and engineering education” to “Build better banking tools for everyone.”

This makes voting an interesting exercise. You need to choose between the relatively specific (”Encourage positive media depictions of engineers and scientists” and “Make educational content available online for free&rdquo and the very broad (”Work towards more socially conscious tax policies&rdquo. Some of problem-focused (”Create genocide monitoring and alert system&rdquo while others are aspirationally-oriented (”Provide quality education for African students&rdquo. The submitted ideas these 16 concepts are based on are more specific but only marginally more “unique”. This all makes it pretty hard to select amongst the ideas or to know what might really happen to an idea if it is selected. In other words, to decide what will make the greatest difference for the greatest number.

I, however, will be voting for the broadest “big idea” of them all: “Help social entrepreneurs drive change”.

To me this idea stands out from the others as social entrepreneurship is a methodology for creating change, not a specific change. This may seem kind of vague but this is why this idea has the potential to create massive change beyond what is possible for most of the others. Social entrepreneurs, properly supported, are the people who can solve all the other problems, who can accelerate the removal of landmines or the opening-up of government, alert the world to genocide or “build a real-time, user-reported news service.” In fact, they already are.

You can submit your vote here!
http://www.project10tothe100.com/submit.html?id=T08

Supporting social entrepreneurs has a catalytic effect on communities. Successful social entrepreneurs are usually community-based; they are focused on addressing problems that affect them and their community and they do so in new and innovative ways. They are also experts at making small amounts of funding to a very long way, so you get bang for your buck. They inspire those around them to become changemakers, helping to not only address one problem but create an environment of adaption and innovation that is ready for the next challenge. This is the kind of world we need, a world of changemakers, and social entrepreneurs are the highly-infectious carriers of the idea virus of changemaking.

When I think about the social entrepreneurship sector it brings to mind how science was conducted in the 15th Century: brilliant innovators spread across the global, often working diligently on the same problems, regularly unaware of existing breakthroughs in their field. Smart people would lose decades of their lives working on problems for which solutions already existed, there was just a lack of opportunities to disseminate these breakthroughs. Compare this to the science sector now: a tightly inter-networked set of universities, government research institutions and corporate R&D labs with, IP not-withstanding, rapid dissemination of new knowledge and scaling of the best inventions.

Many of the problems we face are similiar across the world, from teenage pregnancy to landmines to living more sustainably. Imagine a world where we can learn from the best social innovators and apply those innovations at a scale to address these problems. Where we can stand on each others shoulders and step over some of these intractable problems.

It is easy to imagine how the technological know-how and financial resources of Google can help us support, empower and network the world’s social entrepreneurs. Ashoka, where I work, has spent the last 28 years working on this challenge, building a network of over 2,200 visionary social leaders along the way. But as impressive as this is there is so much more to do in a world full of problems, but also full of smart dedicated people working on those problems. We need to help them to drive the changes we need.

Please be sure to vote by October 8. You can also nominate an organization you think would be best placed to receive funding to carry out the idea. I think you can probably guess who I’m voting for there

You can submit your vote here!
http://www.project10tothe100.com/submit.html?id=T08

Toni Rowland appointed as ambassador for the Heart & Sole Tour

kai@thesoleofafrica.org.za (The Sole of Africa) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 18:17:21 GMT

September 22, 2009
(Read more about the Heart & Sole tour on Fred Hatman's "SA-positive Blog" http://www.fredhatman.co.za)

South African rock musician Toni Rowland has pledged her support for Geoff “Heartman” Brink’s trans-South Africa unicycle odyssey, which has previously been documented here and here.

Toni Rowland: totally behind Heartman's mad unicycle marathon

Our Geoff is hard in training to undertake the approximately 1,400 kilometre stretch on one wheel later this year and was understandably “totally stoked” to hear of Toni’s support for his ride. Heartman is unicycling from Durban to Cape Town to raise awareness of The Sole of Africa, the Mineseeker Foundation’s anti-landmine campaign. He is also hoping, through a competition to be announced soon, to raise sufficient funds to enable him to afford a “pretty awesome wedding” for the woman he so desperately wants to marry.

Toni, who recently released Unfolding, a new album which is receiving huge acclaim in the USA and Britain, is thrilled to be involved with the Heart & Sole Tour. She told fredhatman.co.za: “The Heart and Sole tour is just amazing. Geoff riding a unicycle across South Africa in a way reflects the whole plight of the people that are affected by landmines. A solitary figure on a single wheel is kind of what people who have lost a limb are left with.”

Toni is an active ambassador for the Sole of Africa campaign and has travelled to Mozambique with the Mineseeker Foundation to see for herself the effects of landmines on women and children.

This experience inspired Toni to write a song for the Sole of Africa campaign entitled “Put Your Foot Down”, which she wrote in Spain while recording Unfolding with former Uriah Heep rock superstar Ken Hensley. The royalties from the sales of this song are being donated to the Mineseeker Foundation. You can find out more about Toni at her MySpace profile or on her personal website.

Meanwhile, the Heartman has been drawing bemused glances – and even the odd cheer – while wobbling down the Umdloti beachfront during his daily practice sessions. He has upgraded from a 24&Prime wheel to a 36&Prime and, weighing in at a portly106kg, presents a rather formidable sight to locals not accustomed to seeing anything more exotic than a horse and cart offloading barrels of beer outside the Bush Tavern.

A formidable (and hilarious) sight he may be but Heartman didn’t exactly impress a Doberman Pinscher which ran across our heroic unicyclist the other day. My red hat is extravagantly doffed to local Umdlotian Marc Desvaux de Marigny (gollyness, I’d kill for a name like that) who captured this beautiful moment…

Fido adds a bitemark to the litany of bruises and cuts adorning Heartman's legs. Nice.

All part of the training schedule. Heartman needs those legs to be impenetrable before meeting up with those killer bulls which roam the roads around Mthata. Not to mention the huge risk of being gored by a fusillade of stilettos when he is mobbed by the adoring supermodels who will be waiting to receive him outside Camps Bay’s excruciatingly trendy Caprice restaurant when the Heart & Sole Tour team finally pulls into Cape Town. As Heartman’s back-up vehicle driver and general watch-his-back man, I’ll have a right job keeping the gals at bay. Hmmm.

Remnants of war

kai@thesoleofafrica.org.za (The Sole of Africa) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 13:45:15 GMT

Remnants of war

Dawn Editorial
Monday, 21 Sep, 2009

Ideally, the conflict zones should have been cleared of mines and unexploded or abandoned ordnance before the IDPs were allowed to return to their homes and everyday routines. –Photo by AP

Danger to civilians in parts of the NWFP and Fata is far from over. Besides continuing IED attacks by the Taliban, people in these areas also face the threat posed by landmines and other unexploded remnants of the war between the military and the militants.

In the case of Fata, this problem dates back much further to the 1979-89 Soviet-mujahideen conflict on the Pak-Afghan border. Particularly vulnerable are curious children who come across these unexploded ordnances while playing, as reportedly happened in Buner and Wari Dir recently. Some 20 places in Swat are also believed to be infested with landmines. The greatest risk here is faced by men as they cut wood, graze animals or tend to farming.

Ideally, the conflict zones should have been cleared of mines and unexploded or abandoned ordnance before the IDPs were allowed to return to their homes and everyday routines.

Of utmost importance now is educating people in the conflict-affected zones about these hazards, through direct local contact as well as the media. Mine-clearing operations also need to be carried out quickly in these areas to save lives and limbs.

Our troops, who have undertaken numerous such operations as part of UN peacekeeping missions, are well-equipped to carry out this pressing task. At the same time, every kind of assistance should be extended to survivors of incidents involving landmines and unexploded ordnance. This includes ensuring first-aid facilities close to the affected areas, adequately equipped local hospitals, timely and effective physical rehabilitation, and economic reintegration in society.

Pakistan is still not a signatory to the international Mine Ban Treaty of 1997 which requires member states to cease production of anti-personnel mines and destroy existing stockpiles. But this should not hinder efforts to ensure an effective response to the threat posed by unexploded debris of war.

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/provinces/14-remnants-of-war-zj-03

African Union members must step up efforts in clearing landmines, assisting mine survivors

kai@thesoleofafrica.org.za (The Sole of Africa) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 08:23:40 GMT

Source: International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL)

Date: 09 Sep 2009

Regional meeting on landmines opens today in Pretoria

Pretoria, 9 September 2009 -- African Union members must step up their efforts towards ridding the continent of landmines and fully respecting the rights of landmine survivors, said the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), 1997 Nobel Peace Laureate, today at the opening of a regional meeting on the issue. The Third Continental Conference of African Experts on Landmines (9-11 September) brings together all AU members, international organizations involved in mine action, and African ICBL activists.

More than half of the African states are contaminated with mines or explosive remnants of war. All those that are parties to the Mine Ban Treaty must clear all antipersonnel landmines on their territory "as soon as possible" but no later than ten years after joining the treaty. Chad, Mozambique, Senegal, and Zimbabwe had mine clearance deadlines in 2009, and were recently granted deadline extensions ranging from 14 months for Chad to seven years for Senegal. Uganda failed to meet its 1 August 2009 deadline and requested a three-year extension last month. "Affected communities living in daily fear of landmines have waited long enough. States must finish the mine clearance job. It can be done if the political will is there," said Boubine Touré, of the Senegal Campaign to Ban Landmines.

The ICBL calls on AU states to fully include mine survivors and their organizations in the development, implementation and monitoring of disability plans and national laws, as they are the ones who know best what they need. "Governments have been making promises to mine survivors ever since the Mine Ban Treaty came into being ten years ago, but most mine survivors are still waiting for those promises to come true. Mine survivors and other persons with disabilities are still among the poorest of the poor, and struggle to access medical care, psychological support, and economic opportunities. States are supposed to clear mines within ten years and to destroy stockpiles within four years, but assisting mine survivors must be a lifelong commitment," said Margaret Arach Orech, a mine survivor herself, ICBL Ambassador and founder of the Uganda Landmine Survivors Association.

With only four states not party to the Mine Ban Treaty, Africa has one of the world's highest adherence rates. "Egypt, Libya, Morocco and Somalia must embrace the worldwide ban on landmines as soon as possible. We would like to see them take interim steps towards a total mine ban, such as starting to destroy their stockpiles of antipersonnel mines, engaging seriously in mine clearance, and supporting mine survivors. Egypt, in particular, should formally ban the production of landmines forever," said Ayman Sorour, who sits on the ICBL's management committee and is the head of Protection, the Egyptian arm of the ICBL.

The Third Continental Conference of African Experts on Landmines will focus on clearance of mined areas, victim assistance, and securing a common African position on landmines. The conference is part of a series of regional meetings convened in the lead-up to the Mine Ban Treaty's Second Review Conference, which will take place in Cartagena, Colombia in the week of 30 November 2009.

Additional information and interviews

Arabic: Ayman Sorour, Protection (Egypt), mobile +33 6 76 19 69 84

English and Portuguese: Robert Mtonga, Zambia Campaign to Ban Landmines, mobile +260 977842922

French: Boubine Touré, Senegal Campaign to Ban Landmines, mobile +221 775637648

Background

The Mine Ban Treaty comprehensively bans use, production, and trade of antipersonnel mines, requires destruction of stockpiled mines within four years, requires destruction of mines already in the ground within 10 years, and urges extensive programs to assist the victims of landmines.

There are currently 156 States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty, including all African states except Egypt, Libya, Morocco, and Somalia. Western Sahara, an African Union member, is not eligible to join the Mine Ban Treaty as it is not recognized by the United Nations.

More than half of the African states are contaminated with mines or explosive remnants of war: Algeria, Angola, Burundi, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Libya, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Western Sahara is also contaminated.

Egypt is the only African state with antipersonnel landmine production facilities.

The ICBL, 1997 Nobel Peace Laureate, is a global network in over 70 countries, working for a world free of landmines and cluster munitions

Put Your Foot Down

Heart & Sole Tour – Day Day 22: Beautiful ubuntu for lunch… before we grind to a horrible halt

Heart & Sole Tour – Day 17: Are we on top of the world… or what?

Heart & Sole Tour – Day 15: Stillness after the mother of all storms

Heart & Sole Tour – Day 10: Heartie and I style it at Ingeli… and photograph beautiful girls!

Heart and Sole Tour : Day 3

Heart & Sole Tour – Day 3: Fantasticness and disaster

The Heart & Sole Tour – Day 2: Meeting friends old and new

The Heart & Sole Tour – Day 2: Meeting friends old and new

The Heart and Sole Tour : Day One

Heart & Sole Tour – Day One: From media frenzy to hoity Toti

The Heart and Sole benefits from Dilana and Toni Rowland

Durban,South Africa : December 21, 2009 http://fredhatman.co.za/?p=2140

How Netty’s paper birds are helping landmine victims

The Heart & Sole tour Gets an Angel

Progress Made In Eradicating Antipersonnel Landmines

The MineSeeker Foundation and the International Astronautical Federation

World Leaders Call for Full Support of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention

Algerian army defuses French landmines

Vote with Google to remove landmines!

You can submit your vote here! http://www.project10tothe100.com/submit.html?id=T08

Google’s 10^100 finally open for voting

Toni Rowland appointed as ambassador for the Heart & Sole Tour

Remnants of war

African Union members must step up efforts in clearing landmines, assisting mine survivors

Durban,South Africa : December 21, 2009
http://fredhatman.co.za/?p=2140

You can submit your vote here!

http://www.project10tothe100.com/submit.html?id=T08