I’ve got very behind telling the second half of the story of our journey. In 2018, from Egypt to Kenya, I was mostly too ill to write. In 2019, from Tanzania, I was stronger, but got derailed by my daughter – or rather co-opted into her climate activism, as we organised 3 school strikes together as I moved through Malawi and Mozambique to Durban. In retrospect, it was a joy to be doing something so vital and constructive with her when I couldn’t face the lonely writing up – the wounds were too fresh.
Family Sampson finally reunited in Cape Town, November 2019
We are blessed that COVID-19 did not strike last year when we were stranded in a garage without an engine, thousands of kilometres away from Ruby; that she has already completed her Matric; that Zola is an old hand at homeschooling himself; that Sampson has infinite jobs to do on the Big Green Truck to keep himself sane. Being together makes everything else bearable.
But back in Cape Town with winter descending, my health has deteriorated to such an extent I have reluctantly had to accept that even remote activism is no longer an option for me. What’s more, the raging pandemic of social injustice across the world right now – whether racial or environmental – is so overwhelming, I need to withdraw completely and shield to survive.
Lockdown has had almost zero impact on my lifestyle – as a ‘moderate’ ME sufferer, I am still 70% bed bound and rarely leave the house – the only difference is that my husband has no prospect of earning a living from stand-up comedy or motivational speaking until 2021 at the earliest.
So I am coming to you, loyal followers, to help me craft a work of art out of crawling a way through this. It’s over a year since I abandoned the chronicle of our east-side trek midway through Egypt. I propose to rejoin our journey on the road to Luxor, and fill in the gaps as soon as physically possible.
If you would like to join me on the last leg of this trek, please consider becoming a Patron of this blog from July 1st 2020, the anniversary of the day we set off 7 years ago. To support me to complete the Africa Clockwise story and turn it into a book, please click here. Every little helps.
Before I share the link to social media, I would appreciate regular readers’ feedback as to what rewards you would like to be offered at each tier of Patreon membership. As well as making it sustainable, your insights and your company along the way will help make the rest of this journey a joy.
Thank you so much for your time and consideration.
Love from us xxxx
If you can afford to contribute to feeding the most vulnerable in our Cape south peninsula community at this time:
Masi Creative Hub targeting children in Masiphumelele
Feed Our Valley supporting soup kitchens in Ocean View and Redhill
Ocean View CAN currently setting up a vital COVID Community Care Centre
Ukama Community Foundation feeding the hungry from Masi to Vrygrond
Africa Clockwise 