The Story:
"As a child I'll
drive around the world. As an adult I'll make sure I come home
safe"
The idea for this
trip has been long in the making. One morning, many years ago, a
young Ugandan boy stood watching the East African Rally. He
watched in fascination as vehicle after vehicle passed him by;
each one stretching its limits, attempting to reach an unseen
finish line. As he watched, a seed was planted. A dream was
born. A dream to race across the country just like the
competitors he saw that day.
For 40 years that
dream attempted to grow. The dream, in the way dreams do,
attempted to sprout wings and take off. However, sometimes, life
has a funny way of determining which dreams take priority.
School, study, work, marriage, kids, along with a plethora of
other life's treasures all played a part in the dream continuing
to lie dormant. An interesting thing was happening though. Even
though the dream itself was lying dormant, the dream was also
growing bigger.
In January, 2007,
the boy, now a man, returned to his birth place in Africa, only
to be devastated at what he saw. His old home, the place he grew
up in, the place that was still very close to his heart, was in
a condition that brought tears to his eyes. Through the
dilapidated conditions, poverty, and rubble the only thing he
could recognize was a single mango tree. As he stood there, arms
around his tearful mother, he noticed something that he never
noticed as a child. He noticed the people. He noticed the
children, the mothers, the fathers. He noticed the fact that in
40 years the wind of globalization had not swept through this
place. The entire world had left it untouched, un-hindered, and
worst of all, uncared for.
This visit left a
profound impression on him and he vowed to do something to help.
At that moment he didn't know what form the help would come in
but he knew he had to do something. To start, they used most of
their spending money to buy school supplies and gave them to a
small orphanage school. However, it wasn't nearly enough.
On his flight back
he seriously started thinking about his old childhood dream.
However, the dream had grown from one of excitement at the
thought of racing across the country to excitement at racing to
help those in need. That dream grew from a need to serve the
internal nature of ourselves into one in which we serve the
internal needs of those less fortunate.
In March, 2007 he
contacted a good friend of his to discuss the idea. They both
agreed to move forward. The planning was difficult and time
consuming with many long nights researching countries and
routes. After a few weeks of planning it became apparent that
his friend would not be able to spend 3 months away from work.
Not wanting to go alone, he started searching for another travel
mate. Both his wife and daughter offered to join him and
ultimately it was decided that his daughter would fill the spot.
They chose April
25th for the launch date from Phoenix, Arizona.
Dream Inspired by:
Kiran Patel-Brother, London (UK)