aids awareness expedition 2011:
„move the world" successfully completed
On 5th of August 2011 the most spectacular activity so far in the fight against HIV/AIDSwas successfully completed in Sydney Australia. A team of eleven people, led by Joachim Franz, the aids activist from Wolfsburg, Germany travelled through 55 countries on five continents in just 107 days and held round table events on the topic of HIV/AIDS with representatives of health ministries, politics, business and aid organisations. The five expedition vehicles covered a total distance of 64.452 kilometres. Subject to the breaks for borders formalities, boat and air transfers the five Volkswagen Amaroks were on the road for 85 days. This gives an average of 758 kilometres per day.
Police protection in Latin America
The Volkswagen pick-ups started in Vancouver, Canada on the 19th of April, to trace a great imaginary W on the world map. From Vancouver the route followed the legendary Pan American Highway through North, Middle and South America before crossing the Andes in Chile. On the American continent the greatest dangers were the rainstorms and avalanches as well as the possibility of hold ups by bands of criminals in Southern Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador, but also the possibility of kidnapping by the left-wing FARC-Guerrilla in Columbia. The convoy was given police protection in the troubled areas.
Dirt tracks, a bad atmosphere and harassment from the authorities in Africa
From Buenos Aires the team and the vehicles were flown over the Atlantic to carry on the route in Europe. At the end of May we reached the African continent via the Straits of Gibraltar. The black continent was one of the greatest challenges from the very beginning and it met up to its reputation. It wasn't only the state of the roads with sand, gravel, water holes and mud that put the four-wheel-drive Amaroks through their paces. The machine gun fire during a revolt in a provincial town in Burkina Faso and an attempted robbery in Harare, the capitol of Zimbabwe that could have meant the end of the expedition.
The biggest problem were the African authorities. Long delays at the borders and problems with the Visas in Angola caused continuous delays and setbacks in the time schedule. Due to this we had to shorten the route after passing through West Africavia the Congo and on to Namibia. The visit to South Africa was cancelled and instead we crossed into East Africa. The convoy drove over the wash-board track that has the name East African Highway through the Marsabit desert on Ethiopia and then into Sudan. There we had to stop -- caught up in Africa. The situation in Syria made the planed continuation of the expedition impossible. We were denied access into Saudi Arabia and Iran and all the ferry connections from Egypt over the Mediterranean were booked out so we had to fly the whole expedition convoy from Khartoum to Istanbul.
Australia -- Final point behind the W
From Istanbul, the step into Asia Minor was no problem, but as soon as we reached Georgia our advance was once again halted. The route over the Caucasus to Kazakhstan was closed due to skirmishes between Russian troops and partisans from Abkhazia. The team drove round the Black Sea in the opposite direction through Bulgaria, Rumania and the Ukraine to get to Moscow. The return journey to Frankfurt went via Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. From Frankfurt by plane to Australia. Due to the cost of evacuating the vehicles from the Sudan we could only send one expedition vehicle to set the final point behind the W. If Africa was the mandatory event then Australia was the free-style event. 8000 kilometres of asphalt, first along the east coast then to the west and then south through the deserted Outback. Kangaroos jumping over the roads and the 50 metre long so called road trains comprising of a heavy lorry and up to four trailers with 18 axles were the greatest danger there.
The fight against HIV/Aids goes on
On returning to Frankfurt, the vehicle expedition was complete, but not the world aids awareness expedition. We will now have to turn the success of the expedition into donations. With these donations we will support projects but particularly build up an internet platform that will serve as a sharing network for projects and ideas in the fight against HIV/AIDS and be accessible to all interested aids organisations .
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MESSAGE TO THE GAYS ON WORLD AIDS DAY 2011 3LWTV CYCLE 4, EP#16by chocomel9111,236 views
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