Back to the wall

I remember the farewell dinner we had after completing the Run of the Great wall of China. A group of individuals plucked from every walk of life, but now a cohesive team was there, we had been together for 5 months and we had been through a journey of a lifetime. Each person was given a chance to stand up and relate what the journey had meant to them. As each person stood up ,silence fell on the room ,we knew that this was going to be a massive revelation in each person’s life to date. There were such personal recollections of the journey, what it had meant to that individual left us all fighting back the tears. Every story was life changing and heart wrenching. William Lindsaey ( who had travelled most of the wall some 23 years prior) was responsible in putting the Chinese logistics side of the run together for us, stood up and shared his feelings on his journey along the wall and how it had changed his life, ending with a statement as he looked over to me and smiled.

‘Where do all the tomatoes come from?”

During the earlier part of our run we have seen an ever growing stream of tomatoes in the villages and towns we passed. Out in the dessert we would come across a small farming hamlet and there would be a barrow been pushed by an old farmer into the town, laden with ripe red tomatoes, further down and ox pulling a cart laden with the same sun ripe red fruit, then a donkey cart, all heading into the village. They would all deliver to a central point. Crate upon crate would lie in the baking sun; the stench of these collection areas is unbearable, juice oozing into the parched sand around.

In would move the next mode of transport, the 3 wheel scooter truck. These looked like ancient creatures that have been enslaved as cart horses. Their distinct single stoke diesel engine thud can be heard from miles around as they thud, thud into the distance with their load of red fruit, bellowing plumes of black diesel smoke into the dessert air. Moving like ants along the dusty roads to the next larger village. Approaching the village the thud, thud can be heard from all sides these busy three wheelers laboring with their load, once again meeting at a central delivery point. The tomatoes are then loaded into trucks and larger 3 wheelers, as we journey on so we pass the massive lines moving the produce toward the bigger city. Arriving at the edge of the city we finally see the final quest of the tomato army. Massive chimney stacks with steam hissing into afternoon sky, the hum of machinery and a massive set of snakes and ladders of pipes and tanks, waiting to receive the continuous line of now well traveled ripe “Pap” tomatoes. Each time you pass a truck the stench is unbearable, a trail of watery pulp juice is left behind in the dust,( we have omitted this from our daily intake at mealtimes) But , where do all the tomatoes come from, after traveling through the NW we have yet to see a tomato plant.

What came first? Noodle or pasta

Running through the Nw of China two things are really prominent with regard to food, the first is Noodles and the second is rice, the 2 main sources of starch or “Carbs”. From the mega city to the smallest little farming hamlet in the mountains or the mud village oasis in the desert, they all make noodles (Basically pasta)

I have eaten noodles made from potato flower, tofu, rice flour, wheat and many other inventive sources, as well as this in all shapes and sizes, stuffed with fillings or layered. The most amazing thing, all has been hand made, an art handed down through the ages. The Chinese culture and food culture stretches back some 2000 years. This makes me wonder where are the origins of the modern day pasta, maybe China?.

Did the Venetian merchant and traveler Marco Polo maybe borrow the recipe from the Forbidden City?

The slaying of the Dragon

For hundreds of years the great wall has stretched sprawled out across the NW of China, across desserts, mountains, forests and some of the harshest terrain known to man. Like a giant dragon it has lain as a protector and deterrent to the ferocious foes of the Chinese, the Mongol hoards and the nomadic tribes living in the plains of the NW. constructed over a few centuries, and involving nearly one third of the Chinese population

Tended to by millions of soldiers over the years, slaving like worker ants over their queen this wall was maintained, manned and extended all in the endeavor to keep the Chinese population safe, and as well as this in my opinion a more sinister ploy by the dynasties, to keep the population busy and united against a so called common enemy, the marauding Mongolian hoards.

As I traveled along the sleeping dragon, from its tail hanging in the waters of the great white river in the Gobi desert and headed east, the sad realization began to sink in, how this majestically mythical beast was systematically being slain. As water is being made available in the desolate Gansu province from massive pumping projects along the yellow river (which now stops short of the sea for some 150 days of the year), so are farms being set up along the wall. The wall is now seen as a hindrance to the farms as it blocks expansion. Massive chunks and sections are bulldozed away so that the farms can be extended to both sides of the wall. It looks like packs of wild dogs are eating away at the flesh of the dragon as it lies helplessly unable to defend itself. The sandstorms are whipped up, pelting away at the beasts attacking the Dragon, trying to cover the exposed flesh, protecting is, but to no avail against the relentless onslaught.

The Saanxi province, an endless landscape of rolling hill, bears the deep scars of the next round of attacks on the dragon, thousands upon thousands of goats overgrazing the baron lands stripping it of every last stalk of vegetation

The miles for smiles foundation

The foundation was set up prior to the run of the Great Wall of China. Since my return from the run we have raised some 600 000 00 rands which have all gone to our sole beneficiary, operation Smile South Africa.

While running the great wall I was constantly in awe of the beauty surrounding me. The beauty of the planet and its magnificence, but constantly in the back of my mind was the reminder of the paradox, how can this beauty of our planet also be the home of such pain and suffering experienced by our children. Children born with such facial disfigurement that they are ostracized by those around them, struggle to speak, let alone eat. To me the final measurement of the success of my journey could only be measured by the children that I can manage to help to reach their dream of a simple god given right to a smile.

With a simple operation of some 45 minutes a Childs life can be changed forever. Since we started this foundation, we have been instrumental in helping some 54 children, who during the run received facial surgery in Empangeni in Kwazulu Natal. Having been involved in the inaugural mission in South Africa we are now busy with our next fundraising adventure in order to continue with this worthy cause

On my return to south Africa I made a trip up to Empangeni with my daughter (who is a volunteer for operation Smile) to meet some of the children, a moment that I will never forget, to see all those beautiful faces, radiating their new smiles. I am proud to be associated with the Ciplamedpro Miles for Smiles foundation, for more info go to