With more than a year and a half, and almost 50,000km behind him, motorcyclist Hugh Bergin is back in Ireland following a remarkable 'Lap of Africa'.
Hugh's marathon solo expedition took him through close to half of the continent's 52 countries, as he successfully completed a circuit down the west coast, up through East Africa, before returning home overland via the Middle East, the Balkans, and western Europe.
What began as a 20,000km expedition to return overland by motorbike to Cape Town, the city where he had been born, became much more than that for the former restauranteur, who decided a year ago that his original 'Kilkenny to Capetown' expedition should become a complete solo circumnavigation of the continent.
His subsequent 42,000km 'Lap of Africa' is thought to be an historic first solo overland journey by an Irishman around the African continent.
The 'return leg' of his trip through the countries of East Africa enabled Hugh Bergin to also see at first hand the work of Self Help - for whom he successfully raised thousands of euro before his departure.
And he welcomed the opportunity to see the work on the ground, as he reported following trips to our projects in Malawi, Kenya and Ethiopia on 'Lap of Africa', the extensive travelogue account of his marathon expedition :
"It was very useful for me to see the SELF HELP initiatives at first hand, and to see how lives were being improved.
What couldn’t be denied was that I was seeing examples of people’s lives being improved through very little money or new technology. It was rather through new farming practices, and gearing for what would sell at the market, thus improving income and moving the family away from a subsistence lifestyle.
What couldn’t be observed or measured however, and which I imagine is a huge benefit from the support Self Help gives to these communities, is the hope that such improvement bring, he wrote.
Hugh Bergin attracted widespread support for his trip, with Leinster Rugby Club, the Mayor of Kilkenny, and the President of the town's local Chamber of Commerce amongst those to give their backing to an endeavour which to date has raised more than €21,000 for Self Help Africa's programme work.
Hugh funded the costs of his marathon motorcycling endeavour entirely out of his own pocket. |
