Expedition project on track
Written by Oriellle Berry : You are reading Expedition project on track articles
Thirteen thousand kilometres. 135 towns. 200 days. That’s how far, how many places and how long Roger Wynne-Dyke has driven in a year-long tour of South Africa that has seen him travel clockwise around the perimeter of the country in a bid to identify projects and communities that are often neglected in the face of the bigger picture.
It was more than two years ago that Roger, team leader of The Expedition Project, started to mull over the idea of travelling around South Africa to seek out communitites in need of support. At 32, Roger, originally from Pinelands, has many years of intrepid travel under his belt.
“When I finished school I left the country with R1 000 in my pocket and decided that my travels and experiences would be my ‘university education’,” he told Bolander over the phone, during a stop in King Williams Town as he was making his way through the Eastern Cape.
With a love of eco- and environmental tourism, TV and documentary making and community development, his eight years traversing foreign lands stood him in good stead when he returned home.
After running community projects in the Garden Route, he decided to combine all his passions and ideals and linked up with Fairtrade wine company Place in the Sun, part of wine giant Distell.
With a similar ethos and philosophy,Place in the Sun became the lead sponsor for his project, and the rest as they say, became history..
“We have indeed followed the sun, as Place in the Sun’s motto goes, and sought out people who need to be given a greater chance.”
With a small team, driving a hardy Isuzu trooper, that is equipped for virtually any eventuality, Roger has toured and stopped in small towns and villages as diverse as Lutzville and Hondeklip Baai on the West Coast, Pofadder in the Northern Cape, Zeerust and Alldays close to the Botswana border, Lydenberg in Mpumalanga, Uvongo in KwaZulu Natal, Umtata in the Eastern Cape and the last few days has seen him make a turn in the historic town of Bathurst and Port Alfred.
“In all the towns I have tried to gather that first impression. Do people look happy? How do they relate to their communities? I often pop into the municipalities and above all, I try to talk to as many people as possible. One conversation always leads to another,” Roger told Bolander.
On Mandela Day last week, in Zwelitsha and Peddie he spent Mandela Day chatting to 67 children to find out about their dreams and ideals and what they could learn from their hero Tata Nelson Mandela.
The project is an ongoing undertaking with 2013 dedicated to touring the interior of the country and following that it will take another turn as earmarked communities will be given support and guidance for projects to uplift themselves.
“Because this is by no means a once-off tour, it has and will be crucial to lay the foundations – the big thing is that we need community participation, to get people to chat to us and tell us what’s going on when we get to their areas,” he said
SMS “ShowMe” to 36764 It will cost you R5 and you will sponsor The EXPEDITION Project 1 KM of their journey
“We will eventually link up with corporates to get further funding and we plan to revisit communitites once we have made the initial connection,” he added.
Have there been many highlights? “It has been a truly amazing experience, eye opening in so many ways,” he says.
“It’s remarkable to see how much is going on in community projects with so very little funding – imagine if there had been more money available,” he adds.
“”It has been important to give this project the opportunity to focus on the positive – on the success stories. However, it’s not a matter of ignoring the negatives, we want to find out the root cause of the negative aspects of communtiies,” he says.
The trip has also taught him to appreciate even more the beauty of the country. “I have seen place as diverse as the bush, the desert, lush areas and mountainous ones. People don’t appreciate how stunning this country is.
“I urge everyone when they go on holiday, to escape their home province and get out there and explore. And the saying ‘the smaller the town, the warmer the people rings very true.”
*Members of the public can join the tour on a daily or weekly basis for a fee.
For more information on the tour see The Expedition Project listing
Written by Orielle Berry : You are reading Expedition project on track articles
Thanks to Bolander Lifestyle and Property : www.bolanderproperty.co.za