Journalism of Courage
My first cycling experience was sunday afternoon-trips on the childs seat of my dads bike in Aberdeen,Scotland,where I was born, recalls Michiel Roodenburg,a Dutch. Raised in an internationally oriented family,the 27-year old was accustomed to foreign cultures,people and languages. However,I never thought I would land up undertaking such an exciting social initiative until I met Joost, says Roodenburg,who together with fellow Dutch man Joost Notenboom cycled more than 30,000 kms from Arctic Circle to Antartica to raise awareness about global water crisis.
A Master of Science in Management Studies from Rotterdam School of Management at Erasmus University,and pursuing academic interests in sustainability and natural resources management,Notenboom was researching for his award-winning thesis on transboundary water management when he met Roodenburg. I was gathering data during a student exchange semester spent in Israel and the Palestinian West Bank,when I happened to meet Michiel and the first outlines for Cycle for Water took form, says Notenboom,who was recently in the city with Roodenburg to participate in Cycle to Recycle rally.
Roodenburg says that the adventure took them through 16 countries and across paved and unpaved roads,mountain passes and dirt tracks. The trip started above the Arctic Circle and we went all the way to the ice sheets of Antarctica,covering the Alaskan and Canadian wilderness,forests of the Pacific Northwest,the desert of Baja,the rainforests of central and south America,the Andes highlands of Peru and Bolivia,and the steppes of Patagonia, says Notenboom.
To add up to the already arduous challenge,Cycle for Water was the first expedition of its kind to be undertaken on bamboo bicycles. Not only was this counting towards our efforts to minimise our own footprint,but it simultaneously demonstrated that a lot of challenges can be overcome using sustainable solutions, recalls Notenboom.
Speaking about the condition of water conservation and clean sanitation awareness in India,Roodenburg says the lack of sanitation in rural parts shocked them. Honestly,it was so pathetic that I would not even send my worst enemy to use the washroom, says Roodenburg. Nootenboom adds that the purpose of their expeditions is,in fact,to inspire people to have better living standards.
About whether they have succeeded in their goal,29-year-old Nootenboom says,It wasnt until I saw the people in Africa and the Middle East struggling for access to clean and safe water that I began to appreciate my own fortunate situation. He says,Success rate is a relative term; Cycle for Water was to help those people in need at the local level.
