Drive-in Delivery

The philanthropy is directed towards Hemja, a village in the Pokhara district of Nepal. Borneland has set up an organisation called H.E.L.P. Himalaya to support the small, isolated village, and knew well that it would find the two ambulances 8212; a Mercedes and a Ford 8212; useful.

Of course, the ambulances could have been air-lifted from Strangnas, a small lakeside town in Sweden, but Borneland, now a tour operator specialising in tiger safaris, decided on adventure instead. Together with banker-hotelier friend Johan Larson, his sons Joakim and Christian, and a few other friends 8212; gynaecologist and Bharat Natyam-aficionado Margarita Linden, physics teacher Peter Unker and photographer Jan Olov 8212; he decided to drive down to Nepal from Sweden.

It called for a major effort. Larson organised a Landrover, retrofitted with a kitchen, tents and solar power. His sons, along with Borneland and Patrik Uhlmann, culture editor of a Swedish regional paper, scouted for sponsorships and collected toys, education material and medicines.

The party left home on June 16. In the month it took them to reach Nepal, they travelled through 11 countries across Europe and Asia, including the troubled Serbia, the Czech Republic, Iran and Pakistan. If the earthquake in Bam prompted the team offload some of the toys and medicines, in Pakistan it was their turn to be protected by the police, lest they become targets of terrorism in the Baluchi desert.

At Wagah, the first thing the two brothers did was to remove their kafiyahs. 8216;8216;We wore these through much of Iran and Pakistan. You cannot take chances in Al Qaeda country,8217;8217; said the relieved Larson brothers.

The expedition has left them not just tired, but wiser too. 8216;8216;From a distance one might not appreciate the workings of a culture, but up close you can find rationalisations,8217;8217; says Christian, an amateur filmmaker. 8216;8216;I was stunned to see women missing from the streets of Pakistan, but perhaps it makes them better homemakers.8217;8217;

Patrik has been writing about the team8217;s daily experiences for the website http://www.ambulancedonation.com as also for his paper. 8216;8216;It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. That8217;s why perhaps my wife allowed me to take this hard journey,8217;8217; he says.

Olov has taken more than 7,000 photographs of the journey, but his favourite memory is of the Uttar Pradesh police returning his camera, which he had forgotten at a roadside restaurant. 8216;8216;I will send them their photographs by post as a thank-you gesture,8217;8217; he said.