Hooray, we're about to head off ...

Royalty free map courtesy of http://www.sa-venues.com/maps/south-africa.htm

When I was a child, my folks used to bundle us kids into the back seat of our old Fairmont and head off down the road. Given the squabbling that went on between four kids over who was closest to the window or whose leg was touching who, looking back I wonder why they ever ventured on holiday at all. But my memories of those long driving trips seem to have distilled to special moments; the enjoyment of my mom's padkos on the side of the road, sausages, boiled eggs, coffee and chocolate digestives; or the simple pleasure of following my dad’s road map and seeing where we had come from and where we were going to.

As I grew older, I never lost my love of a road trip, of packing a thermos of coffee and going nowhere slowly - provided I had my map in hand of course (mind you these days it’s a map and GPS, a gal’s gotta be organised I say!) So it felt right to start our journey sharing with you our map of the trip ahead.

Although this is a road trip, it certainly isn’t a holiday; we’ve got our work cut out for us visiting 23 projects in 21 days. The purpose of our trip is to document the projects that the Old Mutual Foundation supports, so we can share the grassroots stories of the real lives that we’ve touched. Old Mutual does some really amazing work out in the community, but too few people know about it and all too often the information they do know is about the facts of the projects, not about the people of the project.

So between Mark and Tim and I, our aim is to speak to the people involved with these projects, to listen to their stories and to capture with words and images how their lives have been changed. At the end of this journey, we’re going to put together a great book, telling the history of the Old Mutual Foundation and showing the work that’s being done.

Follow us on the map; we’re kicking off our exciting project on Mon 6^th June with a drive up to Vanrhynsdorp, then turning right off the N7 to Nieuwoudtville. I’ll be doing daily updates and Mark will be selecting new images for each day. Ask us questions, tell us what you’d like to hear about, help us come up with a name for our book, and join us as we drive around this beautiful country of ours.

And yes, if you ask nicely you can have the window seat …