Getting around Syria!

As the days roll on, Al Jazeera news is giving us little reason to feel positive regarding the situation in Syria, and the possibility of us even just driving straight through to Jordan.

After four years of planning, and an incredible amount of work, and support from so many people, we are of course not simply going to give up. The Turkish charity that we are due to visit is in Diyarbakir in the South, very close to the border with Syria, and thus we will most likely visit the border and discuss the possibility of passing through anyway. Of course we will not enter if the situation remains as volatile as it is currently.

Although our plans still remain fixed on the original route, and we are remaining positive about an improvement in the Syrian situation, we have also have had to already begin considering our options. The one option at the moment, which will keep the majority of our route on course, is to pass from Turkey to Iran, and then get a ferry over to Oman, pass through Yemen, and then another ferry to Djibouti, before heading to Ethiopia. The biggest stumbling block in this case is our visa to Iran, which usually would have to be arranged in the UK. We will probably speak to the embassy in Ankara about this and see how it goes.

If it is going to be impossible to continue on towards Africa then we still want to complete the premise of our project, which is 22 Charities, in 22 Countries, in 22 Weeks. The other options for this are multiple, and would involve either a round trip back through europe via Armenia, Georgia, Russia, Ukraine, Estonia etc, or even to head out towards Asia, and through Russia, Kazakstan, and China etc. We will of course have to arrange charities to visit on the road, which is going to make life a bit more tricky, but certainly is not impossible.

It would be easy to sit here in utter desperation, at what could justifiably be seen as the potential collapse of a project that has taken over my life for nearly half a decade, I prefer, however, to see this situation, and the resulting change in plans very much as an integral part of our project, and whatever happens we will carry forth our philosophy of uniting people through their common hopes and grievances.

Peace,

Matt

Ps At least we're not an Ashkali horse!