The Road Ahead
“If all difficulties were known at the outset of a long journey, most of us would never start out at all.”
Dan Rather
A month later, after collating and processing all the information gathered in 2012, I find myself in a position similar to the one I faced a year ago - uncertain of what the New Year will bring. It is a position that is so common to causes, initiatives, NPOs and NGOs the world over. Even as I resolutely continue planning for 2013, I can’t help but feel slightly panicky at the thought that this “annual expedition” might only last one year.
The EXPEDITION Project was always going to be treated like a business, or more like ‘a business with a heart’. Sustainability was always one of its most important core values. Every decision I made on this journey was aimed at that goal. If my future decisions need to be more commercial, I just hope that the ethos of the project isn’t lost along the way. One way to ensure sustainability is to increase the filming presence, but this requires commissioning or funding. The second route is to further explore the tourism avenues of business.
The EXPEDITION Project may have to be put on hold temporarily. In other words, the 2013 expedition may not launch in January, but rather in March or even later in the year. I will have to wait until the project is sustainable or well funded. 2012 was executed on a shoestring and while it yielded fantastic data and solid experience for future journeys, it also left sponsors and supporters feeling confused and disappointed. I simply did not have the resources to keep everyone happy and still do the groundwork that is the reason for this project’s very existence.
My whole mission is to find the good & the bad, the happy & the sad in SA... to cheer the feel-good stories and find meaningful solutions to the tragic ones. That has not changed. And the only way to find the real stories is by hitting the road. Again and again and again.
“The only way to really find the real stories is by hitting the road and hitting the road. Again and again and again.”
To be continued...
