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Underground eXperts United File 614
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Underground eXperts United
Presents...
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[ Trotting To China ] [ By Simon Moleke-Njie ]
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TROTTING TO CHINA
by Simon Moleke-Njie
"I am 46. By the time I get to China I will be 50."
Which means Paul Coleman will be on his feet for the next four years...
trekking from Manchester (England) to Beijing (China) in his one-man-crusade
to save the earth. He is English, and plants trees as he trots. Over 189m,
Coleman covers 20km, a day. His bag weighs over 25kg when stuffed with food
items. His boot-Austrian made, is designed by Meindl and is estimated to
cover a distance of 2000 miles before it wears out. His walking staff of
over 1/50 is a souvenir from the Scottish Highlands anointed by friends: a
farmer, "I put food in this staff; you will never go hungry." A fisherman,
"I put fish in this staff; you will always have to eat." A nurse, "I put
health in this staff; you will always know good health." Coleman never goes
hungry, is in robust health, counts on Providence and believes in miracles.
For him life is a fairytale.
With an powerful aura of benediction from the High-Chief of the Maya
Indians in Mexico, Coleman left Manchester in November of 2000, walking
through France, Belgium, Holland, Germany to Poland. On July 18th he planted
a tree in Warsaw, close to Batorego. He came through Poznan where over a
hundred people gathered to bid him a hero's welcome... "this is a souvenir
for me, seeing those people gathered there, old and young to wish me well."
While in Brussels, he addressed the EU Parliament, tabling a protest of
"The Impact of War on Nature," from his experience in Sarajevo where 80% of
trees have been destroyed by war. The Parliament agreed to pass a
resolution. Coleman will stop in Bombay in November 2002 to address a
conference of The Global People's Assembly (an organization which he is a
co-founder), as an official delegate of the UN.
Luck smiled on him in Warsaw. Sitting with a group of stunned listeners
at Rick's Casablanca Cafe narrating his incredible expeditions across the
Americas, a Danish film company got interested and stroke a deal to shoot a
documentary of his adventures. The first phase of the shooting that will
span over six years started off in Warsaw and its environs. It will trace
his tracks across the countries he's been through, to see "if the dream of
one man can change the world," said one of the co-producers. While
Cyberspacing in Rick's, Coleman received an e-mail from school children in
Mexico saying they had planted over 5000 trees following his examples.
It all started when Coleman went holidaying in Iceland. Enraptured by
nature's wealth and beauty, he later abandoned his job as chauffeur for a
wealthy Canadian lady, resolving to protest against man's destruction of
Earth by trekking from Canada to the Amazon. Starting in 1992 he did it in 2
years, stopping on his way to address a UN summit in Mexico. He talked about
Earth and Peace. He was granted a presidential escort across Mexico,
followed by over 10,000 people including politicians. In his sojourn he
planted over a million trees. In honor of his trip the Mexican government
invested $125 million for the preservation of the Mexican rain forest.
In the Amazon he relived Indiana Jones' ordeals, coming close to death
when a sting from a lethal bullet-ant paralyzed his leg for three hours
after he accidentally stepped into their hole.
"It was a nerve-racking encounter. Luckily there was only one sting, but
what a sting! I had a bottle of rum. I didn't pour it on the wound. I drank
it!" he recalls laughing, "I learnt a lesson after this. In the jungle you
see first with your ears and then with your eyes. You train your senses to
become sensitive enough to guide you. Through this you learn not to disturb
other creatures as they go about their business of living. A handful of
Kung-Fu techniques of walking silently on brittle leaves came very handy. An
old Indian taught me how to stitch a wound with the claws of an ant."
Seeing the destruction in the Amazon he returned, rallied artist, poets
and journalist through a newspaper advert with a slogan that he needed help
to make a fairytale come true. His intention was to travel as a team to the
Amazon. "I knew that seeing the destruction there will later have an effect
on their work." With eight volunteers they left. Upon return he wrote a
fairytale: "Salvadoro The Ant." It is about the smallest of ants that went
on an expedition and discovered the meaning of life and the beauty of the
forest. Salvadora the Ant sums Coleman's experience and aspirations.
Coleman is an encyclopedia of nature. For him the most beautiful place on
this planet is around the Darian Gap, a dense forest between the borders of
Panama and Colombia. Decorated with coral riffs, it harbors some of the
rarest living creatures including the most deadly specie of toads: "The
Golden Toad" that kills by a simple touch of its skin.
"I hope that trees shall continuously be planted after I leave Poland.
This will be a great pleasure upon my return here someday to shade under
them. In Africa and South America, it is indeed sad to know 80 trees are
destroyed in the process of getting a single Mahogany lug. My greatest wish
here is to see a tree planted for each victim killed during the war in
Poland."
Coleman admits with much regret that his greatest ordeal is of crossing
borders. It constitutes his major problem. "In my humble efforts I hope to
leave a story with the indigenous people as well as I take one with me. I
leave a message also, and my messages are more important than myself," he
said while packing his bag in Warsaw on July 29th as he prepared to take the
route to China the next day.
Simon Mol.
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uXu #614 Underground eXperts United 2002 uXu #614
http://www.uXu.org/ - info@uxu.org
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