"I can't believe it is over," I said and looked up at the night sky filled with stars that shone down with a bright, almost ethereal glow. There was a long silence, my hosts respecting the moment as I reflected on my journey. I had come such a long way - 42,000 kilometres and nineteen countries in fifteen months - through sand and mud, and roads littered with potholes and rocks, through forests and up mountains, through a civil war and road blocks controlled by rebels armed with AK47s. I'd nearly died several times, but I'd always survived. And the African people had always embraced me, as though they understood innately the meaning behind my journey. I knew then that the desire to explore - to have an adventure, to find out what was really out there - is what makes us human, and is as integral to our evolution as new discoveries in technology, medicine and in all the other sciences.
"We are glad you decide to go on the German ship," Ahmed whispered, gently bringing me out of my inner reflection.
"It looks like I have no choice," I said. But I knew it was the right, the only, choice for me. "I still can't believe it is over," I repeated. "What now?"
While the next stage of my journey was yet to unfold, the German cargo ship being there, at the very moment I needed it, did not surprise me. It was just another in a very long line of happy coincidences. Even so, I said a silent prayer of gratitude, as I had always done for everything fortuitous that had come my way.
Ubuntu Heather Ellis p360-1