A few months ago I was let into the wild idea of a friend, Pinkhairgirl, which I have watched slowly germinate into a full-fledged project: ART or more precisely the Awesome Road Trip. For more details I suggest you go visit the web site, but in short the idea is to take to the road and explore South Africa. Emphasis will be placed on community projects, eco & green initiatives, technology and communication, parenting and how all these subjects tie up in our diverse and culturally rich country.
We hope to use all forms of media available to us: video, books, photography, blogging, twitter, etc. to reach as large an audience as possible to get the stories we encounter out there. Stories of entrepreneurial communities, of people trying to give back, of ecological consciences and anything else we can’t help but share. We’d like to highlight the penetration (or lack thereof) of technology in our country and how it inhibits the sharing of stories. We want to investigate new technologies and ideas, from the simplistic to the grandiose, and how they could help improve the lives of our citizens.
In an effort to gauge how crazy our idea is, we’re embarking on a pilot trip of sorts. A week long road trip to gather as much information as possible and seeing how viable the venture is. And this is where I find myself now: in a week and a bit, I’ll be departing Cape Town and travelling by convoy with such a varied and interesting group of friends (plus two piglets 
) on a road trip to Port Elizabeth via the beautiful Garden Route.
As excited as I am, I’ll admit to being somewhat apprehensive… Just going off into the unknown isn’t my usual way of doing things. But with my very creative companions, I feel sure that whatever shape our road trip takes, it will be a blast. And hopefully by the end of the trip, we’ll have enough material to convince people to let us do this for the entire country, i.e. a whole series!
We are still deciding which projects and places to include on this adventure, so if you have any suggestions, please drop me a line or leave a comment. 
Posted by Sally-Jane on March 5, 2010 at 11:29 pm
I can never thank you enough for buying into my crazy idea and being willing to help me make it a reality. There was a day not so long ago when I was ready to pack it all up, it seemed too big and like there were too many obstacles but then a call from you and my energy was restored, you made me believe once again that we could do it and that it would work, so I picked it up again and now look.. To say I was just excited would be the understatement of the year. – Thank you my friend.
Posted by Scott on March 5, 2010 at 11:43 pm
The beauty of this idea is that it can balloon into so many big balloony things. That it is non-exclusive, and everyone and everyone is invited- heck- it can’t survive unless it is participatory. So yeah! Bring it on, Yme, and drag everyone you know kicking and screaming through as many bushes as it takes.
Today, Cape Town, tomorrow? Who knows? That’s the awesomely exciting part!
Posted by Rox on March 7, 2010 at 9:56 pm
What an awesome concept! I heart the idea big time, and with so many interesting places along route you should have a kickass pilot trip.
Posted by yme on March 7, 2010 at 10:31 pm
The best part of all is finding out, as we slowly start showing our idea to the world, is the enthusiasm from just about everyone! It’s *still* not quite sinking in though…!