A solo trip from Italy to Ghana with a red 1981 Vespa P200E to go to the In My Father's House mission run by Father Peppino.
4 months of travel and 22,500 km travelled, crossing France, Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Senegal, Guinea, Ivory Coast, up to Abor in Ghana and back by the same road.
A trip designed and wanted to give my contribution to a mission that has been supporting Ghanaian children for forty years, helping them to grow up and train to be able to enter the world of work in their own country.
During the trip I raised funds and for this I thank all those who contributed and organized transfers of volunteers who came to the mission with dedication and passion to give their contribution.
A challenging and exciting journey at the same time, where the territory, sometimes hostile and loneliness, aboard an old Vespa, forge you to overcome every problem that confronts you every day.
The common element of all the countries crossed is the hospitality and cordiality of the ordinary people, those of the street. People who are happy in their poverty and do their utmost to help you when they see you need it.
The most demanding countries, I would say, are the deserts of the Sahara and Mauritania for the more than 2,000 km that you have to cover in practically nothing, with stretches of even 500 km without a petrol station. And then Mauritania and Guinea for their absolute poverty, dilapidated cars, absurd in Mauritania and super bumpy roads in Guinea, where I've never been able to sleep in a place with running water to be able to take a shower.
I had the biggest problems with the police and military who stop you on the street and look for any pretext, even futile, to block you and ask you for money. The situation at customs is even worse, an emblematic case is that of the Rosso customs office, between Mauritania and Senegal where power is in the hands of unscrupulous people who won't let you pass (and won't let you go back) if you don't pay often large sums.
What can I say, in all of this a fantastic experience of travel, life and volunteering. An experience that I wish all people to be able to have, at least once in their life.