By Any Means: His Brand New Adventure From Wicklow to Wollongong (47 page)

Doone and I fell in alongside Olly and Kinvara and we rode two abreast now, with the glistening blue harbour below us. Down there on the headland, like a ship’s sails billowing in the breeze, was the most recognisable opera house in the world.

‘Fantastic,’ I murmured. ‘Absolutely marvellous.’

Appendix

The other journey

By Any Means
was about all the wonderful people and places between Ireland and Sydney that you miss if you fly there by plane. It’s been an amazing journey that was only possible by sharing different modes of transport with local people. But there’s an even more important journey going on, which we witnessed in Nepal and Borneo. That’s the journey that UNICEF makes every day, doing whatever it takes to deliver life-saving vaccines to children in remote and isolated rural areas.

Immunisation has achieved real successes. Today, vaccines protect nearly three-quarters of the world’s children against major childhood illnesses. However, more than 1.4 million children still die each year from diseases that could have been prevented by cheap vaccines.

With UNICEF, we followed the trail of a vaccine from where it’s picked up in Borneo to its final destination and saw all the logistical problems that are involved. We travelled on bikes, in minivans and on speedboats, shooting rapids, all the time having to make sure the vaccines stayed cold. It took us sixteen hours to get the vaccine to a small village where children needed inoculating and it was sometimes pretty hairy stuff. But these guys do this all the time, all over the world.

When you go to the places that I’ve been, and see the work that UNICEF does with children in often desperate situations, it touches your heart and it often makes you feel very sad. But at the same time, it makes you feel hopeful that people like UNICEF are out there, helping to look after the kids.

UNICEF relies entirely on voluntary donations to get these vaccines out there, as well as to provide the trained doctors and nurses to give the vaccines. Without the donations made by the UK public, many more children would die around the world from preventable diseases. So please dig deep and give whatever you can. Your donation really does save children’s lives.

 

To find out more, visit
www.unicef.org.uk/byanymeans

UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund, is the world’s leading children’s organisation, reaching children in more than 190 countries around the world. We work with families, local communities, partner organisations and governments to help every child realise their full potential. We support children by providing them with health care, nutrition and education. We protect children affected by crisis including war, natural disasters and HIV.

UNICEF is not funded by the UN. Instead we rely on voluntary donations to fund our work for children worldwide. UNICEF needs help from people like you in order to continue supporting and protecting children from the effects of poverty, conflict and disasters. Even the smallest donations can make a huge difference to a child who has nothing.

If you live in the UK you can help UNICEF by donating, by taking part in a fundraising event or by lending your voice to our campaigns. Please do something to help the world’s children online at:
www.unicef.org.uk/byanymeans

Alternatively, you can donate by calling
0800 037 9797
or by sending a cheque to: