Gràcies per ser-hi | Thanks for being there 2017

Un cop caminades Tailàndia, Birmània, Bangladesh, Índia, Pamir, Tadjikistan, Uzbekistan, Iran, Azerbaidjan, Geòrgia i un troç de Turquia amb aproximadament 10.500 quilòmetres al sac, us volem tornar a donar les gràcies per seguir amb nosaltres, per seguir recolzant-nos i ajudant-nos d’una manera o altra.

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You lift us up, and we want to thank each of you.  Your encouragement and support has carried us a long way—oh, let’s say for the 10,500 kilometers (6,525 miles) we’ve walked so far through Asia!

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(Catalan and English versions weave together)

Ja ho sabeu, però volem recordar-vos-ho. Us portem a tots vosaltres dins els nostres cors. El vostre amor, ànims, suport, abraçades, correus electrònics, missatges a les xarxes socials i tots els vostres bons desigs son de gran importància per nosaltres. Saber que tenim la gran sort de gaudir d’una xarxa de bondat i bones persones com vosaltres al nostre voltant, ens ajuda en gran manera durant moltes hores del dia, durant molts dies. Vosaltres ens ompliu d’energia i amor. Ens doneu aquelles necessàries empentes quan ens van mal dades o quan estem exhaustes al llarg de la ruta.

Sou un llum que guia la nostra brúixola. Ja fa molts mesos i quilòmetres que vàrem començar aquest somni-aventura-projecte i com ja hem fet abans aquí i també aquí, us volem a tornar a donar MOLTES GRÀCIES a tots per seguir al nostre costat!

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You may know this already, but it’s nice to say it again. We carry you all in our hearts.Your love, encouragement, support, hugs, emails, social media messages and good wishes mean a lot to us. Knowing we have a net of goodness around us gets us through many hours of the day.  Your cheers give us an extra boost when we are feeling down, and they are a kick in the butt to keep moving forward when our motivation flails.

You are the light shining on our compass. And, as we have done before (here and here), we want to say THANK YOU to all of you.

We would like to give a special shout out to the many people who have contributed to our journey and have added drops of love either with financial donations that we share with others along the way or with other in-kind assistance that makes our walk easier. / Volem donar les gràcies de manera especial a:

. Els nostres pares / Our parents
. Les nostres famílies / Our families
. Els nostres amics / Our friends
. Ferran
. Tarannà, Club de Viatges
. Núria
. Kate & Rich
. Joan
. Vivian & Paulie
. Josep
. Tina & Rick
. Linda
. Sue
. Anne
. Namrita
. Maka
. Travessa Equipament Tècnic Esportiu
. Kristen
. Madhavi

. Totes les persones que ens han convidat a ses cases, compartit menjar i/o ens han ofert te o aigua  / All the people who invited us into their homes, shared food with us and offered us tea and water.

. Totes les persones que ens han convidat i ens han permès dormir dins ses cases, patis o jardins / Everyone who has invited us in and let us sleep in their homes or yards.

. A tothom qui ha compartit suggeriments, ofert consell, mostrat preocupació, plantejat preguntes, informat a amics i/o coneguts sobre el nostre viatge / Everyone who has shared suggestions, offered advice, voiced concerns, asked questions, told their friends about our trip and celebrated wanderlust.
GRÀCIES! THANK YOU!

Hvala! ขอบคุณ! তোমাকে ধন্যবাদ.धन्यवाद! сипос! Rahmat! გმადლობთ! Teşekkür ederim! Təşəkkür edirəm!آپ کا شکریہ! благодаря! Хвала! Grazie! Merci!

Gràcies per ajudar-nos a plantar llavors d’agraïment i bondat. / Thank you for helping us plant seeds of gratitude and goodness.

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Aquesta és la carta que enviem a totes les persones que han fet alguna contribució econòmica al nostre projecte. / This is the letter we sent recently to those who made an economic contribution to our project:

Tema / Subject: Footsteps of love

Happy New Year, Dear Friends,

Can you believe it’s already 2018! We hope the year ahead brings you good luck, good health and good everything.

2017 was kind to us. We continued walking Asia, and our feet have carried us approximately 10,500 kilometers (about 6,524 miles) since we began this journey exactly two years ago.

This time last year we were in India, battling cold, damp and foggy weather. Spring brought us to Iran, where we were overwhelmed with and humbled by an outpouring of local hospitality. It was a summer scorcher in Azerbaijan with temperatures reaching +110F (+43C) during much of August. We had mostly beautiful fall weather in southern Georgia and along Turkey’s Black Sea coast, but some days of walking in the pouring rain on highways deflated us. Luckily, though, our legs were strong, our stomachs stayed healthy and our hearts remained open.

People constantly amaze us. As we mentioned to you before, we’re completely astounded by the generosity of strangers. We have been invited to more teas than we can count, have been handed many plates heaping with homemade food, and have spent dozens of nights with people we now call friends. The kindness we have received is a testament to the human condition, or at least the part of the human condition we believe is worth celebrating.

While we are recipients of kindness, you know we also want to be bearers of kindness. We share what we have and what we have received with others along the way. Some days that may take the shape of sharing food with someone or making a meal for the folks who hosted us. Other days, we know money will have a larger impact, especially for organizations doing the hard work of empowering others.

During 2017, we shared your contributions with several organizations that really struck a cord with us. They included:

• Fearless Beauty, Rishikesh, India. This organization helps young women become economically independent with training in the beauty industry. We stayed down the hall from the beauty school; three different women practiced giving me a haircut while the rest of the class looked on. We hope our donation helps them and other women develop their natural talent and professional skills, and gives them a sense of independence while providing for their families.

• Baru Sahib-Kalgidarh Society, India. This Sikh organization invests in schools, social and medical services in poor communities in North India. The Sikh community helped us tremendously while we were in India. Many nights when we had nowhere to rest, Sikhs took us in, fed us and let us sleep in their temples. Their basic principle of “Good people do good deeds” resonates with us, and the money we put in their pot will allow them to do a few more good deeds for people in need.

• Fatemehzahra, Tehran, Iran. An organization that helps orphaned children. Yavaranema, Tehran, Iran. An organization that helps widows, divorced or separated women and other women in very difficult situations. We found out about these two organizations (which operate under one umbrella group) from the sweet family we met while walking and then later stayed with when we visited Tehran. They (the couple and her mother) have been volunteering with these groups for decades. In Iran, we knew we wanted to make a donation to a women’s group. We have felt the repression many women feel in Iran, and many women we met have expressed their frustration about their lack of freedom. Our friends’ word-of-mouth recommendation made us confident this money would be used to give women and children a more solid base to grow on.

• Tanadgoma, Tbilisi, Georgia. The organization helps people with disabilities and contributes to their integration into society. The former Soviet republic of Georgia is much poorer than we expected, and, because of the language barrier and the very different alphabet we couldn’t read, we were at a bit at a loss to find a nonprofit group along our route. A Tbilisi-based cousin of a friend of ours in Catalonia recommended this group; his company makes annual donations to Tanadgoma. We didn’t have a chance to meet the group personally, but, based on our email conversations and a little bit of web research, we believe it was the right move. In many of the countries we pass through, differently-challenged people are cast aside. We hope our collective contribution allows some people in Georgia to find their place in society. 

The full list of heart-felt donations we have made since January 2016 is posted here http://bangkokbarcelonaonfoot.com/donate-contribueix/.

With winter wrecking havoc all over the Northern Hemisphere (I write this letter from NJ during a blizzard, frigid cold and hurricane-level gusts of wind), we are happily on an extended break until spring. We are very much enjoying being indoors with our families in the U.S. and Catalonia. We plan to return to Samsun, Turkey when the weather turns warmer and keep inching closer to Europe.

Thank you again for your friendship and support. Our footsteps are etched with your love and kindness.

Hugs from your walking friends,

Jenn & Lluís