The slogan of the project is “Frieden erfahren …” (experiencing peace, but it also means to gain peace by covering a distance)
22 January. Rain. Storm. Low Goran has been announced. So very special conditions for our joint action "Experience peace...".
I had decided to do a combination of cycling and drawing again - as I did for the town twinning ride in 2009 and many participations in the Pacemaker cycling marathon.
Preparation was therefore necessary - and this is what it looked like tomorrow at 9:30 am...
Backpack with drawing pad, pastels in the rainbow colours of the Peace Flag, a change of dry clothes, Smartbar bars, overshoes and a helmet with rain protection.
Outside, I was greeted by the storm, which put a lot of pressure on the speed. Overall, however, Goran had already blown a few spots dry, so the expected splashing water was limited.
The storm had torn off many branches; slalom riding was the order of the day. Winter sports...
I cycled along cycle paths and side roads in the direction of Karlsruhe, then via Hagsfeld, Blankenloch into the forest to the former Kfk - Nuclear Research Centre Karlsruhe. I used to work there myself. Germany's first research reactor was built there.
I had chosen this place because I had already drawn there for Pace-Maker: at that time in charcoal. This time I wanted to take a chance with the colour palette of the peace flag: with gusts of up to 71 km/h, as the weather forecast announced.
In the entrance area of the Kfk - today KIT Campus North - I began to draw in these very special conditions.
Very special conditions in a very special place. After a first drawing of the entrance area - the motif of a charcoal drawing a few years earlier - I noticed a sequoia tree, which for me suited the weather and the occasion of the drawing very well.
the weather and the occasion of the whole action.
I cannot imagine how many storms, headwinds, rain, stones, sticks were mastered by all those who, with their commitment, ultimately made this contract a reality. I got a small impression of that on this trip.
And maybe sometimes there was also a tailwind, smooth, clean roads with light on the horizon and a few rays of sunshine. Just like with me today.
It became clear to me that sitting back and staying at home would certainly not have moved anything. And sometimes the work of the many has also left traces - like the pigments on my hands and subsequently on each
and subsequently on every (still) clean piece of laundry that I touched afterwards (including my Smartbars)...
I wonder how all the others are doing who are taking part in this action? I would only find out later.
Since Goran was preparing to make more of the rain showers, everything had to be done very quickly. Six colours had to be put on paper somehow in order to get back on the bike as quickly as possible: in falling rain and very falling temperatures.
Indigo is not in the rainbow - but it is in the weather front over the former research centre. The task was to draw quickly, more symbolically. And so it became the above-mentioned sequoia tree, which itself carries tiny cones in which up to 250 seeds are protected.
And each of these seeds has the chance to become such a mighty tree.
For me, this fits well with the work of the many who not only saw the chance to make this treaty a reality, but were active so that such a sign could grow up at all.
Then it was time to pack up quickly, eat something, drink something and get back on the bike, on the road, to bring everything home as dry as possible.
In the end, it was 66 kilometres instead of the symbolic 76 kilometres I had originally wanted to do. Why 76 kilometres? One kilometre for every year that has passed since the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
I worked for many years in development cooperation in the agricultural sector for the EU and Switzerland: for food safety & consumer protection and T-VET (vocational education and training). There I experienced how important it is to help people to help themselves. This prevents the causes of flight and conflicts.
Water is of particular importance in this context. Access to clean water enables education. If children no longer have to walk long distances, they have time to go to school.
That's why I'm linking my campaign with a Lifeplus Foundation that has been working for this for many years without making a big fuss about it. I promised myself a sum of money for every kilometre I drove.
3 hours and one minute I was on the bike, partly swimming, partly sailing.
"We cannot change the wind, but we can set the sails differently!"
(Aristotle)
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
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