Aged 22, Patrick Nash left his parents' home in South London with a small rucksack, two UK passports and £250 in cash. His plan was to visit a friend in Eswatini (formerly Swaziland). Ten months later he returned having walked and hitchhiked on an extraordinary and often dangerous trip from Egypt south to Kenya, then through the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Nigeria and then north across the Sahara Desert back to the UK. Along the way he encountered sandstorms, famine, a military coup, arrest and imprisonment, sleeping on top of a volcano, staying in villages and bouts of illness. Most of all he was met with interest, friendship and the kindness of strangers. At this time, few people walked and hitchhiked overland through these African countries, but it turned out that it was probably one of the few times in the last 100 years where this was even possible. Today 11 of the 13 countries he travelled in have Foreign Office advice against travel. It's certainly a journey he would caution his children against doing today. Patrick's journey set him up an interesting career as a social entrepreneur. He gained confidence, discovered how to get on with anyone, learned how to talk his way out of tricky situations and to trust his intuition but most of all discovered a strong set of social and environmental values that have infused everything he has done since. This book tells Patrick's story of his journey, what he learned along the way and gives some context about the countries he travelled through and the people he met. AUTHOR: Patrick Nash is a successful social entrepreneur. After walking and hitchhiking through much of Africa aged 22, he set up a workers cooperative selling vegetarian food in 1980 which became one of the largest cooperative businesses in the UK. He went on to have a 40-year career as a social entrepreneur working in ecological development, mental health in education and finally setting up a company that became the largest UK provider of charity helplines and one of the largest employers in one of the poorest parts of Wales. Patrick has won many business awards, lectures on social enterprise and in 2023 published Creating Social Enterprise: My story and what I learned.
