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A French Canadian, Jean Beliveau, who is on an 80,000 kilometre trek through five continents to promote rights of children, is now in Malawi. He entered the country through the Mwanza Border from Mozambique on January 14.
The Maputo to Blantyre walk took him 60 days. He walks about 40 to 60 kilometres on a normal day, he said in interview on Tuesday.
“I am walking throughout the world to promote peace for children because they are prone to violence and abuse,” he said.
He said he was disheartened to hear some children are used on tobacco estates as labourers in Malawi.
Beliveau, 48, left his homeland, Canada, on August 18th, 2000, his birth date, and has since travelled through both North and South America before he entered South Africa late last year.
While in South Africa, Beliveau met Nelson Mandela, after having met two Nobel Peace Prize winners in South America.
“I was missing something in my life. It was kind of a mid-life crisis that set me on this journey. I had to radically change my life,” he said.
He said he planned his project over an 8-month period without the knowledge of either his wife Luce or his two children.
“My wife was shocked to hear I was to walk the world for the next 12 years. She asked me if we were actually separating but I told her I still loved her but I had to do this,” he said.
Luce has flown to meet her husband at a particular location once every year and the two are expected to meet in Malawi in March before Beliveau strolls into Tanzania.
With only a bag which contains his personal effects like some food, clothing, first aid kit, a small tent and a sleeping bag, the lanky Canadian-French has used 20 pairs of shoes since he started his “Great Trek”.
And he only depends on well wishers for most of his food and even accommodation “and some give me a bit of money too”.
“I have sometimes slept in a church or even a police station. I also visit the chief whenever I come to a new place (village). That’s the protocol in Africa and some parts of the world,” he said.
During the long journey, Beliveau encountered a gun to his head in Mexico and confronted two men in Transkei, South Africa.
The trip ironically coincides with the International Decade to Promote Peace and Non-Violence among Children (2001-2010) declared by Unesco.
Beliveau wants to set up a foundation to promote the rights of the children when he gets back to Canada in 2012. He wants also to publish books from his experience.,
A French Canadian, Jean Beliveau, who is on an 80,000 kilometre trek through five continents to promote rights of children, is now in Malawi. He entered the country through the Mwanza Border from Mozambique on January 14.
The Maputo to Blantyre walk took him 60 days. He walks about 40 to 60 kilometres on a normal day, he said in interview on Tuesday.
“I am walking throughout the world to promote peace for children because they are prone to violence and abuse,” he said.
He said he was disheartened to hear some children are used on tobacco estates as labourers in Malawi.
Beliveau, 48, left his homeland, Canada, on August 18th, 2000, his birth date, and has since travelled through both North and South America before he entered South Africa late last year.
While in South Africa, Beliveau met Nelson Mandela, after having met two Nobel Peace Prize winners in South America.
“I was missing something in my life. It was kind of a mid-life crisis that set me on this journey. I had to radically change my life,” he said.
He said he planned his project over an 8-month period without the knowledge of either his wife Luce or his two children.
“My wife was shocked to hear I was to walk the world for the next 12 years. She asked me if we were actually separating but I told her I still loved her but I had to do this,” he said.
Luce has flown to meet her husband at a particular location once every year and the two are expected to meet in Malawi in March before Beliveau strolls into Tanzania.
With only a bag which contains his personal effects like some food, clothing, first aid kit, a small tent and a sleeping bag, the lanky Canadian-French has used 20 pairs of shoes since he started his “Great Trek”.
And he only depends on well wishers for most of his food and even accommodation “and some give me a bit of money too”.
“I have sometimes slept in a church or even a police station. I also visit the chief whenever I come to a new place (village). That’s the protocol in Africa and some parts of the world,” he said.
During the long journey, Beliveau encountered a gun to his head in Mexico and confronted two men in Transkei, South Africa.
The trip ironically coincides with the International Decade to Promote Peace and Non-Violence among Children (2001-2010) declared by Unesco.
Beliveau wants to set up a foundation to promote the rights of the children when he gets back to Canada in 2012. He wants also to publish books from his experience.
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