Sudan Freedom Walk - David Bredhoff (Trip Organizer) Walk Diary

Sudan Freedom Walk: Trip Diary — David Bredhoff

One word sums up the Freedom Walk pretty well for me: unbelievable! So many things had to go just right to pull off the Walk, and just when we needed them to, they always fell into place. I don't want to give the impression that the Walk went flawlessly; we surely sustained some setbacks — but it certainly felt like there was something much greater than ourselves pushing all the right buttons to see that we made it to Washington safely and happily. Almost out of nowhere, volunteers appeared to set up events, and give us food and shelter. In areas that we weren't able to set up plans for before the walk started, people just offered us housing on the spot and words of encouragement to keep pushing onward. In a normally rainy part of the spring, we never experienced more than a few brief drizzles. When our bodies started breaking down (and I know that Simon experienced a tremendous amount of pain), somehow our joints, muscles and skin healed just enough to make it through one more day. When we came to odds with one another, someone would suddenly turn a new leaf or crack a real funny joke and we'd all find a way to become a happy family again. And when we thought our funds were running dry, people would give the financial support we needed, like the woman who looked deeply stressed and concerned, driving a beat-up 1988 Buick, pulled over and gave us a $100 bill on the side of the road, saying "this is all that I have to offer." When were in Washington, fretting about what we could possibly to do end the walk with a bang and get media attention, we got calls from Pelosi and Clinton saying that they would join us for the rally, and calls from the White House and Barack Obama saying they would meet us.

These instances and so many more gave me the overall impression that this was the walk of our dreams. But it did not begin this way. Personally, my life was nothing like like a dream during the preparation stages. I worked so hard, normally staying at my office or up on my computer ridiculously late, often times not getting any sleep at all. I seriously thought I was going to be fired from my day job from concentrating so much on the walk. After a sudden breakup with the person who I'd lived with for the past 3 years, I couldn't afford a steady place to live on my part time salary and between covering the bills for the t-shirts, the travel expenses, and phone bills to organize the walk. "Necessary" things like heat and electricity became luxuries beyond my grasp. With the personal anguish, stress from trying to get my head around the entire walk, juggling it with my own job and severely lacking sleep, I came very close to crashing and burning out at many points in the months leading up to it. But every time I would talk to or see Simon, he would tell me about how big the walk is going to be and how everybody he spoke with was in support of what we were doing. I would get re-inspired and ready to take on the next day, the next challenge. And I grew to love these challenges more and more.

When it actually came time for the walk to begin, I really wasn't sure what to expect. I heard that a lot of people were going to come out and I hoped that some media would turn out as well, but I never thought we'd have the numbers in both areas that we did — or that coverage from around the world would be as intense and persistent as it was. I was also amazed with how the walk was able to bring together support my friends and family. My good friend Sean and his girlfriend Erin came all the way down from Buffalo, driving 14 hours to join us for the first three days and then 14 hours more to be with us for one more day the following weekend in Delaware. Other high school friends of mine, Tim, Mark, and Dave, all drove from Rochester to Baltimore to participate. All of my loved ones were so encouraging — my mom came down from Rochester to join us for the first 3 days and came again for the last three in D.C. My uncle Steven Carter played an intricate role as a consultant for planning the walk. Ray Lindenmeyer, my childhood mentor who was like a father to me, was able to hear Simon and I speak at Temple Sinai in D.C., where my late father and grandfather worshipped for so many years. Visits from my friends helped keep me going full steam. To think that I was uplifting so many others who have been connected to me throughout my life often brought tears to my eyes.

The ultimate example of the power of the walk was how it affected the relationship that I have with my brother, Matt. We would often go on long road trips together and talk about everything on our minds. I would try to convince him to join me in my activism for the oppressed people of the world, but he would constantly tell me that my actions as an individual would never really amount to anything; that the powers in this world are so ingrained that they are beyond being influenced by a small group of people like me who want to change the world. He was right that it is tremendously difficult to raise your voice for millions to hear, but I did not agree with him that it was impossible. About a week into the walk, Matt was able to see the impacts that it had already made, he called me up for a chat. "You know I've been doing some thinking, and I've got to hand it to you, Dave — I never thought that you would be able to do this much. I guess I was wrong that if someone really wants to make a difference and has a good plan and a great team of people working together to accomplish something than they can make a difference. Maybe if you plan something like this again in the future, I could play a major role in helping you." It was music to my ears, coming from someone who I'd never been able to convince about the importance of these issues, despite knowing him so closely for so long. To imagine that my work on the Freedom Walk made him change his mind — priceless.

In addition to the emotional and personal fulfillment, the walk sure had some humorous moments as well. Several of them involved run-ins with law enforcement. On the second day of the walk, I went to great lengths to make sure that the route would be correct and that I would not lead the walkers astray as I had the night before. Nonetheless we found ourselves walking off-road, through construction sites, dangerously close to traffic, and suddenly on the side of highway 280 to Newark. Some of the walkers decided to call it a night, while Simon and Tamias forged ahead on 280 into downtown Newark to reach the destination. While we were waiting on the side of the road to be picked up, an officer pulled over to scold us for hanging out on the side of the road and make sure that we wait in a safer area. When he approached us, he asked Sean what we were doing there. Sean explained that we were doing the Sudan Freedom Walk from New York to D.C. and the officer seemed to understand, but as he continued to question us, he insisted on knowing where our car was. "It's a walk", said Sean. I almost burst out laughing at my friend's sarcasm.

The very next day, as we were leaving Newark on unfamiliar roads, I tried to make a left at an intersection where it wasn't allowed. This time, it was a mounted policeman who pulled me over. He angled his horse just perfectly enough to deny me passage while pointing his finger to motion us to the side of the road. Man, was it embarrassing to have to open my door (the window didn't work) and hand my license to a man looking down at me from atop a horse, scornfully shaking his head at my idiotic driving. Luckily he sympathised with us and let us go, knowing that he'd at least taken my pride away by pulling me over from on horseback.

We had another run-in with the cops in Wilmington, Delaware, as we left Philadelphia area. On that day, Isaiah, who at 6 years old was the youngest person to participate in the walk, was with us for the day. I wanted to get plenty of coverage of him walking with us and called our camera woman to get some shots from the van. We got some great shots of Isaiah, and also of me making a fool of myself by walking straight into a pole on the side of the road. Unfortunately, we happened to be walking right in front of a huge Sunoco oil refinery. Once the Sunoco security spotted us filming by their plant, they surrounded us with their vehicles and called in the local police to interrogate us. It should have dawned on me that what we were doing was highly suspicious due to terrorism concerns, but I was too busy thinking of getting cute little Isaiah on camera. After holding us up for a about a half hour and making sure that our story checked out and that we weren't filming the inside of the plant, they let us go. The whole time the officer was checking the tape, all I could do was wait to see him crack up from watching me smash into that pole.

Through all of our humorous and emotional moments together, we formed incredibly strong bonds that we will never forget. Sure, I thought all those long hours together would allow us to connect on a personal level, but our mutual passions for truth and justice created friendships with so many incredible people who I would love to keep in touch with for the rest of my life. We also established a committed network of volunteers with whom we can share ideas for future activism and continue to fight the atrocities in Sudan. I knew I'd never forget the walk, but but I did not expect that it would be the same way for the over 2,000 others who joined us and sent us notes of encouragement along the way.

Once again, that word comes back into my head as I reflect on the Freedom Walk: simply unbelievable.

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