anie could see the challenges but know that perhaps
neither of them had any control. It wasn’t a situation of
traumatising Sofia but was an opportunity to open her to
the real world.
“The whole point of the journey was for Sofia to have
stimulation, growth and development,” Melanie explains
admitting that quite a few people accused her of being a
terrible mother or dismissed her as being crazy and that
it would never really happen. The positive support is
what drove her on.
“I kind of remember being excited about it at first,”
smiles Sofia.
“I’d always wanted to go to Africa,” she continues, add-
ing that at some point she went off the idea. “Then I just
went ‘bleh, I’ll go with it’.”
It’s clear that Sofia is a strong young woman who has
her own thoughts and ideas about her life, travel and
the world. The news that she went off the idea of Africa
comes as a surprise to Melanie who explains that perhaps
Sofia didn’t really comprehend what travelling through
Africa on a motorcycle meant. It was an alien concept
and something that Sofia didn’t discuss with her friends.
When she did eventually mention it to others Melanie
immediately noticed a growth in Sofia’s confidence.
“I guess it’s something that the average person wouldn’t
actually do,” says Sofia. “And it’s something that I actually
want to do again.”
It was the controlled ‘unknown’ that Melanie was hop-
ing would bring a new strength and confidence to Sofia.
“Before Africa I was the biggest wuss, I was very scared
of a lot of things,” says Sofia. “I was very risk adverse.
“One thing I was terrified of was the sound of machin-
ery, like, Hoovers (vacuum cleaner), hair dryers, that kind
of thing.”
Since returning Sofia says she’s not afraid of the me-
chanical noises of our world, and while admitting she’s
still a ‘wuss’ she’s nowhere near as bad as before. Melanie
says there’s also a greater physical confidence.
“When we started out Sofia’s vision was very limited,”
Melanie explains of when everything started to become
clear. “She didn’t look outside the sidecar, really.”
Sofia started to open her mind to what she was seeing
as the pair left the Sudanese border into Ethiopia and
climbed the mountains, the summit taking several hours
to reach.
“You get to the top and you start to get these incredible
views,” Melanie paints the picture. “and Sofia banged me
on the leg and said ‘look, look’, she’d noticed these incred-
ible views.”
Melanie says it’s the point where things changed, and
Sofia started to appreciate the locations more. Sofia nods
in agreement.
TRAVERSE 32