South African Street Team brings Take The Walk to Cape Town

 

 

Take The Walk was last hosted in South Africa when Genevieve Wilton came back to her native country to host 5 walks in July and August of 2009: Durban, Cape Town, Soweto, Johannesburg and Pretoria.

The initiative comes back to Cape Town next year, on 1 March, set against the background of the new natural wonder of the world, Table Mountain. In 2009, Cape Town walked for schools. Next year, we walk for clean drinking water.

Interested in getting involved? Don't know what it is about? Check out our promo video!!

 

It is on our band's website, and includes scenes from the five walks in 2009, representing the different causes that Take The Walk supports, all set against the sounds of Hanson: "Great Divide", the song they released on World AIDS Day in 2006; "Where Did It Start?", from the Take The Walk EP; and segments from "World's On Fire", which was the promo single for the 2010 album.

Watch Our Promo Video here! 

 

 

 

THE INITIATIVE THAT GOT THE WHOLE WORLD WALKING

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"Everyone waits, everyone thinks their role is too small, and everyone feels that the problem is not theirs until it lands on their doorstep." (Taylor Hanson, Take The Walk, 3CG Books, p. 8)

Musicians and other public figures are in a unique position to be able to create awareness and mobilise people into action; for example, Sir Bob Geldof's World Hunger awareness campaign in the mid-1980's.


A once off initiative creates an impact at a given time, but what happens afterwards? The Take The Walk Campaign aims to be an ongoing effort; an attempt to mobilise people into action with the knowledge that they contribute according to their capacity, and that everyone can make a difference.



Chris and Noah at DOCVIA had developed cellphone technology that provided easy access to medical needs and, when Hanson approached them, the closeness of the AIDS pandemic (Tulsa had one of the highest AIDS rates per capita in the US) lead to a discussion about poverty in the world in general and Africa specifically. Noah Roberts (CEO of DOCVIA) had a passion for the technology to be used in Africa.


A couple of phonecalls later, they had contact with Doctor Glenda Gray at the Perinatal HIV Research Unit (a joint project between the University of the Witwatersrand and the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital).

The next step was to visit South Africa and see first-hand the effects of AIDS, a journey which began at the Baragwanath Hospital and proceeded into the streets of Soweto. With the help of the record company that released the band's third studio album "Underneath" in South Africa, they made contact with a choir at the DD Dliwayo Primary School.


Introducing the choir to the inside of a recording studio, the band recorded parts for songs on their fourth studio album, "The Walk", and the choir appears on three of the songs (Great Divide, Blue Sky and The Walk), and on the intro to the album, literally spelling out the message of the campaign - NGI NE THEMBA (I have hope).
The band also visited Cape Town before returning to America.


Having been struck by the contrast between what they took for granted, and the poverty they had witnessed, Zachary, Taylor and Isaac Hanson set about thinking if there was something they could do. Their trip to Africa had been a stark reminder of the levels of poverty they had seen in South America, where they spent some of their youth.

As they sat around a table, they identified key areas affected by poverty - education, access to healthcare and medical treatment, and access to clean drinking water. They began seeking out organisations they could partner with in order to make a difference.
TOMS Shoes, headed by Blake Mycoskie, donates a pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair sold.
Free The Children is an organisation which builds schools and provides empowerment programmes and leadership training.


Blood : Water Mission seeks to provide clean blood and clean drinking water.
HIVSA at the Baragwanath Hospital leads research on the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of AIDS.
"...and a band of three brothers released a song, because it was the best tool we had..." - Taylor Hanson, Take The Walk, 3CG Books, p. 96)



The song was called "Great Divide" and was released on Itunes on 1 December, 2006. Proceeds from the sale of the single went to the Baragwanath Hospital.
Five more songs were recorded for the "Take The Walk" EP, among them 'Lay me Down', the story of a funeral they witnessed, and Where Did It Start?, which is about the seemingly endless and hopeless plight of poverty.

Hanson got the idea of one-mile barefoot walks to go with their tour promoting "The Walk" album. The first ever walk was held on 10 September, 2007. The band's ambition with the "Take The Walk Campaign" was very humble, and perhaps a little ambitious too.


Not knowing what to expect, the band settled on the number 24902, the amount of miles around the earth's circumference at the equator.
For each mile walked, the band would donate one dollar to one of the causes as nominated by the host of the walk.
To date, 51888 miles have been walked. This is 23.415% of the distance from the earth to the moon at perihelion (closest approach to the earth).



These dollars have been divided among the five causes as follows:

SMS credits (DOCVIA) - 4212
Song download - 12338
Donation of shoes - 12727
Building of a school - 12563
Digging of water wells - 10048



This equates to 934 months of healthcare (a year's healthcare for 77 people), 353 months of medical treatment (a year's treatment for 29 people), 959 pairs of shoes put on childrens' feet, 164% of the building of a school (ie. on the way to building a second school), and 548% of the digging of water wells (ie. on the way to the digging of a sixth water well).



The band also donates a certain amount to one of these charities with the sale of certain merchandise items.

South Africa has hosted the campaign before. In 2009, Genevieve Wliton came back to her country of birth  as the host of five walks. The walks were in Durban, Cape Town, Preoria, Johannesburg and Soweto, and each supported a different cause.


The Pretoria walk was rain affected and only attracted eight walkers, but the Durban walk attracted 103 and the Cape Town walk attracted 112.
In 2009, the Cape Town walk supported the building of a school.



Get involved and take action at Take The Walk.