Corona prevents us from crossing borders without a hitch…

… The disappointment in our team is enormous …

For 19 months, we as the Judo goes Orient Team have been planning and organising almost non-stop in our free time for our humanitarian charity project. We had come to terms with the first blow of fate in May 2020, when we were unable to set off on the big rally to Jordan. The hope of Plan B – the mini-rally – meaning just our team, setting off on Saturday 25 July to Romania and Bulgaria, kept us working tirelessly on our project.

Just last Saturday, at our team meeting, we were full of confidence that we could leave a week later. Because we are ready – the trailers have been loaded for weeks, the customs formalities are done, and the team’s enthusiasm for the trip is burning bright.
We decided that Lukas would clarify on Monday with the embassies of Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria as well as with the FOPH how the outlook for our trip was developing in each country. We also decided to wait until towards the end of the week – just before departure on Saturday 25.07. – for a GO or NoGO decision.
We got our first corona-warning on Tuesday from Romania, with news that the case numbers had risen to 994 new infections in Romania. Hungary and Bulgaria are roughly comparable to Romania.

At our final team meeting, we decided – weighing up all the facts and risk analysis – that the chance of restrictions at the borders or even quarantine while travelling to Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria is very, very high, since we are not simply passing through these countries in transit. There is therefore no planning certainty for us and we have to reckon with something going wrong. It is possible that one of the countries could end up on the list during our trip. So Corona is preventing us from crossing borders without a hitch… :-(

The disappointment is also great at our aid projects, as the orphanage in Piatra Neamt in Romania and the SOS Children’s Village in Tryavna in Bulgaria could make very good use of the relief supplies we have collected, particularly in the current corona situation.

For us, the rule is: postponed is not cancelled… We are monitoring the current situation surrounding Covid-19 very closely, in particular developments in Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. That in itself is already fuelling our anticipation for the realisation of our charitable project.

True to form for our Judo goes Orient Team, we already have a Plan C. Because everyone has reserved holiday days for this project with their employer, and so we are now setting off as a team today, Sunday 26.07.2020, in the rally cars – without aid supplies – to raise awareness of our project in Switzerland and the surrounding countries and to collect donations. Of course we will adhere to the hygiene rules and distancing guidelines set by the FOPH, and we’ll definitely report back. And of course, this promotional tour will be financed from the team’s own pockets.