The Chariot of Calum's Road:
From West Africa to Western Scotland
A journey of 4,000 miles that binds together the passions of two determined people who never met…
One spring morning in 1967, 56-year old crofter Calum MacLeod gathered up an axe, a shovel, a wheel barrow, and a Victorian-era guide to road construction. Determined to rejuvenate his community on theisland ofRaasay, near Skye inWestern Scotland, he set out to build a road. Denied public funds, he resolved to the build the 2-mile stretch of road himself, and devoted the next 20 years of his life to accomplishing just that. Piece by piece, he created Calum’s Road.
Twenty years later, Stella Marsden’s dying wish to her sister was that she complete the road to Kuntaur, a village in The Gambia that had become Stella’s home. Without the road, villagers have to wade through waist-high rainwaters over half the year just to get to their rice fields, as well as to the health clinic, the school and the market which is their livelihood. Stella’s sister, Heather Armstrong, made the promise and, along with the villagers of the tiny African nation, has been inspired to create their own ‘Calum’s Road’. With no public funding available, they too shall perform the work themselves. Assessment and design work is ongoing and the final solution will most likely involve a combination of raising the road with local earth and providing proper drainage. Heather firmly states, “‘Calum’s Road in The Gambia’ will be built, inspired by Calum and in memory of Stella.”
Now, three volunteers—an architectural student, a yogi, and an explorer—are preparing to drive from Calum’s Road, The Gambia to Calum’s Road, Raasay to raise funds and awareness of the project. The road from West Africa toWestern Scotland will link the two individuals and their dreams.
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