Ole George and his walking challenges
On the evening of Tuesday, 26th September 2006, Earl Ole George Daniel achieved yet another milestone in his quest for international acclaim as one of the stoutest walkers on the planet. He completed seven-days of walking around the Emancipation Park in Kingston, Jamaica.
Georges latest achievement comes in the aftermath of his six-day performance here in St Vincent and the Grenadines.
The earlier performance took Daniel and his walking partner, Joel Butcher, through the many communities in St Vincent where they received a tremendous outpouring of Vincentian hospitality, generosity and support. In Jamaica the duo was in strange territory where violence is king and hence there was no way that the authorities could allow for the walkers to dare attempt a nationwide walk for the period of the undertaking.
With a police strike in the offing it was also not feasible for the duo to do better than walk around the major Park in the capital city.
Unfortunately for Daniel, his walking partner, Butcher, suffered a sprained ankle on the very first evening of the walk and on doctors advice withdrew from the undertaking. Daniel was therefore left to make the journey all alone.
Media Coverage
If the original intention on the part of Daniel to take the walk from the USA to Canada at an earlier stage in the planning process was directed at attracting international coverage for the event, the eventual decision to shift to Jamaica failed to generate that kind of coverage.
Here, in St Vincent and the Grenadines, where one would have thought that charity begins at home the media paid little attention to the exploits of Daniel and Butcher.
Indeed, since their earlier exploits, it does appear that with the exception of one media house here, all the others virtually abandoned the walking duo.