Alessio is one of Isla’s dreamers and last summer he left Italy by bicycle to get as close as possible to the Philippines, where his girlfriend is doing her civil service at the family home on Isla ng Bata. Before leaving, he launched a campaign on GoFundMe, Isla ChiCa, which made it possible to raise funds for our girls.
Alessio Chiodero has launched a Go Isla Go! campaign and is one of Isla’s dreamers. He left Parabiago in August last year for a wonderful journey on his bicycle. In recent months he has crossed towns and villages, met wonderful realities, met wild animals, made friends with people from all over the world and lived unforgettable moments.
Waking up in front of a sky dotted with hot air balloons in Cappadocia, shivering with cold under a blizzard, sleeping along the paths of tigers and elephants and just in these days, making a dream trek along the Annapurna circuit in Nepal.
“Today I have a journey of more than 13,000 km behind me that has brought me to places that I could barely place on a map, introduced me to traditions whose existence I was unaware of and helped me redefine my coordinates of thought and imagination”.
Some of the last countries crossed by Alessio were Oman and Dubai, two places that he describes as geographically and culturally close, but with opposite atmospheres: “Dubai didn’t arouse my interest – he says – a place where the economic differential center/periphery is tangible and where the richest treat the humblest workers with contempt. Oman, on the other hand, was a pleasant discovery with its deserts, mountains, canyons and lush oases and fishing villages that I loved very much”.
From Oman he was then forced to take a flight due to the unsafe conditions of the route, to arrive in India where the culture shock – he tells us – was very strong, but in which all his naive stereotypes were demolished.
“I leave behind an experience full of sensations and emotions to which I will give meaning with distance. Now, the roof of the world awaits me”.
Alessio will reach the family home in mid-June, where he will find Carla waiting for him, his partner – Isla’s civil serveice volunteer since last September – and 28 girls who can’t wait to meet him in person. His IslachicaBike fundraising campaign will remain active until the end of the trip, with the aim of collecting one euro for each km traveled, to be donated to the Isla Family Home for the purchase of food and basic necessities..
