Not far now – Tom and Jane Benyon near the end of their walk for ZANE (Zimbabwe a National Emergency)

Tom and Jane Benyon and Moses at the end of their 2018 fundraising walk for ZANE (Zimbabwe a National Emergency)

Tom Benyon OBE of ZANE (Zimbabwe a National Emergency)

“It’s time to make some wrong things right!”

The 2 Incredibles – who are they?

Tom Benyon is one, and his superpower, unleashed as the millennium changed, is his ability to honour the forgotten of Zimbabwe. Stubborn and determined bearer of the deep red roundel for ZANE (Zimbabwe a National Emergency), he strides the valleys and peaks of his island home to raise ransom for those held hostage by lack of care. His mission – to bring them care.

View of Tom Tower, across the usually green lawns of Christ Church College Oxford – 18 July 2018

He is not alone. Beside him is Quicksilver Jane, miracle worker and extreme navigator, maestra of direction, who travels always with the faithful dog Moses at her feet.

Together, this trio walk the high roads and the no-roads to encourage those who might otherwise forget.

This year their challenge was another trek in full summer. It began on America’s Independence Day and it ended on the evening of the 18th of July.

The task was to walk the heat-limp land between Bournemouth and Oxford.

Day after day, mile after mile, they walked while fellow island dwellers, struck dumb by sport and large trumpetings, sought shade and the screens of half belief.

On the last day of the task, with a rainless sky trapped in a cloak of pale grey, Tom and Jane still had 13 bone-draining miles to go.

I joined the small gathering of friends and family and waited, anxious-but-not-anxious, for the Incredibles to come home, to complete their two hot, dry weeks of walking. We stood at the finish point – Tom Tower, the main gate of Christ Church College in Oxford.

The clock struck five and still there was no sign, no flash of ZANE vests. Our eyes strained, searching the busy curves of the road down to the river.

Then suddenly there was a shout: “There they are.”

And there they were. They’d done it. The 2 Incredibles were back.

Grandchildren raced forward, the dark dog Moses barked and bounced, the home team applauded … and around us the swirl of buses, bicycles and tourists knew nothing of the superheroes in our midst.

“It’s time to make some wrong things right!”

Moses – exhausted – at the end of the walk

To find out more about ZANE and its work please visit the ZANE website. Link to the ZANE page about Tom’s Trek 2018

A declaration of interest: I am now one of the ZANE trustees. I have not been asked, or paid, to write this piece. It is mine alone.

Copyright Georgie Knaggs & The Phraser 2018