The extraordinary story of Calum Macleod, told by Roger Hutchinson in Calum’s Road, has sparked the determination of a community in Gambia, one of the poorest countries in Africa, to follow Calum’s example and construct a four-mile road to their nearest town allowing them to reach it in the rainy season.
Calum Macleod single-handedly built a two-mile road from his croft on the Isle of Raasay in the hope that new generations of people would return to live in the North of the island. In tribute to Calum, who took 20 years to complete his road, the African road will be named ‘Calum’s Road’.
It was Professor Max Murray of Glasgow University who first saw the parallels between Calum’s plight and that of the Gambian people, and his involvement in the Gambia Horse and Donkey Trust, established by the late Stella Marsden to reduce poverty, placed him in an ideal position to act. He said: “When I read Calum’s Road I was completely inspired by it and saw a lot of parallels. The aim of the trust is to teach self-sufficiency and practical skills, so I thought that, as it is too expensive to build the road commercially, the local people could build the road themselves.”
During the rainy season this community in Gambia struggles to reach the nearest town of Kuntaur. Heather Armstrong, head of the Gambia trust and sister of the late Stella Marsden, commented: “People have to strip off, carry their clothes on their heads and wade through water to get to the clinic, school or market, or to work in the rice fields.
“Sick people have to do it, and women have to carry babies above their heads. It’s horrendous and it’s like that for six months of the year.”
Roger Hutchinson, author of Calum’s Road, commented: "I wouldn't want to speak for the late, great Calum MacLeod, but I strongly suspect he'd have been pleased as Punch by this. Although he lived in one of the most isolated places in Britain, Calum was very much a citizen of the world. He had correspondents, visitors and friends from all over the globe. His road was a truly inspiring feat, and it's a fitting tribute that its reputation should have reached even to rural Africa, and that his name will be memorialised there. The world can't have too many Calum's Roads!"
For further information on the 'Calum's Road' project and to support the Gambian Horse and Donkey Trust please visit their website at www.gambiahorseanddonkey.org.uk.
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