Stranded by COVID19 - Bring Simon Calder Home
Donation protected
Simon Calder has been left stranded in the Brazilian jungle after the country went into Coronavirus lockdown while he was there teaching Qigong and Yoga at a retreat.
His flight out of the country was cancelled and he found refuge with native friends staying in Bahia, in the jungle, in mid brazil just south of Salvador.
But money is now running out and although he is foraging food he can be without water for up to three days at a time. His friends, native to the area, have retreated further into the jungle as unrest in the country increases but with his limited clothing and the mosquitoes it is not an option for Simon.
His brother and family now want to bring him home and are collecting funds to allow him to make the 7-hour journey to the airport and fly back to the UK.
If you can help in any way to raise the £5000 Simon would need to get home to his family in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, they would be most grateful.
In his own words, from Simon:
I am reaching out to you at this time of crisis to ask for financial help to aid in moving me to a safer location in my home country so I can be with my family, to support them and have them support me at this difficult time.
As for all of us, it has been a strange and unexpected series of events that led us to this point. I had been in Brazil teaching Qigong and yoga in Retreats, staying in a small town called Itacare, at the mouth of the Rio de Contas on eastern Brazil’s Cocoa Coast.
Then all of a sudden 'bang' all of the tourists left, my flight was not until March 23rd, but the town became locked down.
I was the only foreigner around and the locals were starting to look and say strange things. A guy told me that they believed the tourist had brought the virus in and I was the only tourist to blame.
'Big Alarm Bells' at this point to get out whatever. So I contacted some friends deep in the jungle in mid brazil just south of Salvador. At this point, I needed somewhere safer, as the news around of other local populated areas was not so good.
After coming to the park I spent three weeks in a 2m by 2.5m room, then my friends decided to move deeper into the jungle as the social unrest in Brazil and the local count of the virus was going up. I could not go with them as their conditions are more extreme than mine - they are native to Brazil but survival camping in the jungle, with my luggage and limited clothes, was not an option for me.
Actually the other problem here is two other epidemics that are effecting the hospitals and the locals - Dengue fever and Chicken Gunia - both horrible mosquito-born pathogens and both I have had before. Dengue in Bali and Chicken Gunia in India. They are crippling the first time but on the second I have heard they are much worse.
Food is getting scarce so I am each day walking in the jungle and collecting food from the land, the wifi is on and off, usually 4 days off and 1 day on.
Electricity fails for up to 2 days sometimes and the other day I had no water for 3 days, no power for 3 days and no wifi for 4 days.
I managed to borrow a tiny trekking water filter so I can now walk to a jungle stream to collect and filter water but I have also managed to make contact with a local man that would drive me to the airport seven hours away for a fee and that is what I would really like to do.
In the building, I live there are no locks on the doors so no security and at the moment the rains and winds have come. With heavy rains falling every day which brings the mosquitoes. The open plan room I live in is completely open to the weather and mosquitoes, so I am spending a lot of time under a net trying not to get bitten.
So now my money, spent on rent and food and a cancelled flight, is almost finished and my skills as a Qigong teacher and artist I cannot use at the moment due to quarantine and with no internet cannot offer online services.
Due to all this, it has left me without financial support to get out of here to more safety and to be able to better support my family.
I know that it is a difficult time for everyone at the moment and I would like to offer online one to one Lifeforce Qigong training to anyone able to donate to my cause, on my return to the UK.
If you or anyone you know can help in anyway, please feel free to share our story and help Simon get back safely to his family.
His flight out of the country was cancelled and he found refuge with native friends staying in Bahia, in the jungle, in mid brazil just south of Salvador.
But money is now running out and although he is foraging food he can be without water for up to three days at a time. His friends, native to the area, have retreated further into the jungle as unrest in the country increases but with his limited clothing and the mosquitoes it is not an option for Simon.
His brother and family now want to bring him home and are collecting funds to allow him to make the 7-hour journey to the airport and fly back to the UK.
If you can help in any way to raise the £5000 Simon would need to get home to his family in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, they would be most grateful.
In his own words, from Simon:
I am reaching out to you at this time of crisis to ask for financial help to aid in moving me to a safer location in my home country so I can be with my family, to support them and have them support me at this difficult time.
As for all of us, it has been a strange and unexpected series of events that led us to this point. I had been in Brazil teaching Qigong and yoga in Retreats, staying in a small town called Itacare, at the mouth of the Rio de Contas on eastern Brazil’s Cocoa Coast.
Then all of a sudden 'bang' all of the tourists left, my flight was not until March 23rd, but the town became locked down.
I was the only foreigner around and the locals were starting to look and say strange things. A guy told me that they believed the tourist had brought the virus in and I was the only tourist to blame.
'Big Alarm Bells' at this point to get out whatever. So I contacted some friends deep in the jungle in mid brazil just south of Salvador. At this point, I needed somewhere safer, as the news around of other local populated areas was not so good.
After coming to the park I spent three weeks in a 2m by 2.5m room, then my friends decided to move deeper into the jungle as the social unrest in Brazil and the local count of the virus was going up. I could not go with them as their conditions are more extreme than mine - they are native to Brazil but survival camping in the jungle, with my luggage and limited clothes, was not an option for me.
Actually the other problem here is two other epidemics that are effecting the hospitals and the locals - Dengue fever and Chicken Gunia - both horrible mosquito-born pathogens and both I have had before. Dengue in Bali and Chicken Gunia in India. They are crippling the first time but on the second I have heard they are much worse.
Food is getting scarce so I am each day walking in the jungle and collecting food from the land, the wifi is on and off, usually 4 days off and 1 day on.
Electricity fails for up to 2 days sometimes and the other day I had no water for 3 days, no power for 3 days and no wifi for 4 days.
I managed to borrow a tiny trekking water filter so I can now walk to a jungle stream to collect and filter water but I have also managed to make contact with a local man that would drive me to the airport seven hours away for a fee and that is what I would really like to do.
In the building, I live there are no locks on the doors so no security and at the moment the rains and winds have come. With heavy rains falling every day which brings the mosquitoes. The open plan room I live in is completely open to the weather and mosquitoes, so I am spending a lot of time under a net trying not to get bitten.
So now my money, spent on rent and food and a cancelled flight, is almost finished and my skills as a Qigong teacher and artist I cannot use at the moment due to quarantine and with no internet cannot offer online services.
Due to all this, it has left me without financial support to get out of here to more safety and to be able to better support my family.
I know that it is a difficult time for everyone at the moment and I would like to offer online one to one Lifeforce Qigong training to anyone able to donate to my cause, on my return to the UK.
If you or anyone you know can help in anyway, please feel free to share our story and help Simon get back safely to his family.
Organizer
Ben Calder
Organizer