By Hassan El Seddiq&nbsp;
Rob van der Aar, the distinguished Dutch kayaker and advocate for heart health, recently concluded an extraordinary 500-kilometer kayaking journey, traversing the Nile River from Aswan to Cairo over the course of 25 days. This groundbreaking expedition was not only a personal test of endurance but also a mission with far-reaching impact.
The roots of Rob&rsquo;s inspiring journey trace back to a pivotal moment in 2012 when he underwent open-heart surgery. The experience was a turning point in his life, prompting him to overhaul his lifestyle, prioritize health, and commit to making a meaningful difference in the lives of others.
"Paddle for Egypt 2024" was meticulously planned and executed in collaboration with key partners, including The Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Ministry of Tourism, Magdi Yacoub heart foundation Foundation, and the Dutch Embassy in Cairo.&nbsp;&nbsp;
Rob van der Aar told us all the details about the incredible journey he embarked on across Egypt, the challenges he faced along the way, and his plans for&nbsp;future endeavors.
Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
I&rsquo;m from the Netherlands, and I&rsquo;m a mechanical engineer, I&rsquo;ve worked in the automotive industry, I&rsquo;ve worked in the aircraft industry, and have been working for a while in the IT industry. I&rsquo;m married, I have 2 kids, and I&rsquo;m 66 years old.
Kayaking is such a unique and interesting sport, why did you choose it as your preferred type of sport?
I&rsquo;ve done many sports in my life, when you&rsquo;re 66 you can try things out.
I used to be a runner, I ran half-marathons for a long time but training for marathons is kind of boring, it takes a lot of time, I&rsquo;ve done car racing, I&rsquo;ve done paramotor flying, but in the end, I came back to what I really like which is watersports.
I was born and raised close to the sea, during my high school education years I spent a lot of time doing all kinds of different watersports, and about 3 years ago approximately I decided to do something different and I picked up kayaking at some tryout lessons, and it&rsquo;s like a virus you either love it or hate it, and when I go for a sport, I go all the way.
Kayaking is so low profile, The whole concept is simple, you just buy a boat, and you put the boat in the water and you can go almost in any direction you wish.
The Netherlands has a lot of water, we have lakes, we have the sea, we have rivers, so the choices of where to go with your kayak are endless.
<img src="https://i.ibb.co/bPgQ5Yx/Be-Funky-collage-2024-11-27-T153058-421.jpg" alt="" />&nbsp;
Is this your first time in Egypt, or did you come before?
My wife came here for the first time in 1977, and it took a long time before she could convince me to come to Egypt.
My first visit was in 1999, and for the last 25 years we visited Egypt every year sometimes 2 times, sometimes 3 times, and we&rsquo;ve been to most of the places here in Egypt but there are certain areas we still want to visit.
Which places do you like the most in Egypt?
I like the sea, so I like Dahab, which for me is a quiet and easygoing place, and me and my wife really like Aswan as well, I like the food, the people, and the whole atmosphere there.
You&rsquo;ve mentioned that you had heart surgery which inspired you to do the Nile trip, can you tell us more about that?
In 2012 I had a life-changing event, I was mountain biking, I felt dizzy, and when I googled what&rsquo;s wrong, and my wife was reading it as well and she told me &ldquo;You need to go to the hospital right now&rdquo;.
I had to do open heart surgery, and then I realized that I&rsquo;m still smoking every now and then, I was a little bit overweight, and some things needed to change, so I changed my lifestyle basically, I changed my diet, I started to do sports much more than I did before, and I realized over the years how easy it is for us to get access to healthcare.
We just walk into a hospital, nobody is asking questions, you only have to show your ID, and you get the help needed, I know that in some parts of the world, healthcare is expensive and not available for everybody.
How did the idea of the 25-day trip from Aswan to Cairo come about?
As I mentioned in the past I did paramotor flying, and the original idea was in 2015, at that time I was flying, and my idea was that I take my flying equipment which also fits into a backpack, the plan was to start in Aswan and fly over the Nile for charity.
After half a year I shelved the idea when I realized that It was going to be difficult to execute, until the moment that I started kayaking then the idea came back.
<img src="https://i.ibb.co/ccVT8Nv/Be-Funky-collage-2024-11-27-T153110-830.jpg" alt="" />&nbsp;
What were the biggest challenges that you faced during the trip?
The challenge wasn&rsquo;t physical, because I trained a lot and I was well prepared, maybe I could&rsquo;ve done a little bit better, but you start training and your condition grows day by day.
But the mental challenge was the biggest one because when I do 50 kilometers I&rsquo;m in the boat for like 5 to 6 hours, and after 2 hours it becomes really boring, no matter what, no matter how nice the scenery is, but it&rsquo;s becoming boring.
There&rsquo;s always wind around 11 O&rsquo;clock, there&rsquo;s wind coming from the north trying to push you back from the day you started, but what helps is the flow of the river, however, the mental challenge is the biggest one.
When did you first hear about Dr. Magdi Yacoub Heart Foundation, and what made you want to collaborate with it?
I read about it 15 years ago, but 5 years ago I got the chance to visit the hospital and talk to the people there.
I chose it because I can easily relate to heart disease, because of my previous experience with it.
Can you tell us more about your preparations for this journey?
The preparations were something else, I&rsquo;d never done an adventure like this big before.
I contacted the Egyptian Canoe &amp; Kayak Federation, and they were very cooperative.
Then I contacted the Ministry of Youth and Sports, and they were the pivot point of &ldquo;Paddle for Egypt 2024&rdquo;, they talked to the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and so on.
The Dutch embassy in Cairo also played a very important role in keeping things going and moving in the right direction.
<img src="https://i.ibb.co/HzDM9LM/Be-Funky-collage-2024-11-27-T153121-199.jpg" alt="" />&nbsp;
What was your motive behind this journey?
First of all, it&rsquo;s a personal test, can I do it, because the longest distance that I&rsquo;ve done up until that point was 220 kilometers.
Goal number two was to raise awareness for Dr. Magdi Yacoub Heart Foundation because I believe in what they&rsquo;re doing. Underprivileged people don&rsquo;t have access to good health and what that team is doing really fantastic, I&rsquo;m amazed that something exists like that.
Goal number three is to promote kayaking as a sport in Egypt because you have this wonderful Nile River.
After this initiative, are you planning for similar journeys in the future?
We&rsquo;re now brainstorming what can be done better and what have we learned, and there will definitely be a follow-up.
The concept will stay the same because I still believe in kayaking, and I believe in the cause of the Magdi Yacoub Heart Foundation.
I learned from this experience and I see it as a very good rehearsal for what&rsquo;s coming next year.
I&rsquo;ve learned a lot about Egypt, I&rsquo;m looking at Egypt with different eyes and I&rsquo;m grateful for that learning experience, I appreciate the country much more and the support that I got from the ministries, the Dutch embassy, from Cairo Yacht Club, also from the people in Dr. Magdi Yacoub Heart Foundation made all this possible.
I believe in what Sir Magdi Yacoub has set up, I believe in his team and they&rsquo;re doing a wonderful job, I salute them big time.

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