Travel the world to deliver letters to strangers

In 2014, while living in London, England, Jonny Beardmore received news that his father had motor neurone disease. He returned home to New Plymouth, New Zealand, to care for him.

In October 2022, his father passed away. Jonny sank into despair and tried to reconnect with the outside world .

In early 2023, he took a vacation to the Galápagos Islands, visiting the Post Office Bay on Floreana Island, which has housed an old whisky barrel that has served as a mailbox since 1793. The mailbox operates in a very old-fashioned way. Sailors would drop off mail from one port and take the letters they already have to take to the next port. Today, visitors take the place of the sailors, leaving their letters and picking up a postcard that can be delivered to their destination.

Jonny picked up two letters, one from a student to a teacher, and one from a girl to her boyfriend. When he handed them to the recipients, he felt happy because he had brought joy to them. Once, he delivered a love letter to a man who had just broken up with his girlfriend. A few weeks later, they got back together.

A few weeks later, Jonny couldn’t stop thinking about the letters. Although he had plans to travel again, he began to wonder what it would be like to spend a year delivering mail from a mailbox in the Galápagos. He realized he could work remotely and use his air miles to deliver mail around the world.

Jonny decided to document his journey on social media, both to preserve memories and to raise awareness of motor neurone disease (MND). He had watched his father gradually lose his ability to move and communicate, which was heartbreaking.

“Delivering letters became a way for me to remember my dad and make meaningful connections,” he said.

In March 2024, he returned to the Galápagos and picked up 55 letters and postcards with addresses spanning every continent. His goal was to deliver one letter a week to at least 52 countries on all seven continents, starting in Central America and ending in Europe.

Jonny doesn’t use social media to contact the recipient, relying only on the address. If he can’t reach them, he asks his neighbors and then considers looking up information online. When necessary, his companion helps translate, and otherwise he uses Google. Many people are initially confused, but then they are happy to receive the letter.

In Bergen, Norway, while delivering his 50th letter, Jonny was nearly arrested when a woman did not believe his story and mistook his selfie stick for a weapon, so she called the police. He had to show his journey on Instagram to prove it before they accepted.

In Belize, a country in Central America, he delivered a love letter to a man who had just broken up with his girlfriend, but they got back together a few weeks later.

The eighth letter was Jonny’s favorite. It was a letter from his daughter to her mother in Mexico, thanking her for letting her pursue her dream. Her mother was seriously ill, and her daughter had considered canceling the trip to take care of her, but her mother urged her to continue. Jonny still keeps in touch with both of them.

When he finished his journey around the world delivering 55 letters in March this year, he held a party in London, inviting everyone he had met from all over the world to attend, making him feel emotional and cherishing the strong friendships.

"I have made lifelong friends, and even though the journey is over, my heart still yearns to keep going," he said.

TB (according to VnExpress)

Source: https://baohaiduong.vn/di-khap-the-gioi-de-dua-thu-tay-giup-nguoi-la-413460.html