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Update on my café van project (august 2022)

The gypsy rawfood café project … for about 6 months now, i have been sharing about it and asking for donations in order to realize my dream.
Now it’s time to tell you a bit more about the progress of the project.
How is it going, when will I, with my café van, be on the road again?

Short version

  • Thanks to all of your donations, i now have 5,000 EUR. Thank you so much! Only a part of it came via GoFundMe so you will not see this amount there. See below for details.
  • So, this is a range where i finally start to find ads and offers for vans that seem to be in sufficiently good condition. I have inspected some already, yet did not find “mine”.
  • I. e., i am still looking. I’ll describe what i am looking for in a moment.
  • I am still asking for your donation! Prices for second-hand vehicles exploded during the last year (as for everything else). So these 5,000 euros, such a loooot of money for me, don’t seem to be much when studying the ads. Plus, after the purchase comes the conversion.
  • When will i be back on the road? Preferably WITH the café van. Obviously, i have no idea. I will see. My previous vehicle, the one i have been travelling with for the last 11 years, broke down, and it seems, it reached the end of its lifetime.

The Happy Healthy Raw & Free Rohkost Café Van – what am i looking for? What i wish to find is a van (transporter), preferably a little older, in a condition to live for some more years and worthwhile a conversion. High enough for me to stand upright in it, approx. 5-6 meters long. Diesel. as ich finden möchte, ist ein Transporter, gerne etwas älter (darf auch gerne von vor 2000 sein), der technisch und blechmäßig gut genug ist, dass er noch einige Jahre mitmacht und sich ein Ausbau lohnt. Ich bin nicht auf ein bestimmtes Modell festgelegt, aber hab so ein paar Eckdaten, die er erfüllen sollte:  hoch genug, um darin bequem aufrecht stehen zu können. etwa 5-6 Meter lang. Diesel. Manual transmission. As few electronics as possible.

If you own a matching van and want to pass it on, or if you know about one – contact me!


A LOT happened since i started this project 6 months ago. Nevertheless, reading what i wrote above, my mind says: hm, you have not come that far. Why is everything progressing that slow?

You want to know more about it? Just keep reading:

How it began

By the end of last year, i came to Germany, in order to buy a second-hand van here. Coming from Portugal, i thought it would be easier here to find what i am looking for. With only 1,000 euros, i realized very fast, that this was far to little. So, i finally took the leap and started a crowdfunding – something i had had in my mind for some years already. This dream, traveling with my own van, with my mobile café included, i have been dreaming it since the beginning of 2017. Well, i have lived many further dreams in this time, and i actually did raw food café sessions, and obviously i have been traveling all the time (with my old Golf 3). Yet, at that time i did not dare to start a funding campaign. First, because i find it difficult to ask for help. There is a part in me who used to think i need to make it all on my own. Plus … i was scared. What if it would fail? (And – what if it would succeed?) … Well, i obviously wasn’t ready for this. Only now i am. So, i started my funding campaign in early January this year. And what happened?

I actually received donations. 🙏  Some people sent me more than i would ever have expected. And others – far less than i had hoped for. At that time, i thought: i have about 3,000 readers and followers, so if each one would just donate 5 or 10 euros (or dollars), i would be able to start quite soon. Yet, this did not happen. I experienced intense emotions. Joy, amazement, endless gratitude, feelings of being supported. Togetherness, connection. And also frustration, disappointment, anger, impatience, hopelessness, self doubt and self blame, they all passed through me.

Finally, i feel nothing but gratitude, for all this. For each Yes, each No, each step, each block, each emotion, comfortable or not – what a wonder-full journey, once more. ✨✨✨

Meanwhile, as mentioned above, my previous travel companion, the old Golf, with which I had been driving around the world for 11 years, said goodbye. To be left without a car at all – was (and is) a challenge for me. At the same time, it somehow feels right. It’s time for something new. For my van. My decision was clear: i would not put any more money or energy in “the old”, i. e. my old car. No matter how much it (she, her name is Maxi) is close to my heart. She has carried us through the world for a long time and was our home for many years. The only outer constant in our moving lives.

Back to the café project: during the first few weeks, it started amazingly. Ever since … it’s going quite slow. Nothing seemed to happen for months. At least nothing visible. Inside of me, there happened a lot. And while a part of me was pawing with the hooves in impatience, some other part was just watching, totally relaxed. Knowing that everything was happening just in its right way. Trusting the process. Marvelling at the wonders along the way.

Then, in June, finally things began to flow again. A cooperation with a Hamburg artist added up to my donation pot. Some further donations, some sold ebooks, and other valuable (non-monetary) forms of support.

Interesting enough, for whatever reason people seem to prefer to donate directly, not via GoFundMe. I received donations via paypal, revolut, bank transfer, and also some donations of good.

In the mean time, i revised and shortened my funding text – hoping to get it out clearer now, so that even those not knowing me, will be able to understand better what i wish to do.

So I have now finally arrived at a budget for which actually some suitable vehicles are offered. Some are sold as quickly as the ad was posted. Many are very far away, in places that I can not reach so quickly without a car. (Those who travel by train these days will understand what I mean. )
Last week I was finally able to visit the first two. None of them was “mine” – the first was too scrappy, and also too small; the second one was almost perfect, yet someone else was faster than me. Yet, it feels good to move on with this, to finally take practical steps, to really look at vans and feel into living in them.


The café project still needs donations – for the conversion, for some equipment. If you wish to support it, here are a number of options to do so: Give as you wish.




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