Welcome !
This summer
in June I will be
racing from Lands End to John O’Groats covering the 1,000 miles in just 5 days.
My race against time will take approximately 50 hours which is just a few hours
more than the world record holder
– but he did it in one straight ride ! Why am
I doing this?…
Last summer I learned about another race against time - the race to lower the rate at which new HIV infections occur in South Africa. I have heard it said that a South African child currently has a 60% chance of getting infected by HIV in the course of its life.
The only way HIV can be stopped urgently is by changed behaviour and so the race is to help thousands more young people save themselves and their society by helping them make different choices about their life styles and build hope for their future. In the long term only reducing poverty will free the world of this disease that impacts on all of us.
The race is to raise the quality of life of the orphans created by the HIV/AIDS epidemic before
i) they die or are neglected (and) in poverty
ii) they grow into adults who are utterly alienated, with little education and few options apart from crime to survive, and almost certainly vulnerable to the high risk behaviour that helps to sustain the epidemic
The greatest fear of parents with HIV/AIDS is “who will look after their orphaned Children”
Around 50% of today’s 15 year olds in South Africa are expected to die from AIDS-related diseases. Unless we do something the number will be even greater
There is hope. The Bishop Simeon Trust is working to tackle the impact on the poorest people by funding education and care projects with local initiatives in South Africa; in places other funders do not reach.
Last year over 3,000 people were directly helped through these projects. Some focus on supporting young people to teach others about HIV-AIDS and ensuring those already in school can stay in school even when their parents have died. Others support pre-schools for the orphans left such as the Kwase-Kwasa pre-school project.
During the BBC programme Parkinson meets Mandela, for Sport Relief, Michael Parkinson starkly conveyed not only the misery brought about by the HIV/AIDS pandemic, but how vital is the continuing support of those seeking with such devotion and sacrifice to alleviate the distress.
“Visiting
Kwase-Kwasa was one of the most emotional things I have ever done.
I was deeply affected by what I saw there”
Michael Parkinson June 2002
(So he bought the pre-school building)
You can help too, by sponsoring my efforts and help continue the great projects on the ground in the Highveld, South Africa.
· Every penny raised in the Lands End to John O’Groats ride goes directly to the charity – nothing raised will fund the ride.
· 100% of the donations to Bishop Simeon Trust goes directly to work in South Africa.
Thank You