“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all” – Helen Keller
Raewyn has recently returned from leading a group of nine, including five Wanaka residents, on a daring adventure through Kenya.
Cycling with Escape Adventures – 200 km from Nairobi to Tanzania. Roads used were mostly dirt tracks with no car in sight, a few motor bikes, but certainly no other muzungu (white person) on a bike. This trip was custom made for So They Can using a shortened version of Escape Adventures African ride.
The highlights included giraffes crossing the road not once but twice; riding across a dry expanse towards the mirage of the lake, only to stop in the middle and see that the mirage was 360 degrees around us and we were in the middle of the ‘lake’; camping in close proximity to a Masaai village and being able to watch (from a spectacular rock vantage point) them bring in all the cattle, sheep and goats from the days grazing.
The impetus for this adventure is the not for profit, So They Can. The past 4 years Raewyn has lead an adventure as a way to showcase the projects located in Nakuru, Kenya. These include a primary school (role of 1080), childrens’ village (which provides a home for 120 orphaned and at risk children), microfinance business school, Sew Women Can social business supporting single teenage mothers and medical clinic that supports a community of 10,000 people. The adventures are run as a fundraiser and are always slightly unusual – what better way to get your friends to sponsor you!
Participants visit the projects, get to meet the children at the school and village and see first hand the difference that education can make in alleviating poverty in developing countries by hearing the stories from members of the communities that So They Can works with.
CEO of So They Can and Wanaka resident, Cass, was also on the trip.
“Such a fantastic trip on so many levels. Connecting 9 people to our communitites and projects in Kenya is always heart warming, discovering such remote areas in Kenya via bike was a bucket list experience for me…even though I couldn’t sit properly for far too long, and raising $50,000 for the 10,000 children and their communites that we support is incredible.”
The Adventures continue with a climb of Mt Kilimanjaro being on the plans for August 2018. If you are up for a daring adventure or would like to know more about So They Can please contact raewyn@sotheycan.org or cass@sotheycan.org
Read more about So They Can here.
Images courtesy of Escape Adventures, find them on Facebook.
