Story
Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.
Just imagine being a young child and watching BOTH of your parents die from aids.
This has happened to nearly half a million children in Lesotho.
If that's not bad enough. The country where you live is extremely poor and 1/4 of the population are orphaned children , many of them infected with aids during pregnancy.
The task of taking care of these children normally falls to the grandmother, if she is still alive ( life expectancy is about 42 years )and she probably has very little in the way of resources.
The situation is an overwhelming one for such a small poor country and outside assistance is vital from organisations such as Sentebale who help to run and support childrens centres in Lesotho .
I am going to cycle solo and unsupported 6000 km thro 10 countries from Sagres in Portugal ( the most south westerly point of europe ) to Nordcapp in Norway ( the most northerly point of europe ) in order to try to raise awareness of the plight of Lesotho's children and to encourage people to donate whatever they can afford to Sentebale so that they can continue to help these children and give them a future.
I will be camping enroute , carrying all of my equipment such as tent, sleeping bag, cloths , food, cooking stove etc etc on my bike so it's going to be pretty hard work as my equipment weighs about 20 kg.
I am aiming to cycle 100km a day which will take 5 to 7 hours depending on the terrain , how windy it is and how kn... sorry! tired I am, and thats without breaks. After that I'll have to pitch my tent , buy some food to cook for dinner and probably do some washing and have a shower ( don't want to be too smelly if I'm talking to people about Lesotho and trying to encourage them to donate )
Then it'l be off to bed for , hopefully, a good nights sleep before an early start with breakfast followed by taking down my tent and packing everything back into my very bright yellow panniers before setting off on that days 100km adventure hopefully before nine oclock.
Sounds like fun doesn't it ( hope it doesn't rain too much) and I'm really looking forward to Holland where ther aren't any big hills ( bliss )
Sweden and Norway should be pretty challenging with the terrain and the ferocious biting insects. A lack of campsites in some areas means I will have to wild camp which should be interesting.
It is going to be a challenge but then I do like a challenge.
I really hope this has touched you and that you are able to donate to such a worthy cause.
God Bless You
I will be posting my progress on my facebook page when I can get internet access ( you can contact me on bandgtshirts@aol.com so that i can accept you as a friend ) It would be great if you followed me and sent encouragement.
You can get information on Sentebale and two of the Childrens Centres in Lesotho at the web addresses below:-
sentebale.org
https://www.facebook.com/pages/semonkong-childrens-centre
https://www.freewebs.com/semonkongchildrenscentre/sentebalesupport.htm
thank you very much for your time
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