As many of you know I am the co-founder of the Starwood EAME annual Road to Awareness fundraising effort. Back in 2008 in our first ever event we raised over Euro 240,000 for a child-to-child radio project in Mozambique which enabled young people to lead the way in raising their peers’ awareness and communicating life-saving skills for HIV prevention in Mozambique. Even during the financial difficulties of 2009 we were able to raise over Euro 130,000 helping street children in Egypt. This enabled us to provide social and medical support to 2,000 street children in greater Cairo and to protect them from violence, abuse and risky behaviours. These achievements were only possible through the generous support and contribution from all our sponsors – people like yourself!
With this great success in mind, we are now planning the event for 2010. I am very happy that I again will have the chance to take part in the Starwood Road to Awareness EAME Bike Ride 2010 which will take place in the Dolomites region in Italy from the 26th to the 28th of August 2010. The goal for the 2010 fund raising effort is to raise Euro 160,000 for the established School’s for Africa project (SFA) in South Africa. This project is a partnership between the Nelson Mandela Institute and UNICEF focused on accelerating access to quality basic education for 8 million children in 11 African countries. The funds raised through the 2010 Road to Awareness effort will support phase 2 of the SFA campaign in South Africa including direct support for 1,500 orphants and vulnerable children in 5 rural schools, training of 70 teachers and leadership training for 20 school principals as well as sports for development activities in 18 schools.
The Starwood Road to Awareness EAME Bike Ride 2010 is going to be another mental and physical adventure for all the riders and will push them to the limit. It sets a perfect challenge for the rest of Starwood EAME to see if each and every associate and hotel around the division can equally challenge themselves to raise funds for some of the world’s most vulnerable and needy people – the children in South Africa.
As some might remember, last year had some additional equipment challenges for me that I hope will not be repeated this year!! I also had the very unfortunate bike crash last fall which kept me out of the saddle for a good 4 months but I was lucky to get away with scars only!
This year the 3 day journey of just under 400km will take me on over 10 of the most legendary roads and mountain passes in the Italian Dolomites including the very famous (or infamous) Passo Dello Stelvio which starts at 916 meters and culminates 26km later at a stunning 2,758 meter. It is the highest paved mountain pass of the Eastern Alps. It is known for its difficulty, even the Giro d'Italia does not include this pass every year due to its difficulty.
I hope you again will take on my challenge and support this fundraising effort! Thanks to your support, next year 1,500 children in South Africa will receive a better education and improve their prospects for the future. Starwood’s funding will help UNICEF to improve conditions in schools and help guarantee that schools are safe and protective environments where children can realise their full potential.
Every donation will make a massive difference!
Education transforms lives and breaks the cycle of poverty that so many children are caught in. When we ensure that children have quality basic education, we create a ripple effect of opportunity for generations to come. However, there are currently more than 100 million children worldwide out of school. Children are often denied the right to be educated because they are poor, orphaned or simply because they are girls or live in a remote rural area.
South Africa: background
South Africa is the economic powerhouse of the African continent, but even so 26% of the population lives on less than US $1.25 a day. Poverty and inequality, HIV and AIDS, and violence continue to undermine children’s well-being. South Africa is one of the countries hardest hit by HIV and AIDS with 5.2 million people currently living with HIV!
Today, there are over 3.5 million orphans living in South Africa; one third of these children have lost one or both parents to AIDS. UNICEF has come up with simple and effective interventions to make education accessible to every child, particularly orphans and disadvantaged children.
“Education enables individuals to make genuine choices about the kind of lives they wish to lead”
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In advance – THANK YOU VERY MUCH for your help and support!!!
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