Hi there and thank you for taking the trouble to visit my dedicated fund raising page!
For 20 years, Calum MacLeod toiled alone to build a road to his croft on the island of Raasay, near Skye. He began the arduous job in the 1960s after failing to win public funds for an upgrade, and his exploits featured in the best-selling 2006 book Calum's Road by the Raasay-based author Roger Hutchison.
Now that story has inspired the building of a four mile lifeline road for an impoverished part of Africa, cut off by rainwater for six months of the year. The project is being supported by The Gambia Horse and Donkey Trust.
The village women use this road daily to get to the rice fields, and it is the route to the nearest secondary school, health clinic and market from which they can both buy goods and sell their produce. Most of the road has been washed away and during the rains and for some months after the rains, this road is under water.
This causes great hardship and people have to remove their clothes and carry them on their heads as they wade through seven kilometres of water. It is dangerous for children going to school and must be very disheartening if you are sick and need to get to the clinic. People have been known to put off the visit until it is too late and this has caused unnecessary deaths.
The road is estimated to cost £130,000 - £150,000 to build and will be built with full community involvement.
In order to raise funds for this project I will be joining with a small group of like-minded motorcyclists in January 2010. We aim to ride our bikes from the site of the original Calum's Road on Raasay travelling through the UK, France, Spain, Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania and Senegal to the new Calum's Road in the Gambia.
Donating through Justgiving is quick, easy and totally secure. It's also the most efficient way to sponsor me: The Gambia Horse And Donkey Trust gets your money faster and, if you're a UK taxpayer, Justgiving makes sure 25% in Gift Aid, plus a 3% supplement, are added to your donation.
All sponsorship goes directly to the charity as I will be covering expenses for the trip myself.
Thank you very much for all your support!
Andres
