My involvement with Education for the Children has grown greatly this year after a chance visit to Guatemala in April. This came around after my transatlantic flight from LA back to the UK was cancelled following the eruption of the Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajokull.
During my visit i stayed with the charity and documented the lives of the children who are based in and around the town of Antigua. I've attached a selection of images from the trip to this site to check out.
The charity has two schools where the children come to study in a fun environment. In addition to studying the full national curriculum they provide nutritious meals which is often the only meal they have that day. As it stands 60% of children don't attend school in Guatemala making it close to impossible to craft a future for themselves. Through education the charity is able to prepare the children for their future making it possible for them to obtain employment in future life.
So why a bike ride? Well mainly because it's there to be done. I like the idea of a physical challenge and road bike riding is somewhat alien to me. I've literally just started in the last few weeks so it will be interesting to see what 80-100 miles everyday feels like as we ride towards our 1,000 mile goal.
Our route will see us travelling by ferry to Bilbao in Northern Spain and then jumping on the bikes up through the pyrenees, then following the length of France up to the next ferry port. One more trip across the water and then a further 4 days up through England to Boughton, a Chester suburb, to our homecoming!
How it will turn out is anyones guess! It's only 1,000 miles. How hard can it be?
Please help me for this trip by donating to this great cause. I've set my target at £300 because this is the amount required to sponsor a primary school child for a whole year.
Thanks in advance,
Tim.
