Dear Family, Friends, Colleagues and Everyone else!

I'd like to reach out to you and ask for your big or small donation to the following charity challenge I'm undertaking:

I'm participating for the first time in a joined effort that will take, for the third consecutive year, a very heterogeneous group of colleagues from our company, Starwood Hotels & Resorts,  to cycle several mountains from 26^th  to the 29^th of August 2010 as part of the Starwood Road to Awareness EAME Bike Ride 2010 initiative that brings Starwood’s associates together annually in a fundraising campaign for UNICEF, this year for Schools for Africa Project.

 The climbs that we’re cycling are famous from the history of one of the three major world road cycling events: the Giro d'Italia. The Dolimites and 370 km of steep cycling will be the challenge ahead, festooned with climbs such as the Pordoi, Fedaia, Costalunga, Sella and, mostly, the renown Passo Dello Stellvio that will be the third day's most demanding stretch.

To put it into context, the Stelvio is the highest paved mountain pass in the Eastern Alps, at 2,757 m (9045 ft.) and the second highest of the Alps following the Col de l'Iseran, just a mere 10 m above it.

The mountain is 25 km long, with an average gradient of 7.4% and winds its way up to the top through 48 hairpins. The Stelvio is not only 6.5 km longer than the Tourmalet that Indurain (5 times Tour de France winner) conquered, and 2.5 km longer than the Mont Ventoux but also is 600 meters higher than the former and 800 meters higher than the latter!

 

Yes, some challenge that is, and certainly one not to take lightly; it needs lots of preparation, discipline and sacrifice but all the effort and suffering make the goal so much well worth it than it already is!

The reason for all this is the Schools for Africa project that UNICEF is developing. As UNICEF explain on their website:

"...In the context of the child-friendly "Schools for Africa" initiative, UNICEF is working with governments, local authorities, communities and other partners in 11 of Africa’s most needy countries including Angola, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, South Africa and Zimbabwe to create those conditions that will attract children to school, keep them there and provide them with a safe and protective environment where they can learn and play.

The focus is on helping the most disadvantaged – orphans, children living in extreme poverty, and girls. Scalability and sustainability are key elements of the campaign. Villagers work alongside UNICEF to build local schools themselves, then take over responsibility for maintaining and running them. At the same time, UNICEF strives to help national agencies institutionalize and scale-up the Schools for Africa approach and framework, so that local successes can be replicated many times over, across the country."

Yes, an ambitious project that needs our contribution to be achieved.

I'm sure you will be proud to be part of this and contribute with as much as you can.

Thank you for making this possible and rest assure I’ll be putting soul, heart, and sweat on it!

José Luis

 

 

 

 

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