Hello and thank you for visiting our fundraising page!
We are taking to the road and embarking on the challenge of Lusaka to Livingstone by bike in February 2010. Soon to be dubbed the Chawama Challenge! For those unfamiliar with the geography, Lusaka is the capital of Zambia and lies roughly 500km north of Livingstone, home of the Victoria Falls! We hope to complete the journey in 6 days, although this is very much weather permitting as we will be attempting the journey at the end of the rainy season (mid February). You can see our route below:
Day 1: Visit Lusaka Projects - visit Chawama SEE and Kalingalinga. Final preparations, dinner with friends and a good nights sleep!
Day 2: Lusaka - Kafue,40 km. The cycle begins! Send off from British High Commission and media (tbc). Stay with host families in Kafue estates.Day 3: Kafue - Mazabuka, 110km. Our first longer day in the saddle, but with the benefits of the sights through a National Park and past one of the largest sugar plantations in Africa (plus visitors are allowed to eat as much sugar cane on the premises as they can..bonus! A fuel stop in other words)
Day 4: Mazabuka - Monze, 65km. Do radio show to advertise our adventure and hopefully thank sponsors!
Day 5: Monze - Choma, 105km
Day 6: Choma - Kalomo, 65km. Stay in a cultural village, a night under the stars!
Day 7: Kalomo - Livingstone, 125km! The final stretch!
Day 8: Enjoy the delights of Livingstone, see the Victoria Falls (natural wonder of the world!), embark on a sunset booze cruise on the Zambezi and if we have any energy left we may partake in a few adrenaline inducing activities! The bungee jump is optional!
So why are we doing all this? Well as much as it will be fun to take to the road together and experience Zambia from a very unique perspective, we are also hoping to raise funds to support Friend of EduSport's projects in Zambia. The focus of our efforts for 2010, and specifically the 500km bike ride, is to buy land to allow Chawama Sport and Educational Empowerment School to build its own purpose built structure. We hope this will allow the committed staff an opportunity to realise the school's original vision; a school which provides opportunities to hundreds of young people to fulfill their potential through the provision of quality education free from financial restrictions.
The school was started in 2007 and has now grown, educating over 200 children daily. Most of the children are described as 'vulnerable' and the school building is at present also housing a number of children recently orphaned. It is planned that on purchasing their own land that Chawama SEE will build 6 classrooms, a library and have a playground but also space to build a house within the grounds to continue to support their pupils who rely on their support. More details of the vision for Chawama SEE can be found on our website, www.friendofedusport.org
So please do put your hands (deep!) into your pockets to assist us in reaching our fundraising target of £2500. We hope to be able to update you on our adventure through the website blog. Although the planned challenge is not until February, we are looking to get early support to help motivate us through the training that lies ahead (albeit one of us braving the UK winter conditions while the other will be peddling in the Southern Hemisphere sunshine between now and February).
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