This is Mont Ventoux - Lance Armstrong says it is the hardest climb in France. The English Tour de France rider Tom Simpson collapsed and died just before the summit in the 1960's (although he was full of brandy and amphetamines, which is not something I plan to replicate).
we will have the pleasure of attempting it after cycling 150km just to get to the foot of it - it comes at the end of L'Etape, which is the penultimate stage of the 2009 Tour de France that we, along with several thousand amateurs, will be riding from start to finish a few days before the pros attempt it. We suspect our times will not frighten them, although over the last few months Mark has lost a stone and a half in weight, and feel fitter than I have ever done in my life.
We're raising money for a charity called The Changarawe Project. It's a small charity, but making a massive difference to a village in Tanzania in several different ways.
- Over the last few years it has built a nursery school that takes in 100 young children, providing education and a daily meal - for some their only meal of the day. Not only does this provide a chance to escape poverty, but it gives their family an opportunity to spend time earning money unencumbered by young children. The AIDs epidemic has taken a significant toll on the village, and 60 of the children are orphans.
- In addition every year, the charity supports 25 children all the way up to A-Level (to date over 100 children have benefited - paying for uniforms, shoes, books, bags, mosquito nets and a mattress. For those that don't progress to secondary school, voactional training support is also given
- Micro-financing (a concept taken from Bangladesh) where villagers are loaned money at low interest rates to help villagers start or expand a business, with over 700 people benefiting
I personally know the people running this charity, and have seen the passion and desire to make a real difference to the lives of one village in Africa. Since they started up, every single penny that has been donated has gone to the programmes in Tanzania - all UK costs (including travel) are paid out of income that has not been donated (eg find raising events, sponsorship, gift aid) so every penny you give will go directly to help the villagers of Changarawe Village.
Thanks for visiting my page, but more importantly thanks for helping make a difference to the lives of children in Africa.
