Sam Harry and Pip have always been described as a little odd so why not go full crazy and walk 100 Km (2.5 marathons) in 24 hours?!Great!

www.southcoastchallenge.com

6 years ago Tom Churchyard founded a charity after realising the need for male mentoring inside the landlocked country of Swaziland situated within SA. The charity has come on in leaps and bounds growing from 27 young men in 2012 to now providing a safe place over 500 boys and young men, paving ways for role models of the future

Swaziland is one of the most gender unequal countries in the world. One in three girls experience sexual violence before their 18th birthday (UNICEF 2007), whilst the small sovereignty also has the highest HIV & TB prevalence in the world, at 31% of adults (SHIMS 2011) leaving over 220,000 orphaned or vulnerable minors.

Kwakha Indvodza (KI) HQ offers a safe place for the young men and boys to socialise, communicate and relax in a monitored environment. The charity runs events such as team building exercises, music festivals and community Braai's. All this doesn't come cheap and KI rely heavily on funding from the US and around the World.

In a patriarchal culture like Swaziland’s, men are often expected to be in control, to be strong, healthy and to lead. As a result of such social expectations, men are far less likely to test for HIV, or initiate and adhere to anti-retroviral treatment when they are diagnosed with the disease. Unsurprisingly, then, whilst the majority of people living with HIV are female, the majority of AIDS-related deaths are male. Kwakha run health and sexual health courses in order to increase awareness and address community behavioural expectations that may be damaging to the men whose shoulder that falls on.

In short we are proud of what Tom has created and continues to create. We have the unique opportunity to help the young men of Kwakha develop into the men they want to be, rather than the men they're told to be.

Thanks

Sam, Harry and Pip