Paulshof women get ready to put foot

Three women from Paulshof are proving that they’re not scared of anything as they prepare to take part in the Put Foot Rally 2018 in support of schoolchildren throughout Africa and Fourway’s very own Friends of Free Wildlife.

Annalene Nel, Karolynn van Vüren and Tessa Hughes make up the Skrik vir Niks team, which will be participating in the rally this coming June. The Put Foot rally takes place annually and sees teams from across the world traversing about 9 000km through six African countries in order to raise funds for the Put Foot Foundation.

The Foundation then uses the funds raised to provide children throughout the continent with school shoes that they would not have otherwise. The women are also hoping to help an organisation closer to home too.

“We’re raising money not only for the Put Foot Foundation but also the Friends of Free Wildlife (FFW) organisation,” explained Karolynn van Vüren, team captain. “While Put Foot does a lot of good across Africa, we also wanted to help locally as well.

“We called ourselves Skrik vir Niks because we’re not scared of anything (except spiders, snakes and monkeys).”

So far about 170 crews have entered the rally, which will begin on 18 June, and are free to choose their mode of transport from scooters all the way to Land Rovers. The Skrik vir Niks team will be using their own vehicle, a Sukuzi Grand Vitara, for the journey.

“Sukuzi Bramley have sponsored our fuel for the trip,” said Tessa Hughes, “and have also sponsored 4×4 off-road training as a prize to help us fundraise. Thank you Clive van Kerchhoven!”

Another prize is two rides sponsored by Warrick Cook and Hot Air Ballooning South Africa.

“We’re still looking for donations to help us through the trip and to give to FFW,” added van Vüren. “Anyone can make a donation, and we want the people of Fourways to be behind us, and we’re still looking for donations and sponsorships.”

The team will be blogging daily during their trip, which will start in Cape Town and take them through Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Malowi and Mozambique as they try and support wildlife rehabilitation in Fourways.

Margi Brocklehurst, chairperson for Friends of Free Wildlife, says that she was blown away when Skrik vir Niks approached her with the idea to fundraise for the organisation.

“As a relatively new organisation, everyone who supports us is so, so important,” she said.

“I’m not sure how much will be raised, but absolutely anything would be a gift.”
Brocklehurst explained that FFW would use the donation not only to continue their important work but also to create flight aviaries for their wildlife.

“Flight aviaries are large aviaries where injured birds, particularly raptors [birds of prey such as owls, vultures and falcons] will have more space to practise flying before they are released.

“What we have [at FFW] is pretty good, but if we could go one step further it would be great and really help rehabilitation,” Brocklehurst concluded.

Details:
To donate/sponsor Skrik vir Niks you can contact them on skrikvniks@gmail.com; 082 776 6501. You can read their blog at www.talesbyanafricantraveller.com

For more information on Friends of Free Wildlife, visit www.friendsoffreewildlife.co.za