Making a positive change
FOURWAYS – Cairo to Cape conquered on a bicycle by Fourways resident, Craig Thomson
A journey of a thousand miles came to an end in Cape Town on 14 May for Fourways resident, Craig Thomson.
Starting in Cairo on 15 January, Thomson, the only South African on the team, cycled 11 500 km across 10 countries in four months as part of a trans-continental journey crossing Africa from north to south. He came fourth overall.
Thomson, who committed his ride across Africa to the Unogwaja Light Fund and raised over R50 000 said, “The reason I have selected the Unogwaja Light Fund as my chosen organisation is that their beliefs and values reflect my own.”
Thomson explained that the fund generates financial support for community-based organisations in South Africa which focus specifically on education, skills development and, most critically, on ensuring that the responsibility and action lie with the people being supported and, at no point does the support take this responsibility and accountability away.
Empowerment and self-reliance are at the core of each of the organisations that are supported by the Light Fund and become known as Unogwaja Lights. The Light Fund aims to identify and support more Lights across the country firmly rooted in these principles.
Currently, the fund supports Lebone Village and Vukusebenze. This year, the fund will also be supporting a community called Ezinketheni just outside Pietermaritzburg, as well as a junior school with 1 100 learners within the community of Umsilinga.
Thomson said, “Gandhi famously said, ‘Be the change you wish to see in the world’. Never have these words rung so true.
“I am truly blessed and privileged to wake up each morning with a roof over my head, food on the table and fresh, clean drinking water. But, most importantly, I am extremely privileged to have good health and mobility.”
As a result, Thomson hoped his ride would make a change, “Unfortunately though there are a lot of people in South Africa who do not have these privileges and I am, therefore, committing my cycle from Cairo to Cape Town… to making a change in South Africa.”
Read more:
South African Community Project could win a US grant
Company splashes millions on literacy projects
