Cycling from Cairo to Cape Town for orphans
LINDEN – One man, 11 000km, 10 countries, 102 days, R413 000 for orphans.
Shayne Rookhuyzen (38) will never forget his epic journey cycling 11 000km from Cairo, Egypt, to Cape Town to raise money for orphans.
Riding for Support Orphans in Southern Africa (SOSA), Rookhuyzen cycled through 10 countries between 16 February and 28 May (102 days), raising R413 000 for clothing, food and equipment for different orphanages in Southern Africa.
SOSA held a reception for Rookhuyzen at a house in Linden on 31 May.
There, JP Skinner, co-founder of SOSA, said that with the money raised the foundation could support its associated orphanages for “at least a year or two,” and thanked Rookhuyzen.
“I was never afraid of 11 000km,” Rookhuyzen said.
“I was worried about what came with it: borders, [my] safety and health.”
Rookhuyzen said that his greatest challenge was finding a safe place to sleep at night, whether in his small tent or in a cheap room.
His adventure was not without its dangers.
“In Kenya three men tried to hold me up with Ak-47s,” Rookhuyzen recalled.
“I did not stop. I turned around and rode away. They were offended and one chased me. I did not think he would shoot and I rode on. It was bizarre. I was calm.”
At one stage Rookhuyzen “became greedy for km” and rode at night in a lion-riddled area in Botswana.
Fortunately, locals driving by in a car persuaded him to get in the car with them and go to a nearby camp for the night.
When riding up the steep Mount Kenya, Rookhuyzen was almost hit by an approaching truck whose brakes had failed.
Rookhuyzen’s primary diet was beans and Coca-Cola, and he once had diarrhoea for a week.
He said that the people and orphans waiting for him motivated him to finish.
He did not puncture a single tyre.
On a few occasions Rookhuyzen decided to stay a couple days longer to admire the beauty of his surroundings, such as at Lake Malawi.
Yani Horn, national sustainability and income manager for Cotlands, Charlie Martin, CEO of The King’s School Robin Hills, and Ivan Achiume, development manager for Oasis Haven, all gave their thanks for the foundation’s, and Rookhuyzen’s, involvement in their institutions.
