Charity bike ride
During the Easter holiday Mr Bruce John and his wife Katie cycled through the Western half of the Netherlands to raise money for a charity called Mokomborero. They started in Amsterdam, cycled through Haarlem, Leiden, Den Hagg, Delft, Gouda, Kinderdijk, Dordrecht and finally finished almost 240 kilometres later in Gorinchem. The weather was quite cold, but mostly sunny – a definite bonus for the cyclists who camped in tents each night.
Makomborero is a UK registered charity that helps to relieve poverty in Zimbabwe through the education of children. It achieves this by investing time in disadvantaged communities and by supporting talented students to help them to complete their education and attain excellent grades in their A-levels. Makomborero gives these children the chance to fulfil their undeniable potential and gives them hope and a future.
The money raised by this cycle ride and any other donations will be used to provide schooling, food and accommodation as well as guidance, mentoring and basic educational tools such as text-books and stationery.
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” Nelson Mandela
During the summer holidays this year Bruce and Katie will be visiting Southern Africa, spending the majority of their time in Zimbabwe. While there they will be visiting Mokomborero and delivering some English tutorials. The students they will be working with will be taking extra lessons during their holiday to prepare for A-level exams. Mokomborero also works with a number of rural schools and the couple have agreed to help repaint a number of blackboards during their time in Zimbabwe. Bruce and Katie hope to also be able to provide these schools with chalk, new work books and some pens.
When they first decided to undertake the find-raising bike ride they weren’t sure how much they could raise and decided that anything, no matter how small, would make a difference. They set themselves an initial goal of £300 but due to some generous donations quickly reached that sum before they even arrived in the Netherlands. To date they have collected £400 and are hoping to reach their new target of £600.
If anyone would like to make a donation to the charity please visit Bruce and Katie’s fundraising page: http://www.justgiving.com/thejohns
