Brave 10-year-old, Karli Fourie, from Melkbosstrand became the youngest person to ever tackle the bitter Robben Island to Blouberg crossing last year. Now, she’s preparing to take the plunge again to help foster children in the Western Cape!
Melkbosstrand, South Africa (19 August 2024) — 10-year-old Karli Fourie from Melkbosstrand became the youngest person to swim the notoriously cold and bitter Robben Island to Blouberg crossing last year, somewhat by accident. Now, she’s preparing to take the plunge once again to support other children!
Karli had set her mind to tackling the bitter swim for foster children at ‘Home from Home’ thanks to a somewhat serendipitous encounter she’d had three years before. Then, she and her family climbed up Table Mountain via Platteklip Gorge in support of charities as part of the JDI Cableway Charity Challenge. On her climb, she encountered Peter Marx, the Executive Director of Home from Home, and learnt about the world of foster care and children who no longer have biological parents to take care of them.
“I felt heartsore for these children and wanted to help Home from Home make a difference”, says a softly spoken Karli recalling that moment. Shortly after meeting Peter, Karli packed a parcel of her clothing to take to Home from Home. Every year on her birthday since, Karli makes sure to gift large clothing parcels to Home from Home.
But last year, she decided to do even more, hoping to combine her consistent clothing donations with a real punch-packer—swimming at the mighty crossing that no 10-year-old had swum before.
After months of hard training she successfully swam 7.4km icy stretch accompanied by the man who knows the crossing better than anyone— legend Howard Warrington who has tackled the crossing over 200 times and holds multiple world records for it.
Like Karli, Howard’s swims were often driven by a desire to splash some good into the world. A recent achievement saw Howard help fundraise a small fortune for the Cape of Good Hope SPCA!
The only problem with Karli’s word-record moment on 17 November 2023 was that it happened to be a training swim. As she reflects, this meant it was only ‘half of her dream’ that came true. Her fundraiser and the root reason for her cause—raising funds for Home From Home—had not yet been launched.
“My swim was supposed to be a training swim, but I completed the Robben Island crossing (7.4km in 2 hours 51 minutes) and abided all the rules 100%,” says Karli.
Now with her fundraiser launched, Karli hopes to make the second and most important part of her dream come true—raising funds for the children who need it.
This brave girl will be tackling the swim once more in late August with Howard by her side.
“Karli’s determination to achieve this goal is remarkable,” share the Home From Home team. “She is motivated and committed to the training (5km to 7km swim sessions per week, conditioning in the gym and a long weekend swim) to meet this challenge and make a difference to the lives of foster children in 16 communities across the province. These are the actions that change the world for the better.”
You can support Karli the champion’s fundraising campaign here!
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