An award-winning author has joined a fundraising team on Tankwa Camino endure event to fix youth centre!
The Karoo, South Africa – On 23 August 2019, an intrepid team of fundraisers including well-known author Dana Snyman set off on one of South Africa’s toughest hikes – the Tankwa Camino Enduro Walk.
Their aim, besides finishing, is to raise money for the Jannie Roux Child & Youth Care Centre in Barkly West, run by Caritas Community Focus.
The gruelling 10-day trek follows South Africa’s longest gravel road from Calvinia to Ceres, crossing the stark Tankwa Karoo. Walkers who have made the journey say it is a spiritual pilgrimage as much as a test of endurance. Participants will sleep overnight in tents and walk an average of around 27 kilometres each day, braving sun, wind, cold, blisters, sore feet and exhaustion.
The Tankwa Camino Enduro Walk has an amazing back story which has turned into an annual pilgrimage!
Founder, Danie Pieterse, had a dream to one day walk from his grandfather Jan Pieterse’s grave in the Tankwa Karoo, to his other grandfather’s grave in Rawsonville. Danie shared this idea with one of his friends, Charl van der Merwe and soon the idea for a similar pilgrimage arose in the form of the Tankwa Camino. The main idea behind the Camino was to introduce people to this beautiful part of our country that connects Calvinia (in the Northern Cape) with Ceres (in the Western Cape) through the Tankwa Karoo. Danie and his wife Rhina are now managing this event along with several other routes centred around the town of Calvinia.
Thirteen staff members and friends of the Jannie Roux Centre will be making the 256.6km trek, joined by Dana Snyman, who has pledged his support to the project from the outset. Also joining the team is Zeva the dog, who will be helping to keep morale high as well as raising some money herself.
The team from the Jannie Roux Centre decided to raise funds when staff realised that its maintenance costs couldn’t be met without help. The centre provides permanent housing and professional care for 85 children between the ages of six and 18 but is currently in serious need of renovations. Costs are estimated at R250,000 to repair the roof, replace damaged wooden flooring and fix leaking pipes.
The team’s fundraising efforts received a boost when they were contacted by the GivenGain Foundation, a non-profit that provides online crowdfunding services and other support for charity events. When GivenGain saw publicity for the unofficial event, it reached out and offered its free event assistance package to the hikers, helping them to set up their fundraising pages. The platform has previously worked with major events in South Africa, including the Two Oceans Marathon and the Cape Epic cycling race, to maximise their charitable impact at no cost to the event.
Although each fundraiser gets their own fundraising page, they can raise funds and track their progress as a group.
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According to Marius Maré, President of GivenGain, crowdfunding allows charities to connect with hundreds of thousands of people around the world who want to make a difference.
“Whether fundraising alone or in a team, online fundraising helps participants to make their event more meaningful, by letting them ask their network of friends, family and colleagues to donate to a charity or charities of their choice.” By crowdfunding, he says, a fundraiser can contribute 20 times more to charity than they could as an individual donor.
Donors can contribute from anywhere in the world, allowing fundraisers to reach out to a global community for help. Like all charities that work with GivenGain, Caritas Community Focus is a registered non-profit and can issue 18A donation tax certificates to people contributing through the platform.
To donate, visit the GivenGain fundraising page.
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