Jo Cooper has set off on a trip walking across Africa, starting from Cape Agulhas to Uganda.. all to raise funds for education in rural Africa!
Jo Cooper has been a tour guide for most of his adult life. In 2015 he was guiding people through Uganda when he met a young orphan girl named Stella. She had joined a song and dance troupe to raise money to pay for her schooling. Jo was moved by this and sponsored her school fee’s.
Since then the idea has grown into a non-profit that helps schools, orphanages and sponsors children to go to school in rural Africa.
“I started a small sponsorship program assist with these children’s schooling. That was the birth of Footsteps Through Africa, and now 20 students (and counting) have been sponsored a place in the local school.”
“Since Footsteps’ inception, we have implemented various initiatives in different locations, from school development, to orphanage support, Random Acts of Kindness, and most recently, a primary school in Malawi.” – Jo Cooper
At the end of April Jo undertook his biggest challenge to date! He started walking across Africa to raise funds towards ‘Footsteps Through Africa’. Jo started the great trek at Cape Agulhas, the Southern tip of Africa.
His end goal is Uganda, he plans to get there within a year and a half. Every 3 to 4 months he will stop to give a tour to a group of people, the funds will go towards the end goal. He also aims to raise R250K!
Jo has already raised R20K using his Backabuddy page. The Journey is 100% independently funded to ensure that all donated money goes straight to the cause.
While walking across Africa, Jo will stay off the beaten track as much as possible. He hopes to meet people from rural villages in need, he can then assess the needs and help accordingly. The trip will be a long one!
A total of 7200km is the undertaking. Jo plans to spend 4000km of it on foot, 900km paddling across the length of Lake Malawi, and the remaining 2300km hitching a ride with fellow travellers and locals alike.
What we want to avoid, is presuming the needs of people living in these communities. Rather, we want to learn from the local communities, by living with the people here and getting to know them, what would best benefit the people of each particular community and do whatever we can to provide it.
To follow the charitable work being done, take a look at their website here. You can also follow the Journey on the Facebook page.
Jo is currently in Hoedspruit resting. He sets off on the first tour for the walk in July. The first leg of the walk across Africa ended in Port St. John’s after 58 days of walking. He will pick up from there once the tour is complete.