This June 5 – June 20 four European friends, Alex, Raif, Alfred and Peter, will “run” their longboards the length of Ireland. Why may you ask? To raise awareness about Zimbabwe’s crisis and raise support for EF’s partners at Albert Street School! In their own words:
“We are longboarding given that it’s a great thing to do. We toured Germany in 2008 just like that, and met numerous people who approached us being fascinated by our journey. Oftentimes these people would ask us about our motivation for traveling like that, and we could only answer we were simply fascinated by this way of traveling, not really thinking about why we were doing it.
This year, as we tour Ireland, we felt like doing more than just longboarding Ireland for ourselves. We wanted to take the pain and reach our physical limits for another reason—to create awareness for the people of Zimbabwe.
Assuming that only half of the people we meet during the tour ask us about a reason or cause for our journey, talk to us about our issues, visit run4zimbabwe.com or simply tell their friends about our little project, we felt that we could contribute to making people aware of the circumstances currently prevailing in Zimbabwe.”
The Elias Fund is excited to join with these adventurous individuals. You can learn more details about their ride here: Run For Zimbabwe. And if so moved, you can support the guys’ efforts by contributing through our donation link just to the right on this page. All donated money will go directly to the support of the Albert Street School. Please write “run4zimbabwe” in the comment field if you make a donation. Thanks!
Nearly a week since we’ve returned from Zim/SA, but still working hard to get back in the groove of things. I wanted to provide an overview of our trip to help paint a more detailed picture of EF’s partnerships and the near-future happenings in Zimbabwe and Jo’burg. Hopefully you followed the day-to-day movements via Twitter. If not, no worries! Here’s a partner by partner breakdown gleaned from the trip:
Albert Street School: The school for refugee youth has expanded to over 500 students (up from only 125 students last September!). 200 of these students are unaccompanied, meaning the parental figure is either deceased or no longer looking after the child. For these 200 students, Albert Street attempts to provide 3 meals a day, shelter, and other childcare related services. Yet the strain of rapid growth has rendered many basic services unattainable for these 200 unaccompanied children. The school’s headmaster, Alpha, discussed with us the difficulties of food provision. He mentioned several occasions where the students had gone without for a day or two. There also remains a great need for infrastructure renovation and construction.
Youth Education Training: Y.E.T. has reduced its beneficiary allotment to 11 students. Some students have migrated to South Africa (joining an estimated 3 million Zim refugees seeking greener pastures in SA). Other students have been dropped due to the incredible increase in school fees over the past several terms. Despite these disappointments, Y.E.T. has successfully seen two students complete ‘A’ level exams (equivalent to high school graduation). One of these students, Believe, was named prefect of his school. It is the first time a student from the slums of Kadoma has been named prefect in this specific school! You can read Believe’s story here in Adam’s travel blog.
Elias Foundation Trust: There has been much movement with E.F.T. in the past months as they have been researching a sustainable micro-agricultural program. The revolutionary techniques of this program can increase crop yield by over 300%. E.F.T. is implementing the techniques at first via personal gardens, but plans to create a pilot farm from which to equip both rural and urban farmers … E.F.T’s outreach to the blind community continues to flourish. We had the privilege of attending a food distribution, and were overwhelmed by the success of the program. Nearly 200 families attended the event … E.F.T’s scholarship program continues to support 3 university level students, with the success of one beneficiary being all but graduated.
All in all it was a productive trip. Our media bank has been replenished thanks to Greg. You can view a handful of photos from the trip at his blog. And as Adam, executive director of the 1010 Project, has often quoted, “The trip was affirming.” He was encouraged to see EF’s grassroots, relational approach in our humanitarian efforts. He was also chuffed to meet Elias.
As for me, it is always a privilege to spend time with our partners, to learn from their experiences, and to build with them stronger and stronger friendships. It is through their creativity and perseverance that hope and opportunity return to Zimbabwe. It is a blessing to know and serve these wonderfully courageous individuals.
I had a chance to talk with Scott in Chiredzi, Zimbabwe over the weekend. Below is a link to a recording of him talking about their time in Johannesburg with our partners at the Albert Street School. Our current fundraising campaign is in conjunction with the Heard the World Foundation, founded by music group O.A.R. All proceeds raised during this campaign are being directed to our partners at Albert Street School. Please take a moment to listen to this brief update. Every donation, no matter how small or large, makes a huge difference in the lives of these refugee stuedents in Johannesburg.
To learn more about our Empowering Refugee Children campaign click here.
Donations towards this campaign can be made in the Donate Now box on the right of your screen or at our Facebook Cause.
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in Johannesburg with our partners at the 
