In April 2009 a truly remarkable individual began an incredible - TopicsExpress

In April 2009 a truly remarkable individual began an incredible relationship with Azafady. Reza Pakravan (pictured here with Marc Jacobs, our Managing Director) took a break from his career as a London-based financial analyst to join the Pioneer scheme for 2 weeks in April 2009 and help with school construction as part of Azafady’s Project Sekoly in Anosy region, South East Madagascar. This experience had a huge impact on him and he left a fortnight later with the determination to continue helping children of Anosy access education in any way he could. His efforts in this respect have gone above and beyond any expectation. In May 2010 Reza cycled 1000kms across the Himalayas, raising £15,000. Then in 2011 Reza set the world record for the fastest crossing of the Sahara by bike, in just 13.5 days. His other grand feats include conquering the summit of Mount Sabalan (4,811m) while carrying his bike, cycling the full length of the Caspian Sea, and riding across the Atlas Mountains in North Africa. These accomplishments have raised over £52,000 for Azafady, allowing us to build 3 new schools with latrines and teacher accommodation. He has now planned his next incredible exploit, his biggest yet – to cycle from Nordkapp in the Arctic Circle in Norway to the coast in Cape Town, South Africa with friend Steven Pawley. This is 11,000 miles across 3 continents and he is giving himself just 100 days to complete this, in doing so setting a new world record. The journey will begin less than a month from now, on the 12th August 2013. But they are not only interested in setting records; Reza and Steven aim to raise £28,000 for Azafady’s Project Sekoly, and continue educating Anosy’s children. This will bring the total money raised for Azafady to an amazing £80,000. Any of us who have completed fundraising events know the effort involved, the level of determination and the need for constant positivity. We also know of the importance of support and encouragement from others. Azafady always do our best to support fundraising efforts; in the case of Reza we would like to express our deepest thanks for his incredible commitment to Azafady and wish him the very best of luck. Most of us will know what it is like to find sponsorship, so we ask that if anyone is in a position to sponsor Reza and Steven, then please make a donation of any size at bmycharity/schoolproject. For more information on Project Sekoly or any of Azafady’s projects, please visit madagascar.co.uk. We will be watching Reza and Steven’s journey along every step of the way, and offering all the support and encouragement we can. We hope everyone reading this does the same and spreads the message about this incredible event. For more information on the journey and to monitor their progress and fundraising totals visit kapptocape/. Sponsor the journey, Share the links, Spread the word, and Support Anosy schools!