Islamic Relief (IR) event and volunteer coordinator Ashraf Kenny and 21 other daring individuals from across three continents have taken on a challenge to cycle more than 200km through Andalusia, Spain.
The international organisation aims to raise awareness and much-needed funds for a project that will provide safe drinking water to four villages in Mali, West Africa.
Kenny’s personal aim is to raise R50 000 towards the project that will provide safe drinking water to 4800 people living in these villages.
“The cycle route promises to be a tough one, but I am fired up to take on the challenge of completing the 200km with your prayers, encouragement and support.
We are to truly provide them with water for life,” he says He says that by donating towards the project, locals will be providing much more than a simple convenience to these communities – they will be contributing towards building their future, and restoring their dignity, with every precious drop.
“I am a runner and not a cyclist.
I have never cycled this long before.
To be honest, the only cycling training I get is at gym.
This is a new challenge for me and nothing like I have embarked on before.
The struggle we will go through with cycling over the four days in Spain is nothing compared to what these people go through daily to get water.” Kenny says the project funds will cover a solar-powered water-harvesting system, which harnesses the energy of the sun to provide the villages with easy access to clean water – an example of how IR’s carefully tailored approach to humanitarian development provides sustainable solutions and improves quality of life.