The jungley deserty adventure that almost never was has raised a huge stack of cash for the official charities working in Cameroon.
Late last year just over 40 teams set out from Dunsfold Park, UK in totally unsuitable cars and pointed their tiny steads in the direction of Africa. After issues with the threat of terrorism many teams had to ship their cars around certain regions but still found a way to carry on.
The fine adventurists manage to raise a whopping £48,636 for the official charities. This will go towards their projects in Cameroon, the finish line country, and make an enormous difference to the lives of the people and communities they work with.
Here's the breakdown of the cash they raised:
- £14,344 was raised by the first vehicle auction in Limbe (see here for the breakdown of donations)
- £5,762 was raised for Ape Action Africa
- £21,000 was raised for Send a Cow (as of report on 21st January)
- £7,530 was raised for the Rainforest Foundation (as of report end December 09)
A splendid effort from everyone.
Thank you from Send a Cow
Vickie Wood, Fundraising Manager at Send a Cow, wrote this message to all the Africa Rally teams:
"A big, big thank you for supporting Send a Cow this year! You have helped to raise an amazing £21,000 to support our project in the Far North of Cameroon.
We are always inspired by the enthusiasm and commitment of everyone involved in this event, and 2009/10’s Rally was no exception. The generous donations raised by all the Rally Teams will help us to continue our life transforming work with smallholder farmers in Cameroon, helping even more families leave poverty behind for good.
Since we began working in Cameroon, almost 900 families are now able to grow enough food to have nutritious meals each day; some have even gone on to make an income from the sale of their produce. Thanks to support like yours, nearly 200 more families will start their training this year. This is life transforming change for families who once struggled to eat just once a day. Thank you for bringing smiles to their faces!
Every donation we receive helps, and thanks to a unique aspect of our work, each farmer that we support will go on to lend a hand to some 9 others, meaning that the benefits of public support like yours reaches even more people, often for years to come.
So on behalf of the farmers in Cameroon, and the Send a Cow team here in the UK, thank you again for your support.
We hope to see you again at future Rally events! In the meantime, don’t forget you can keep up to date with our news on Facebook or sign up for our newsletters at our website, www.sendacow.org.uk."
Vickie also wrote to all the teams' supporters and sponsors, adding that companies that want to continue helping Send a Cow can check out their ideas for companies page on the website.
Big Thank you from Ape Action Africa
Caroline Mclaney from Ape Action Africa said:
"A huge thank you to everyone involved in organising the rally, and thank you from me too - we know that everyone has had additional major challenges to overcome so it's amazing that people made it to Cameroon!
We also want to thank our team who went to the launch on a cold, wet day when we were in India... I'm sorry we missed two gorillas, a tree and a cow dancing on stage! And of course, it would be nothing without the teams so a massive thank you to all of them for the money they have raised.
So, a massive thank you from everyone at Ape Action Africa for another successful Africa Rally, raising much needed funds for the project!"