Three splendid charities have come on board as official charities for the '09 Africa Rally.
Two charities supported by 2008 teams are back - Ape Action Africa (formerly called CWAF) and Send a Cow. And we have a brand new official charity we're rather chuffed to welcome for 2009 - the Rainforest Foundation UK, completing a marvellous set of excellent organisations.
Here at Adventurists Towers it's important that all our misadventures raise shedloads of money for charity and each do their bit to save a bit of this fine world. Each team taking on the Africa Rally agrees to raise at least £1000 for the official charities. They donate the money directly to the charities using recognised fundraising websites like justgiving.com (the entry fee paid to us at Adventrists towers is completely separate and covers all the parties, team meetings, websites, launches and vehicle arrangements in Cameroon).
Caroline from Ape Action Africa said in a letter to the teams who have already signed up:
"This is the second year of the rally, and we are delighted to be involved again."
As with the other two charities, the money raised by the teams will be used to fund their work in Cameroon. Ape Action Africa's main fundraising goal for this year will be building an enclosure for their young gorillas, in addition to all their other work.
The Rainforest Foundation UK works across various areas in Cameroon and teams will fund projects that aim to preserve the rainforest, improve the lives of indigenous people and also campaign to safeguard the future of the forests.
Send a Cow has several projects in Cameroon and teams will fund their work in the north of the country, helping families to improve farming methods, address gender issues and many other areas of development.
We will post more details about each of the official charities in the next few weeks. Tally-ho.