A team of 12 brave recreational cyclists has been assembled by Graham Morritt, a long-standing AID supporter, with the aim to pedal the distance from Jesmond to Jonglei (and back), a total of 7,700 miles! Jesmond, in Newcastle upon Tyne, is the location of AID’s UK office and Jonglei is the state in central South Sudan where the Jonglei Health Sciences Institute is based.
WEEK 4 UPDATE
It’s been an incredible effort from our 12 cyclists. They have already “arrived” at the halfway point in Jonglei, South Sudan and are heading back to sunny Jesmond.
Here are a few snaps of them out and about!
WEEK 2 UPDATE
1939 miles down and the cyclists have just entered Africa!
WEEK 1 UPDATE
Our canny cyclists have made it as far as Corsica (virtually of course) – an amazing 1056.41 miles!
With the aim of raising £7,700 (£1 per mile), it’s safe to say our cyclists have a long journey ahead of them but with spring around the corner and lockdown beginning to ease, now seems like the perfect time to get out on the road!
You can support the team’s efforts by going to our dedicated JustGiving page. AID will post weekly distance updates on this page, as well as on our social media. Please help spread the word by sharing it on your pages, and with your friends and family!
Extra support for the Jonglei Health Sciences Institute is particularly needed because the coordinators Drs Anil and Shalini Cherian have just taken on a new cohort of students, bringing the total close to 70. There is much to thank God for: AID has provided a consignment of 8 laptops to assist digital learning (with thanks to the Derek Moore Foundation for the necessary funding). A delivery of Arclight ophthalmoscopes is also on the way to the JHSI from St Andrews University. These are designed for use in countries like South Sudan and we are very grateful to AID supporter and ophthalmologist Ben Parkin for arranging this. With COVID-19 increasingly taking a hold in South Sudan, Anil has also been able to purchase three tents to facilitate open-air teaching.
There is still so much to achieve at the JHSI though! With access to food a genuine concern for many students, Anil and Shalini want to provide a daily meal so they are not trying to study on an empty stomach. They also want to set up a local area network to circumvent the issue of patchy internet interfering with digital learning.
In addition to supporting the regular running costs of the JHSI, it is our prayer that the Jesmond to Jonglei cycling challenge will be instrumental in enabling these important and exciting plans to come to fruition.
