Cape to Rio 2020 Fundraiser

 

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MARINE INSPIRATIONS CO- FOUNDER PHIL WADE is sailing on the Cape to Rio Race to raise funds for a Marine education bursary so that a deserving young lady from a very poor background can also go to sea one day.

All funds raised will go only to the bursary and I am paying my own way on the boat.

The reason I am sailing on the C2R is a strong urge to go back to sailing across an ocean on a smaller boat, much like I did so many times back in the good old days! When I first came up with this crazy idea I was going to have my own show and take several Marine Inspirations students on a borrowed boat but I could not find the funding in time so I have now been invited on a Brazilian 54 footer called “Saravah”. As I cannot take any of our students on this adventure I decided to raise funds for a bursary for one deserving youngster to go to Lawhill and eventually to go to sea. Please note that you can donate any amount by using any credit card but you must stipulate the amount in Euros and it will then debit your card in your home currency. 1 Euro is about 16 Rands or about $1,11 US. Thanks in advance!

Meet Nqobile…..

Nqobile is an intelligent and mature young lady of 16 years of age who currently lives in a shack with only her all female family in Cato Manor township, just outside of Durban. This is a very poor area and is fraught with social ills and extremely high unemployment. Her family background is sad, her father is deceased, she has a mother who is undereducated and unemployed.  She has an older unemployed sister who recently had a baby in August, which unfortunately is sickly and has already had to undergo an operation.  In addition in the shack there is a younger sister and an aged grandmother who lives with them.  Their only income is from social welfare grants, which in is this country is dismal.

An NGO, called Ithemba Lethu works in the Cato Manor and offers peer leadership programs at 7 schools in the region, mentoring and promoting outstanding youngsters between the ages of 12 to 16 in order to produce role models and create upliftment.  As part of this program Sail Africa, another NGO, offers sailing as an extra mural activity to one of these schools and their facilitator brings the Grade 8 and 9 learners down to Point Yacht Club each week which is how Nqobile started sailing two years ago.

Nqobile is currently first in her Grade at school and is committed to a career at sea. Sail Africa put her forward for a Bursary at Lawhill Maritime Centre in Simonstown and Marine Inspirations are raising the funds to pay for this. Nqobile is over the moon about the bursary and is excited about going, she really wants to get ahead and is prepared to work hard, so please step up and help her to achieve.

The money raised will go towards a three year bursary and will cover all her costs, school fees, full board and lodging plus travel home from Simonstown to Durban during school holidays. For the first year the amount needed is 86,000 Rand and for the full three years (grades 10, 11 and 12) the total is R283, 000, which at current exchange rates is approximately 18,000 Euros. As I went live with this campaign a shipping company, Unicorn, has joined in this initiative and has put in R100,000 so we are already more than a third of the way towards achieving our goal. As this money went straight to the Bursary fund I have now reduced our target to 12,000 euros.

I fully realise that this is still a large target but with your help I am hoping to achieve this. I thank you all in advance for your generosity to someone who really needs it and who will appreciate it all. All donors will get acknowledged and included on our daily blogs as we sail towards Rio. If anyone wants publicity we are open to proposals to have stickers on the hull to promote your business or whatever.

For more info have a look at the following websites:

Go Fund Me Page

Lawhill Maritime Centre — http://www.lawhill.org/
Sail Africa — https://www.facebook.com/groups/sailafrica/
Themba Lethu — http://www.ithembalethu.org.za/

The Marine Inspirations programme provides young people from around the world – who would otherwise not have the opportunity – with an insight into careers in the super-yachting and maritime industry, developing a range of seamanship skills and industry connections to improve their prospects.
For the past 21 years the Lawhill Maritime Centre www.lawhill.org has helped students from financially disadvantaged backgrounds embark on successful careers in the maritime industry  by providing them with an industry-focused education while still at school. Lawhill receives no state funding and is reliant on industry and individual support to fund its operations and provide student bursaries.

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