Four men walked for 36 days from Richards Bay in KwaZulu-Natal to Cape Town to raise funds towards a new orthopaedic unit at the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital.
Malcolm Johnson, Brian Daniels, Franklin Peceur and Rudoph Doby completed their Heal Our Children Marathon walk and arrived at the children’s hospital on Thursday June 15.
They raised close to R20 000 for the two-year, R100 million project to establish a new orthopaedic unit.
“Even though we finished the walk, we still want to raise more money as we believe there is still money outstanding,” said Mr Johnson, 65, a retired councillor from Stellenbosch.
Mr Daniels, 52, from Oudtshoorn, previously walked from his hometown to Cape Town to raise funds for a new hospital playground (“Red Cross unveils new therapeutic playgrounds,” Southern Suburbs Tatler, April 27).
For Mr Peceur, 51, a firefighter from Stellenbosch, did the walk for his 6-year-old niece, a patient at the hospital. “This walk is also dedicated to other ill children I encounter in my other line of work as a paramedic,” he said.
Mr Williams, 66, a retired teacher, said, “We are not done with our fund-raising. In two years’ time, we may attempt to do this long walk again.”
The men said many life lessons had been learnt on the 1100 km walk, and Mr Johnson said they had encountered many poor people along the way and had tried to help them.
Members of the Children’s Hospital Trust welcomed the four men to the hospital after the long walk.
“I checked in with them on a daily basis. They were always smiling and they kept their spirits high during this long walk,” said the trust’s donor relationship manager, Pauline Solomons.
Visit the Heal Our Children Marathon Facebook page, contact Mr Johnson at 083 983 3351 or email malcolmjohnson0@gmail.com if you want to make a donation.
