Four fundraising cab drivers have secured the future of a Tanzanian orphanage with £2,000 to help to buy the land the home is built on
Four London cab drivers - Daren, John, Stuart and Bob - have presented Asha-Rose Migiro, the Tanzanian High Commissioner, with a cheque for £2,000 which will help to buy the land that a Tanzanian orphanage near Arusha stands on.
When Daren and John were in Tanzania in 2019 to climb Kilimanjaro to raise funds for the Taxi Charity, they were invited to meet the children who live in the Huruma orphanage near Arusha. They were totally overwhelmed by the joy and love that they witnessed, and when they learnt that the land that the orphanage was built on was going to be sold and they were to be evicted, they knew they had to help.
The orphanage often struggled to give the children in their care the essentials so they could never imagine raising the money they needed to buy the land and had nowhere else to move to. John and Daren stepped in and promised that they would raise money to help buy the land from a bigger double challenge to climb Meru and Kilimanjaro.
London cab driver Daren Parr, said: “I had personally never experienced anything like the reception we received when we visited the Huruma orphanage. The children were so happy and so grateful for the little they had, and they smiled and sang to us and left a huge mark on my heart. To hear that the land was going to be sold from under them was horrific and we were determined to prevent the children losing the only home they knew. Fast forward a few months and who could have guessed that a worldwide pandemic would delay our trip back to Tanzania to climb Meru and Kilimanjaro but we finally did it and our generous supporters helped us to reach our target and secure the future for the children of Huruma.”
The intrepid cab drivers are now training for their next challenge, to row the Atlantic in 2023, to raise money for the Uhuru orphanage, the Taxi Charity and the Stroke Association.
To follow Cabbies do Atlantic Row, to donate or to sponsor the challenge, visit www.cabbiesdoatlanticrow.com or email cabbiesdoatlanticrow@gmail.com.
About Cabbies do Atlantic Row
London cab drivers, Daren Parr 55 , John Dillane 57, Bob Barber 56 and Stuart Lockhart 49, will attempt to row the Atlantic from Lanzarote to Antigua in 2023. As ‘Cabbies Do Kilimanjaro’, they raised £18,000 for the Taxi Charity when they climbed Kilimanjaro in 2019, and in February 2022, they climbed Kilimanjaro and Meru and raised £8,000 for the London Taxi Drivers’ Charity for Children and £2,000 for the Huruma orphanage in Tanzania.
Money raised from the challenge to row the Atlantic will be split between the Taxi Charity for Military Veterans, the Stroke Association and a Tanzanian orphanage near Arusha.
The ‘Cabbies do Atlantic Row’ team is being supported by Avon Marina who is providing a SCUD Ocean Rowing boat for the Atlantic Dash ocean rowing race, and Monkey Fist Adventures, who will be offering advice about the challenge.