This last weekend, seven members of the Johannesburg church (South Africa) represented HOPE worldwide SA in the 947 Ride Joburg cycle race to raise awareness and funds for Early Childhood Development (ECD).

Here are responses from some of the participants:

Selepe Phetla (top right) competed for the fourth time in the 94.7 km (58.8 miles) event, which is the world’s second-largest timed cycle race that attracts between 20 000 and 30 000 cyclists. He aimed to finish the race in 3hrs30min and exceeded his expectations by clocking 3hrs23min.

“So far I’ve raised over R7 000 ($441) toward HOPEww SA’s ECD programme, and hopefully more donations will roll in. I enjoyed the race, and it was great to meet some sisters on the road when I had 27km to go. They came to support us and brought additional refreshments,” he shares.

Jacques Genis (bottom left), who leads the campus and singles ministries, competed in his first race. “It was an amazing experience; the best part was being able to do it with my brother-in-Christ, Neil Robinson.”

Neil (bottom right) previously raced for a professional team and, this time, he enjoyed doing it for a good cause. “It was great to enjoy the event and have fun, and to take it in for the joy of it. In previous years it was all a blur as I raced,” he says.

Irene Stotko (middle) had good reasons not to compete—her mom recently passed away. She also had a sore throat and limited training after recovering from an injury. Although she wasn’t part of the official team, she still took part. “I decided to just show up and see how it would go, and managed to finish,” she says.

This year, Keith Marais (top left) competed for the fifth time. “It’s been awesome to ride the race for HOPE, raising awareness around early childhood development while doing what I enjoy most, cycling! Ride Joburg is exactly that—the sites, the sounds, the supporters—the hype is awesome and memorable. For 2022, Team HOPE aims to rally together at least 22 riders.”

HOPEww SA serves and supports over 20,000 children every month. If you would like to support their Early Childhood Development work, go to hopeworldwidesa.org  for information and to donate,  or follow them on Facebook.

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