Hike4Education

Hike4Education

“Across the Nation, For a Better Future”

Starting April 2012, I plan to “Hike For Education”. This will be a walk of 2,650 miles, or 4,240 km from Mexico to Canada. Hike of the Pacific Crest Trail (“PCT”) in the U.S. will take me through six out of seven of North America's eco-zones including high and low desert, old-growth forest and arctic-alpine country. I will walk all the way through California, Oregon and Washington, carrying just a backpack with the bare necessities, such as food, water, tent, sleeping bag and clothes. This journey will take me across the desert valleys in Southern California to the rainforest in the Pacific Northwest. Together with the fact that this trail has the greatest elevation changes of any of America's National Scenic Trails, makes the PCT a trail of diversity and extremes.

I am going to undertake this new adventure for the education of more than 300 girls who need a chance for a proper education and a better future. The proceeds I raise will go to the Georges Malaika foundation (GMF), Empowering Girls Through Education, a501(c)(3) not-for-profit based in the United States. It's goal is to provide the educational advancement of girls in Africa, specifically in the Democratic Republic of Congo, also known as DRC, or Congo. The main goal of the foundation is to construct a school in the Katanga district of the DRC that will have a final capacity of 325 young women. The school is designed on a pro bono basis, and all the staff of GMF are working as volunteers. In this way all of the funds will go directly into the building project.

The idea of hiking for a charity came to me while I was hiking the Appalachian Trail in the U.S. in 2010. I got in touch with Noella Coursaris, a founder of George Malaika Foundation, and shared with her an idea of hiking from Mexico to Candada while raising the awareness and funds for the construction of the girls' school in Congo. Both Noella and I share a passion for education in Africa, and we came to the same conclusion: why not combine my pilgrimage with Noella's dream of providing an access to education for 300 rural girls in her home-country of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

You can help me, so that together, we can give these magnificent young woman, a chance for a better future. You can do this by sponsoring this great adventure http://mypilgrimage.eu/donations.html or by making a donation to GMF http://www.gmfafrica.org/donate – Steven 'Indiana' Huysseune

Links: http://www.globalcharityadventurers.org/ www.gmalaikaf.org