Welcome to our project combining an adventure with fundraising. Turns out to quite a hobby of ours. Just in 2010 we finished our project "Ride For Africa" where Mike (a good friend from Canada) and Axel rode with the motorbikes from Edmonton /Canada to Mt Kilimanjaro/ Africa. With tears in my eyes we felt even more confirmed that following a dream, as crazy it may sound, is the thing to do in life. But combining it with fundraising efforts and doing something good for others gives it a real twist. We raised over 25.000 USD for two orphanages in Africa, making a real difference to these children - some we personally met. This was very satisfying for all of us and did not help against this kind of addiction...

Having a swimming background Axel had over the last 10 years always the wish to swim something "longer". This is where the idea came not to ride this time to Africa, but to swim! And voilà "swim2africa" was born! Joining this project will be his long time triathlon friend Michael from Germany. He is just as enthusiastic as Axel. So, good combination for this challenge.

While Axel and Michael were working hard in the pool to get fit for this event they worked just as hard outside of the pool to raise awareness of the charities and raise funds. To make it more interesting for all followers a free raffle was initiated. People could enter the estimated swim time it would take Michael and Axel to connect these two continents with each other. Who ever was closest won € 500 prize money donated by our sponsor black tusk. And to make it even more exciting you were able to watch the progress live on a map thanks to black tusk tracking software.

On October 3rd, Mike and Axel left with two friends to Spain to dare the crossing. With strong winds and big waves the crossing nearly seemed impossible for weeks. But on October 7th there was only one day of less wind and they dared to jump at 8:21 a.m. into the Atlantic and headed South. To all our surprise, after just exactly 3 hours and 50 minutes they touched African ground, making a lucky winner in Canada very happy. He was just 9 minutes away from their swim time. And to make this complete, he donated the money back the supported charity Hands Across Africa. Now that is a selfless act!

We want to thank all supporters, sponsors, friends and families who made this event a full success. We will break easily now the € 7000 mark, overachieving our initial goal of € 5000 by far. That sure makes us very happy - and the kids in Africa even more.

We will keep the donations channels still open. All donations will go to our charity project we support and we will give an update what exactly is planned with that money. Find more information on how to donate just here. Thanks!

Axel and Michael on their way to Africa

* Raffle is free to anybody

--English-- (German below)

It has been quite a while since we have written something. But this does not mean nothing happened during this period.

We have transferred all the donated funds this January to the Charity Organisation Hands Across Africa. They were delighted to receive this large amount, much more then we all expected, allowing for even more charity projects to support orphanages in gaining independency and supporting children in their beginning of life to build a strong fundament for their long future.  Oh, just so you now the exact number: we raised thanks to your help exactly 9167 Euros.

We also promised to give you an update on what happens with the donated funds. Quentin Ranson, one of the directors of Hands Across Africa  decided with all volunteers that parts of the funds will go to a project for the Mustard Seed Foundation in Sierra Leone. Here what he wrote:

"The money that you have so generously raised will significantly change the lives of the children living in the orphanage.  We are in the process of negotiating a deal on 20 acres of prime farmland.  The children will be taught how to grow their own food as well as how to market their surplus.  This  farm will assist them in becoming more self sustaining for many years to come, which fits well our mandate to help others help themselves.

Again, thank-you to all for your generous effort of time, energy and money toward this cause.

Hands Across Africa"

No wonder we received several thank-you photos from Sister Roselyn from the Muster Seed Foundation. You see, there is a big bunch of children we do a great favor and help their future.

We were lucky that even some of the funds are used to support the Amani Children’s home in Tanzania. A second project that is supported by Hands Across Africa. Here more information on them. http://amanikids.org/

Axel was even so lucky to visit this foundation in 2010 during his charity ride from Canada to Mt. Kilimanjaro. They are a raw model of a self supporting orphanage and Hands Across Africa hopes to achieve this also with other orphanages.

Seeing these photos touched us greatly. We hope with this information we can share with you some of our gratitude for supporting good causes and having so much support by other people.

We want to thank you again for your trust in our project and we hope you see that your donation is in very good hands and has great value to children in need in Africa, giving them a chance to prosper.

THANK YOU,

Michael and Axel

Es ist eine Weile vergangen seitdem Sie was von uns gelesen haben. Das heißt nicht, dass das Projekt untätig war.

Anfang des Jahres würden die gesammelten Gelder an die Wohltätigkeitsorganisation “Hands Across Africa” überwiesen.  Sie waren positiv überrascht so eine hohe Summe erhalten zu haben . Deutliche höher als wir jemals erwartet hatten. Dies erlaubt noch effektivere Projekte zu initiieren, die dazu beitragen werden, dass die Waisenhäuser deutlich autarker sein können und die Kinder eine gute Grundlage für die ihre Zukunft erhalten. Ach, jetzt hätten wir fast vergessen die Gesamtsumme zu nennen: insgesamt würden 9167 Euro gesammelt!!

Auch versprachen wir Sie weiter darüber zu informieren, was genau mit den Spendengeldern passiert.  Einer der Direktoren, Quentin Ranson, von Hands Across Africa hat in Gemeinsamkeit mit den vielen Freiwilligen von Hands Across Africa beschlossen, dass der Großteil der Gelder für ein Projekt der Mustard Seed Foundation zugesprochen wird.  Hier in einer Mail von ihm eine kurze Zusammenfassung.

"The money that you have so generously raised will significantly change the lives of the children living in the orphanage.  We are in the process of negotiating a deal on 20 acres of prime farmland.  The children will be taught how to grow their own food as well as how to market their surplus.  This  farm will assist them in becoming more self sustaining for many years to come, which fits well our mandate to help others help themselves.

Again, thank-you to all for your generous effort of time, energy and money toward this cause.

Hands Across Africa"

Kurz übersetzt: Das Waisenhaus wird sich Nutzland zukaufen und somit zur autarken Lebensmittelbeschaffung beitragen. Überschüsse werden verkauft und die Kinder lernen auch Landwirtschaft zu betreiben.

Kein Wunder dass wir von Schwester Roselyn, der Leiterin der der Mustard Seed Foundation, viele Danke-Schön Fotos aus Sierra Leone erhalten haben. Wie man in dem Foto sieht, sind hier einige Kinder die auf die Hilfe von außen (vorerst) angewiesen sind.

Wir haben sogar das Glück, da wir deutlich mehr Geld als erwartet gesammelt haben, dass wir ein zweites Waisenhaus unter die Arme greifen können. Es ist ein weiteres Projekt, dass von HAA unterstützt wird. Das Waisenhaus sitzt in Tansania und heißt Amani Children Home.  Hier etwas mehr Information zu diesem Waisenhaus: http://amanikids.org/

Axel hatte das Glück das Waisenhaus 2010 am Fuße von Mt. Kilimandscharo zu besuchen, als er seine Motorradreise von Kanada nach Afrika machte und ebenfalls damit diesen Waisenhaus unterstützt hat. Das Waisenhaus gilt inzwischen als Vorzeigeobjekt, wie sich so eine Organisation selber helfen kann.

Diese Fotos haben uns nach dem ganzen Projekt sehr  berührt und für all die Mühen mehr als entschädigt. Wir hoffen mit der Email auch allen Helfern und Spendern ein ähnliches Gefühl zu schenken.

Wir wollen uns nochmals für die gesamte Hilfe und Spenden bedanken und uns für das Vertrauen das uns entgegen gebracht wurde. Wir hoffen damit einen guten Einblick gegeben zu haben, was mit den Spenden so geschieht und dass es tatsächlich nachwirkend den Kindern dort helfen wird.

VIELEN DANK,

Michael und Axel

--- English --- (German below)

And some more good news. Not only is the Video done by our great friend and supporter Vicky, but also have we received some more tremendous donations to our ongoing charity work! The employer of Michael "Landis + Gyr" donated unbelievalbe € 1820 to our supported charity organization. This, with all the other amazing donations we received, pushes us now to the € 8000 mark. Believe us, we did not expect to have that success. It just makes us very proud to see that we have received so much trust from people from all over the world supporting our good cause. We keep you posted on what will happen with all these funds, so you have a good feeling about it. We decided to keep the donation open till after christmas, giving people the chance to do an very effective donation for x-a

As a little thanks and to hopefully entertain you 11 minutes, we have here a little video on our days and swim down in Tarifa. Giving you maybe an idea what were up to in these days.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMl9XFxaVjc

--German-- (English above)

Und wieder einige gute Nachrichten. Es ist nicht nur unser kleines Video von unserer guten Freundin Vicky zu unserem Überquerung nun online zu sehen, sondern wir haben auch weiterhin einige großartige Spenden für unsere Spendenaktion erhalten. Der Arbeitgeber von Michael Landis und Gyr hat sage und schreibe 1820 € an Hands Across Africa gespendet. Summiert man nun diese und weitere neue Spenden auf, werden wir bald die € 8000 Marke durchbrechen. Wir können es selber nicht glauben, welch tolle Unterstützung wir hier erhalten. Es erfüllt uns auch mit etwas Stolz, dass wir so viel Vertrauen in den Spendern wecken konnten und die damit eine große Sache unterstützen. Natürlich werden wir noch ein Update dann schicken, was mit den Spenden genau geplant ist, wenn wir die Spendenkonten schließen. Aber da es noch so gut läuft, werden wir die Konten bis nach Weihnachten noch offen lassen. Damit geben wir weiterhin die Möglichkeit auch an Weihnachten eine gute Tat zu machen !

Also ein kleines Dankeschön an alle, haben wir nur 11 Minuten "Unterhaltung" für Euch. Gibt Euch hoffentlich einen kleinen Eindruck in unsere spannenden Tage in Tarifa!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMl9XFxaVjc