Courtesy of ITP’s Arabian Business Magazine, our Around Africa Charity trip is getting much needed public awareness. In September 24th Issue of Arabian Business under PostScript, Ben Dawson/ITP editor reveals:

I can exclusively reveal that the long-awaited charity bike journey to Africa is finally happening. Four men with motorbikes, a satellite phone and first aid kit are getting ready to take off from Dubai on October 2nd venturing into Oman, passing through Yemen then taking a boat to Djibouti and continuing on motorbikes to Ethiopia finishing the first part of the trip in Addis Ababa.

Ambrose Blaine, an Emirates Airline pilot and close friend, John Kelly, MD of Kelly Steel are being in the project. The group, also including Kimmo Penttala (Emirates Airline pilot), Jim Quirke (Managing Director of Quirke International).

It is a fantastic effort to raise money, more details of which can be found at the website www.aroundafrika.com. However, avoiding the mistake of previous similar endeavors such as the ‘The Long Way Around’ trip, in which the entire trip costs were deducted from the amount of money raised for charity, the group of five are managing expenses from their own pockets while inviting sponsors to donate. 

“We are saying to sponsors like Gecko who are preparing our motorbikes, Thuraya who are getting our satellite phone off, and ICON who are supplying our spare parts and BMW that we pay for everything and set up a website with their logos while asking them to make donations to the charity,” says Blaine.

They are hoping to raise several hundred thousands of dollars for a very good cause. Good luck to them. I’ll be giving regular updates on their progress – and hope readers check out the website.