Cycling for Children
Moira Bailey of London is 52 years old. She’s asthmatic, didn’t own a bicycle and hadn’t ridden a bicycle in over 30 years. Thus it was more than a little extraordinary that she took on cycling in Kenya for the International Childcare trust. She was facing both getting in shape and raising the minimum £8,000. In Landmark’s Team Management Leadership Program, she realized that she couldn’t do it all herself, and she put together a team as her game in the world to make it happen. She named her game Cycling for Children 2008.
She and her team created fun events which they sold tickets to to raise money, including a Queen tribute concert, an Elvis event, and an event that featured salsa dancing and flamenco guitar. Bailey came out of her comfort zone of friends and family and began inviting strangers to participate in the project.
Said Bailey: “More and more I can see when I create inspiring big games people want to participate and they show up as being generous and extraordinary.”
Bailey’s actual trip to Kenya featured a grueling (412 km in five days) but inspiring week of cycling through the beautiful Kenyan countryside. At the end, the riders got to go to the International Childcare Trust project site,where ICT was working with WEAEP – Western Education, Advocacy and Empowerment Project, a Kenya-based, child-centred NGO. It is estimated that there are around 800,000 orphaned and vulnerable children in Kenya’s Western Province.
The aim of the project is to build a Child Protection and Community Centre, to provide care and improve quality of life for orphans and vulnerable children suffering from extreme poverty, disease, abuse and neglect. When complete, the centre will provide access to basic rights and protection to 500 children and young people per year by offering: consultation and assessment of needs and aspirations; psychological therapy; legal advice and child protection; rescue services for girls abused by violence; linking orphans to foster parents/guardians; community training in child rights and protection; and integrate/place orphans and street children in formal education. The centre will provide vocational training to vulnerable youngsters at risk and provide toolkits for those who successfully complete their courses, enabling them to find work or become self-employed.
Bailey ended up raising over £12,500 for the International Childcare Trust. But she didn’t stop there. She is setting up a September 27 event back in the UK to raise more money for the organization. Watch the video below to see Bailey speak about Cycling for Children.
