Charity Fundraiser Scores 'Goal' For Missions Expedition to India
by Michael Ireland
April 11, 2007
LONDON, ENGLAND (ANS) -- Last year Britain's Tearfund charity dispatched 35 Transform Teams -- a total of 428 people -- to development projects in 18 developing countries throughout Africa, Asia and Central and South America.Now a member of Duke Street Baptist Church in Richmond, England, has raised almost £1,500 by carrying a table 'foosball' football game across London and playing members of the public on 10 of the city's bridges over the River Thames so that can be on one of this year's teams.
Pedro de Barros is raising cash to help paint a clinic in a slum area of Delhi, India when he visits the country in April. The project is being run by Tearfund, a Christian development charity based in Teddington, Middlesex.
Pedro and friends Andy Hambleton and Nathan Burley undertook the ten-hour sponsored challenge on March 3, starting at Battersea Bridge, crossing every major bridge and ending on Tower Bridge.
Wearing 70s-style wigs and moustaches, members of the public, tourists from America and Australia and even the Metropolitan Police challenged them to a game for a £1 donation. But throughout the day, the three challengers remained undefeated.
Pedro said, "My arms were aching before we'd even made it to the first bridge, so I knew the day was going to be a real challenge. We took the table up to London on public transport from its home in Richmond which was a massive challenge in itself. Trying to get the table onto a bus was interesting!""
Added Pedro: "The toughest part was just after Lambeth Bridge approaching Waterloo Bridge. It was 3pm, we were just halfway through but were very tired. But seeing the lights of Tower Bridge on the horizon from the penultimate bridge was an unforgettable moment and gave me that last burst of energy! Climbing steps was a bit of a problem but we kept on going till the end and pulled off a remarkable day for raising those funds to get to India, £1,417.80 in total."
Pedro is a Tearfund staff member and will travel to India on 2 April joined by nine others from around the country as part of a Tearfund Transform Team.
Pedro says, "I have always wanted to get a view of life from outside the western perspective, and spend time serving others who get by life on the bare essentials. As the days and weeks pass I am getting more and more excited as I feel this trip will be like nothing I have ever done before!"
Tearfund's Transform Program enables Christians to spend from two weeks to four months working hand in hand with local partners in Africa, Asia and Central and South America. Transform Teams turn their hands to a wide range of work, from building houses for widows and orphans from Rwanda's genocide, to working with children orphaned by AIDS in Thailand and working with street children in Brazil.
Tearfund is one of the UK's leading relief and development agencies, working with Christian agencies around the world to tackle the causes and effects of poverty. Tearfund is a member of the Disasters Emergency Committee. www.tearfund.org
For more information about Transform visit www.tearfund.org/transform.
© 2007 ASSIST News Service, used with permission.
