PA bikers can support 7,000km motorbike ride for sick children

Ride for a Child, a 7,000km motorcycle ride around SA to help raise funds to pay for surgeries for 1,000 needy children, will pass through Port Alfred on February 27.

This will be Pediatric Care Africa’s third Ride for a Child, visiting the most northern, southern, eastern and western points in SA that are accessible by road bikes, as they spread awareness of their cause.

Dr Andre Hattingh is the CEO and founder of Pediatric Care Africa, which he started to raise awareness of the plight of children who require surgeries and medical treatment but can’t get help because their parents are too poor or they have no parents.

Pediatric Care Africa is hoping to assist 70 children with surgeries and 400 children with visits to private specialist doctors in 2022 – all contributing to the larger goal of 1,000 surgeries for 1,000 children Campaign #HELPMYOP.

Accompanied by a support vehicle, Hattingh will depart from White River Square shopping centre in White River, Mpumalanga, on February 13 and plans to complete his journey at the same venue on March 5.

He will ride the entire route and distance of 7,000km on his Harley Davidson Road King and invites individual guest riders and motorcycle clubs across SA to join him anywhere on the route to support the cause.

Hattingh, a grandfather of five, is challenging all parents and grandparents to ride along for a section of the route as sponsored riders by, for example, getting sponsored R 1 per kilometre by a friend, a company or themselves to benefit the charity ride.

Surika van der Merwe of Pediatric Care Africa said the past two years of lockdown restrictions had severely hampered the organisation’s fundraising abilities, while demand for their service had skyrocketed 600%.

“Many more people simply lost their jobs and have difficulty taking care of their children by no fault of their own,” Van der Merwe said.

“It is not how far you ride with, or what you ride that is important, it is the joining up and showing that you care for our children that is important,” she said.

“There is a misconception that you must belong to a motorbike club or ride a specific brand of motorbike to ride with us, and nothing is further from the truth.

“It does not matter what you ride, if you are a lone wolf on a Triumph or a schoolboy on his 50cc Yamaha. If you are a legal motorbike rider and can do at least 100km per hour you are welcome and we invite you to join us and let your exhaust speak for the children we are desperately trying to protect and assist.”

See the website www.pediatriccareafrica.org or contact info@pediatriccareafrica.org