After cycling across Africa and paddling around Madagascar, Riaan Manser is out to complete possibly his greatest challenge yet.
|||He has cycled across Africa and paddled around Madagascar and Iceland, and now Riaan Manser is out to complete possibly his greatest challenge yet.
His goal is to raise awareness of the plight of hungry children in SA, by living on a restricted diet of around 2 500 calories a day while cycling the word “hope” across the face of the country.
“I would normally eat 6 000 calories a day,” said Manser, who set off from Cape Town with the Add Hope campaign on September 14, and had already covered 2 800km when he stopped in at the 1 000 Hills Community Helpers in Inchanga, yesterday.
Despite having cycled for more than a month, he was animated and friendly while he shared lunch with toddlers at the centre – the very children that he was riding for.
Covering an average of 130km a day, in combination with the restricted food intake, has taken its toll on Manser, who has lost 11kg since his journey began. “I don’t have the energy to motivate myself. It is hard to get on the bike,” he said.
“I am doing a job, and my job is to know what it is like to be hungry,” he added.
He said that being truly hungry was a feeling that could not easily be described, and children going hungry was a problem that needed to be highlighted, especially in October – World Hunger Month.
Despite the severity of the challenge he was still facing, Manser maintained that the hope of aiding those in need would see him through.
The founder and director of 1 000 Hills Community Helpers, Dawn Leppan, praised Manser for what he was doing.
“It is so nice to meet someone who is doing their bit for the country.
“He is a great guy doing great things for people in desperate need.”
Manser will ride into Durban today as he completes another leg. His journey is scheduled to finish at Joburg’s Park Station on November 2.
The Mercury