Friday, May 22, 2009
Charitable road trip
Students hit the road to help send South Africans to college.
Photo courtesy of Patrick Black
These college students, three of whom attend Ferrum and one from Northern Ireland who goes to school in Michigan, are driving cross-country to raise money for These Numbers Have Faces, which supports South Africans' schooling.
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Patrick Black is on the road again.
Black, an international student from Northern Ireland who recently completed a one-year exchange program at Ferrum College, spent a week in November on a mountain bike to raise money for a charity called These Numbers Have Faces.
The nonprofit organization, based in Portland, Ore., helps South African students attend college. Black and three fellow international students biked about 400 miles through Virginia and West Virginia, hoping to raise $1,000 to benefit Khanisa Nqoboka's college career at the University of the Western Cape. They collected about $400.
This time, Black chose a 1984 brown Volvo station wagon instead of a mountain bike -- a smart move for Black, as he and his friends plan to cross 20 states in just seven weeks. They left April 28 and have traveled 4,000 miles already, with 2,000 to go.
Once again, the aim of the trip is to raise awareness and money for These Numbers Have Faces. More specifically, Black's trip will support South African student Anda Sowaze, a 21-year-old attending Northlink College in Cape Town.
And less may be more. Instead of dollars, Black is asking for pennies, one toward each mile the group travels.
Black said about 20 people have pledged to sponsor the trip or make donations so far, and more pledges are coming in via his blog.
Accompanying Black are Boram Oh and Min Chae, Ferrum College international students from South Korea, and Ben Williams, an international student from Northern Ireland at Alma College in Michigan. They've enjoyed not only raising money and awareness, but the scenery as well.
"So far the trip has been incredible. The fact that we made it this far in our 1984 Volvo station wagon is probably a miracle in itself," Black said. Highlights have been Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone, the Oregon coastline and Yosemite, he said, as well as visiting friends at Clarke College in Iowa and the These Number Have Faces team in Portland, Ore.
The group, which camps much of the time, has been extremely thankful for the few stops where doors were opened and couches made available.
Black plans to return from the cross-country adventure on June 20, then fly back to Northern Ireland on June 23 to finish a degree in geography.
But he said he will continue supporting These Numbers Have Faces.
"The opportunity to get a college education has led me to realize that it is something that should never be taken for granted," he said.
