Four fundraising cab drivers have secured the future of a Tanzanian orphanage with £2,000 to help to buy the land the home is built on.
Four London cab drivers, Orpingtonian John, Daren, Stuart, and Bob have presented Asha-Rose Migiro the Tanzanian High Commissioner with a cheque for £2,000 which will help to buy the land that a Tanzanian orphanage near Arusha stands on.
When John and Daren were in Tanzania in 2019 to climb Kilimanjaro to raise funds for the Taxi Charity for Military Veterans, they were invited to meet the children who live in the Huruma orphanage near Arusha. They were totally overwhelmed by the joy and love that they witnessed and when they learnt that the land that the orphanage was built on was going to be sold and they were to be evicted they knew they had to help. The orphanage often struggled to give the children in their care the essentials so they could never imagine raising the money they needed to buy the land and had nowhere else to move to. John and Daren stepped in and promised that they would raise money to help buy the land from a bigger double challenge to climb Meru and Kilimanjaro.
London cab driver Daren Parr, said, “I had personally never experienced anything like the reception we received when we visited the Huruma orphanage. The children were so happy and so grateful for the little they had, and they smiled and sang to us and left a huge mark on my heart. To hear that the land was going to be sold from under them was horrific and we were determined to prevent the children losing the only home they knew. Fast forward a few months and who could have guessed that a worldwide pandemic would delay our trip back to Tanzania to climb Meru and Kilimanjaro but we finally did it and our generous supporters helped us to reach our targets and secure the future for the children of Huruma.”
The intrepid cab drivers are now training for their next challenge, to row the Atlantic in 2023 to raise money for the Uhuru orphanage, the Taxi Charity for Military Veterans and the Stroke Association.
To follow Cabbies do Atlantic Row, to donate or to sponsor the challenge visit www.cabbiesdoatlanticrow.com or email cabbiesdoatlanticrow@gmail.com
About Cabbies do Atlantic Row
London Cab drivers Daren Parr 55 , John Dillane 57, Bob Barber 56 and Stuart Lockhart 49 will attempt to row the Atlantic from Lanzarote to Antigua in 2023. As ‘Cabbies Do Kilimanjaro’, they raised £18,000 for The Taxi Charity when they climbed Kilimanjaro in 2019, and in February 2022 they climbed Kilimanjaro and Meru and raised £8,000 for the London Taxi Drivers’ Charity for Children and £2,000 for the Huruma orphanage in Tanzania.
Money raised from the challenge to row the Atlantic will be split between the Taxi Charity for Military Veterans, The Stroke Association, and a Tanzanian Orphanage near Arusha.
The ‘Cabbies do Atlantic Row’ team is being supported by Avon Marina who is providing a Scud Ocean Rowing boat for the Atlantic Dash ocean rowing race and Monkey First Adventures who will be offering advice about the challenge.
About the Taxi Charity
The Taxi Charity is run by volunteer London black taxi drivers and has been supporting thousands of veterans of all ages since 1948. The charity arranges free trips to the Netherlands, Belgium, and France, for acts of commemoration and days out to museums, concerts, or fundraising events in the UK, to catch up with friends and comrades.
The Charity worked tirelessly during the pandemic to ensure veterans received regular contact by sending out a greeting card each month, gifts to mark the 75th anniversaries of VE and VJ day, stockings at Christmas and arranging Guards of Honour at veterans’ funerals. Volunteers have also helped with regular phone calls, food shopping, transport to hospital appointments, and more recently taking veterans for their Coronavirus injections.
The charity was awarded the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service in June 2021.
To fund and facilitate their work, the charity is reliant on generous donations from members of the public, businesses, and trusts.
