The foundation

While running the great wall I was constantly in awe of the beauty surrounding me. The beauty of the planet and its magnificence, but constantly in the back of my mind was the reminder of the paradox, how can this beauty of our planet also be the home of such pain and suffering experienced by our children.

Children born with such facial disfigurement that they are ostracized by those around them, struggle to speak, let alone eat. To me the final measurement of the success of my journey could only be measured by the children that I can manage to help to reach their dream of a simple god given right to a smile.

With a simple operation of some 45 minutes a Childs life can be changed forever. Since we started this foundation, we have been instrumental in helping some 54 children, who during the run received facial surgery in Empangeni in Kwazulu Natal. Having been involved in the inaugural mission in South Africa we are now busy with our next fundraising adventure in order to continue with this worthy cause

Looking back

On my return to south Africa I made a trip up to Empangeni with my daughter (who is a volunteer for Operation Smile) to meet some of the children, a moment that I will never forget, to see all those beautiful faces, radiating their new smiles. I am proud to be associated with Operation Smile.

The second of my adventures, the joint run around the coast of South Africa has had a massive response and we have raised over R2 000 000. The Hightlight of this project was being able to finally attend a surgical mission, (a group of operations) in the Transkei during the run. I witnessed life changing operations on some 10 children, 30 were done in total. An experience that I will never forget, and which makes every step of my journey count being able to help make a difference in the lives of children in my country.

Through the Miles For Smiles foundation together with Operation Smile South Africa, over 1000 Children's lives have been changed. Our project has reached beyond our borders and the project has been involved in the following countries:

South Africa, Madagascar, Swaziland and we are looking at Mozambique, Namibia and the DRC.