Curwin Mark Francis

Curwin

What Unogwaja means to me…

An opportunity to partner with a great organsiation in helping the less fortunate in our country and inspire others to do the same.

What is your interpretation of John’s words “This is not an event. And we are not event organisers”?

Unogwaja is not about the 11 day challenge, but is rather about being part of something that is bigger than yourself. The members of the charity are not event organisers but rather a support structure.

In my view, the journey does not begin when you jump on your bike on day 1 in Cape Town but rather on 1 September when you are selected to partner with the Charity to reach a fundraising goal.

About me:

I push through and try to stay positive because if it doesn’t challenge you, it won’t change you.

When I climbed Kilimanjaro, on summit night we left for the summit at 11am and after walking in the dark for 4hrs, I started struggling mentally. Despite everything I read about summit night, it was much harder than I expected and to make matters worse my goggles steamed up and I couldn’t see where I was going. At the lowest moment in the expedition, I made decision that I was going to be fine and was going to get through this as I had put in the work. I put on some music and from that moment onward I was fine (despite it being hard). When the sun came up I didn’t think about the negatives but rather took in the views of the mountain.

Donations by Curwin Mark Francis in 2018