Jubilee Ride timely cause for the bright but needy students

On Jamhuri Day, a team of seven motorcycle riders and a service crew left Nairobi on a 50-day ride to Cape Town and back.

The trip, dubbed the Jubilee Ride, was flagged off by President Uhuru Kenyatta who commended the team for their efforts to ride and raise Sh15 million under the Jubilee Scholarship Programme, a social justice initiative of the Nairobi Chapel.

The ride is a total of 13,000km through 11 border crossings from Kenya to Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Namibia, South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda.

The riders comprise Pastor Nick Korir of the Nairobi Chapel as team leader, Moses Nderitu, Danzo Mutunga, George Mbuvi, Mbeche Alwanga, John Kithinji and Mburu Ngugi. They are assisted by Jason Runo, Faith Mamicha, Simeon Muhulo, Bernadette Murage, Sarah Githinji, Dr Nzisa Muli, Harry Olang and Judy Makau.

The riders are travelling with a Ford Ranger crew sponsored by CMC Motors. Other sponsors include Nairobi Chapel, Extreme Outdoors Africa, The Goal! Africa to Brazil, Nairobi Women’s Hospital, St John Ambulance, EA Motor Sports Club, Capital Colors, NationHela, Superbike Trophy, IMG Kenya, enchanting Africa, NTV, Spielworks Media, Digital Dialect, Ford, Stoic, Shekele, ILU, K-Krew, Haco-Tiger Brands, Co-operative Bank and the Nation Media Group.

According to Pastor Korir, it costs Sh70,000 to educate one secondary school student annually. “Each Jubilee Scholar needs Sh280,000 to go through four years of high school,” he said. “Additionally, we put aside time and cash resources to mentor the scholars. We send them on wellness retreats and spend time with them to ensure they grow up to become useful members of our proud country Kenya.”

The Jubilee Scholar initiative aims to educate 1,000 students.

“Our goal is to have 1,000 scholars on the programme, so simply put we need Sh70 million per year,” Korir added.

“We, therefore, need as much support as we can get from the everyone. The Jubilee Ride, a huge challenge for the riders, is our way of raising more funds but more importantly, raising awareness for this initiative.”

The riders are expected back in Nairobi from Cape Town on January 16.