SocioLingo Africa

Riding for Swaziland

Northampton, MA, March 4, 2010 –

From Santa Cruz, CA to Acton, MA, seven successful business executives (and one teenaged daughter) are pedaling into shape to ride over 200 miles across Swaziland on behalf of the orphans of the mountainous kingdom, the country with the world’s highest rate of HIV/AIDS.

They’ve enlisted to join Swazi Cycle, a border-to-border ride across the southern African nation that will take place from May 3rd to May 10th. Each of them has pledged to raise $10,000 to help Young Heroes Foundation, a charity that links AIDS orphan families in need with sponsors who provide monthly stipends for food. clothing and other necessities. To learn more about their ride and to make a pledge to support them, visithttp://swazicycle.dojiggy.com.

Young Heroes Foundation is headquartered in Northampton, MA. The program now supports over 1,200 orphans in more than 550 families, and also assists with education scholarships, medical care and skills-training. But Kallaugher notes that as Swaziland has the highest rate of HIV/AIDS in the world, over 120,000 children in the country have already lost at least one parent to AIDS, and that more than 20,000 families are now headed by someone under the age of 18.

Skip Klepacki, former CEO of Precision Lithograining Corporation, became aware of the plight of the children when he visited Young Heroes founder Steve Kallaugher in Swaziland. “I was introduced to the Young Heroes staff and saw the differences they’re making in the lives of the orphan families there,“ he says. “These children have become silent victims. I witnessed the love of living in their faces and heard of their hopes for the future – hopes that our support of Young Heroes can help to keep alive. A year later I returned and noticed the striking difference in their health and well-being due to improved nutrition and clothing.”

Klepacki joined Young Heroes Foundation’s board of directors and introduced his friend Bruce Hartman, then CFO of Yankee Candle Company, to the organization. Hartman, an avid triathlete, decided that he wanted to undertake a ride on behalf of the orphans. Speaking of the reason why he decided to help Young Heroes, he says simply, “My main goal in life today is to help our world in which ever way our God asks.” Following in her father’s footsteps, 16-year-old Savannah Hartman announced that she, too, was joining the ride.

Together, Hartman and Klepacki enlisted their friends to join them in Swazi Cycle: Al Albano, an attorney in private practice in Sunderland, MA; Geoff Mitchell, owner of Mitchell Sports in Chatham, NJ; Dave Vesty, former director of worldwide operations for Progress Software;  and Wells Fargo financial advisor Bob Sullivan. The roster was filled when Nell Newman, founder of Newman’s Own Organics and Young Heroes supporter, heard about the ride and suggested to her friend James Cox, CEO of Green in the Black, that he join the adventure.

The eight riders are now in the midst of a grueling 13-week winter training schedule – including strength training, calisthenics and hours on the bicycle – that was devised by ride leader Bruce Hartman.

Speaking of his workouts, Al Albano says, “When I was last on a bike, I was fifteen and it had three speeds. This is a whole different experience.”

But in the end, he says, all the pain is worth it. “These kids have nothing and no one. Every time I feel I’ve hit the wall, I remember why we’re doing this and I keep going a little longer.”

ABOUT YOUNG HEROES

Young Heroes Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation headquartered in Leeds, Massachusetts.

Now entering its fifth year, it was created by Steve Kallaugher while serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Swaziland in conjunction with the country’s National Emergency Response Council on HIV/AIDS (NERCHA). Mr. Kallaugher is currently president of the foundation.

The program now supports over 1,200 orphans in more than 550 families in 72 Swazi communities thanks to sponsorship support from individuals, foundations and corporations. In addition, Young Heroes offers scholarships to secondary-school students as there is no free public education in Swaziland; pediatric HIV testing and care in conjunction with Baylor Medical School’s Centre of Excellence and Population Services International; and, in conjunction with Newman’s Own Foundation, it runs Hole in the Wall Camps for children who are HIV+. A recent grant from Church World Service will enable Young Heroes to begin offering microfinance and job training to orphans who age out of its program at 18 years of age.

For full information on Young Heroes, visit http://youngheroes.org.sz

ABOUT SWAZILAND AND ITS ORPHANS

One of two remaining absolute monarchies on earth, Swaziland is bordered on three sides by South Africa, and by Mozambique in the east. The country is approximately the size of New Jersey, and has a population of just over one million people, the vast majority of whom are subsistence farmers. According to the World Food Programme, 69% of Swazis fall below the poverty line, living on less than $2 per day.

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