Great 20th Anniversary Trek – Seventh Blog – The Garden Route Children's Trust

We’re off on our 2026 virtual cycle/walk/run challenge!

Week 7 progress update from
Speedy Springbok …

Hello trekkers, we are past the halfway mark and on our way to St Francis Bay. Our route takes us past the iconic bridges that span first the Bloukrans and then the Storms River. Back in the days of my ancestors (the 1960s) it was a stiff down and up both of these but modern engineering has made the journey a lot easier now. We travel along the edge of the beautiful Tsitsikamma National Park and it is well worth making a short detour down to the coast because it is stunning (15 km there and back).

Then it is on to Humansdorp (dairy farming country) and down to St Francis Bay, which started as a holiday resort and is now home to many retirees and those who can work virtually. It is another beautiful and unspoilt area right on the sea and close to the mouth of the Kromme River. Like most places in South Africa, unemployment and poverty are huge problems and it is no surprise that there is a need for e’Pap for the preschool children in the poorer communities. Led by Ivan Beaumont, the Rotarians of the St Francis Bay Rotary Club not only support a creche and a preschool in the township but also deliver e’Pap as far afield as Coldstream, Storms River Village and Jeffreys Bay – in total about 360 children!

**The City Hall, an attractive example of British Colonial architecture**

The next stop is Port Elizabeth, contentiously renamed Gqeberha in 2021. It was originally named after Elizabeth, wife of the Governor of the Cape Colony, Sir Rufane Donkin, who established it in 1820 as a home for the 4,000 British colonists who arrived in Algoa Bay to strengthen the border region between the Cape Colony and the area occupied by the Xhosa people. It is nicknamed “The Friendly City” and “The Windy City” (both very accurate) and is the sixth largest city in South Africa.

At one time the area was the centre of the motor car industry in the country, with famous names such as Ford, General Motors, Volkswagen, Firestone and Goodyear helping to create a strong industrial base. The restructuring of the industry globally has led to many job losses at a time when there was an influx of people coming from the rural areas to find work. This led to a growth in sprawling informal settlements and increasing poverty. The GRCT established a sister organisation there to help address this need and it now provides e’Pap for about 600 children in preschools in townships all over the city and its outskirts. Amongst the poorest preschools are those looked after by a remarkable charity called Isivuno Training (Isivuno means harvest), founded by Sarie Snyders, a lecturer in the Education Department of the local university; it provides a full curriculum, resources and mentoring for teachers and it manages the distribution of the e’Pap.

That’s it for now, trekkers. The next and final stage sees us travelling to Missionvale, on the outskirts of Port Elizabeth before we head on to Despatch and Addo. You may want to unwind by visiting one of the city’s glorious beaches and doing a bit of board or body surfing, snorkelling or just swimming in the clean, safe Indian Ocean waters.