Cape Town to Hermanus: The iCAN Challenge

The iCAN Challenge – Cape Town to Hermanus.

At a combined age of over 150 years, three ‘extreme athletes’ (Mark Westcott, Struan Buchanan & Pete Hofmeyr) will be undertaking a walk from Cape Town to Hermanus along the coast to raise funds for Miles for Smiles (Operation Smile South Africa), a CIPLA initiative. The walk will start at Muizenberg on 20^th November and finish in Hermanus on 26^th November.

Operation Smile South Africa arranges corrective surgery on children born with cleft lips and cleft palates.

For every R5,500.00 we can raise, Operation Smile can facilitate facial surgery on a child and give them their God-given right to a smile. This simple operation takes just 45 minutes and will change the child’s life forever!

Cleft lips and cleft palates are the fourth most common birth defects in the world and are typically corrected shortly after a baby’s birth in areas with sufficient access to health care. However, for many children in rural areas around the world, medical treatment is not available. Often these children cannot eat, speak, or breathe properly. Due to low self-esteem, as well as feelings of isolation, these children often live as social outcasts.

· In as little as 45 minutes, one cleft lip surgery can change a child's life forever.

· Approximately one in every 750 babies in Africa is born with a cleft lip or cleft palate.

· A cleft lip or cleft palate operation and follow up care costs approximately R5,500.00

· Operation Smile South Africa has treated over 1650 children since 2006.

· Since 1982, more than 150 000 children and young adults have been treated by thousands of Operation Smile volunteers worldwide and thousands of healthcare professionals have been trained globally.

Please click on our link where you will find more information as well as details on how to support our walk by donating to Operation Smile: http://www.milesforsmiles.co.za/component/content/article/104-hermanus-walk.html. When donating, please use ‘iCAN’ as the reference.

You can also find us on Facebook: ‘Cape Town to Hermanus’.

Thanking you in advance,

Mark, Struan and Pete.