The Pediatric Care Africa (PCA) team arrived in the city last Sunday, February 23, and has covered a whole 2 300km of the sixth Ride for a Child charity motorbike ride since their departure in Oudtshoorn on February 9.

The team, Dr André Hattingh, Gerhard Kichner from Standerton and Corrie Baitman from eSwatini, as well as Rudy Hahn who drives the support vehicle, have already completed one third of this annual 7 000km trek around South Africa to reach the most northern, southern, western and eastern parts of the country and draw a circle around the children of South Africa to show them that they are cared for.

They have been greeted and supported by bikers all along the route so far, and the support has been phenomenal throughout the Western and Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga. The team is very excited and looking forward to having many more bikers join them along the rest of the route through Limpopo, North West, the Northern Cape and back to the Western Cape.

ALSO READ: Pediatric Care Africa’s 7 000km around SA kicks off

Hattingh and his team took a short two-day break in Mbombela to visit the Katoen Care Centre/Uitreik in White River on Tuesday, February 18, and was greeted by hordes of excited children on their arrival. SUPERSPAR The Grove and Pick n Pay in White River donated groceries, ranging from toiletries to food, to the children living at this care centre. Dr Cobus Verster, a well-known dentist in White River, donated toothbrushes and toothpaste to PCA for its outreach project at Katoen.

The goal of the 2025 Ride for a Child 7 000km charity motorbike ride around South Africa is to ‘recruit’ volunteer private general practitioners in every town the team travels through as part of the ‘Doctors for children’ drive.

These doctors will be requested to assist two children per year who are referred to them by PCA on a pro bono basis.

The idea is to create the opportunity for an additional 300 underprivileged South African children to consult a private general practitioner every year, for the purpose of diagnosis and a prescription for medicine.

Furthermore, it aims to generate funds to help kids in need of surgeries, medical treatment or who are in food distress. The continuous fundraising efforts enables PCA to pay for the medical expenses and surgeries of underprivileged children as ‘Doctors don’t save lives, money does’.

With the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) funding to SA now blocked, the ripple effect and resulting demand for help from PCA is expected to increase dramatically as many NGOs that benefitted from USAID are expected to close down or have closed their doors already.

PCA will continue to help the sick and hungry children in South Africa, but to do so it needs your the help and support more than ever. For more information on how to get involved, contact PCA’s office on 076 229 5663 or send an email to info@pediatriccareafrica.org. You can also visit its website at www.pediatriccareafrica.org.