Ballito men walk 1 000km for charity across four southern African countries

Two intrepid Ballito residents have reached the halfway mark of their titanic challenge, walking unassisted through four African countries in a month to raise funds for recovering addicts and underprivileged health programmes.

Father Tully is the priest at All Saints Catholic Church, and Swiegers is the co-owner of IMF and Fit24, while also running the Gyms4Africa NPC (non-profit company) with wife Karien.

Father Tully had initially planned to walk to raise funds last year.

Although that did not pan out, he has been keen to get on the trails and was joined for the current walk by Swiegers after a chance conversation in January.

“It really worked out and we have already had some unbelievable experiences on the trip. We prefer to go through smaller towns and just be available to the communities to talk to and learn from them,” said Swiegers.

The two have made good time, covering almost 600km in about half the time planned.

After reaching the ocean for the first time at Port Shepstone, the walkers passed through the Ballito halfway mark on May 7.

“For the most part, the terrain has been good and passable. We have crossed a few rivers bigger than expected after the flooding, of course. The first time we had to backtrack was when we reached the Tugela River, which is obviously in full flow!” Swiegers said.

Aside from that diversion, the team has managed to stick to their schedule of daily distances to be covered.

They will continue up the coast to Ponta do Ouro in Mozambique, before pivoting back and finishing in their fourth country, eSwatini.

By doing the journey, the duo hope to raise significant funds for their respective NPCs.

Father Tully will be donating to the Napier Centre 4 Healing, which helps recovering addicts rejoin society, upskilling them in the process.

Swiegers is raising funds for Gyms4Africa, which sets up exercise facilities, health pods and vegetable gardens in underprivileged areas in a bid to encourage sustainable lifestyles.

If you would like to donate, you could do so by visiting the Gyms4Africa website, or by visiting All Saints Church in Ballito.

All funds raised will be split equally between the two causes.

• This article has been updated.

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