Personal message

I have been working for The Smile Foundation for three years and this year I will be riding the 94.7 cycle challenge for the Smile Foundation.  It will be my very first cycle race and the first time I've been on a bike since I was about 14 years old but it will be worth it if I can, with your help, raise some money to help create Smiles for children around South Africa.  

The Smile Foundation is an organisation in South Africa that provides free plastic and reconstructive surgery for children in need of surgery for treatable facial anomalies such as cleft lip, cleft palate, nose and ear conditions, facial paralysis (Moebius Syndrome), burns and other facial conditions.

The work I do at The Smile Foundation is mostly focussed on education and outreach programmes to help create awareness of treatable facial anomolies in communities around South Africa.  Often parents believe they are in some way to blame for the condition the child has and feel incredible guilt and shame about the child's condition.  Often children are shunned or hidden due to the stigma of looking different and this can mean that children can be socially isolated, struggle at school, have poor self-esteem and struggle to make friends. Outreach and education programmes can help these children and their families understand their condition and experience a more "normal" childhood.

I really hope you believe in this cause as much as I do and if you're willing and able will donate to my cause when I ride for a purpose on 16 November 2014.  If you're not able to donate why not ride for The Smile Foundation.  You can read more about the organisation here: http://www.smilefoundationsa.org/ 

Should you wish to donate please use my name: "Sarah Barnes" and "Cycle Challenge" as reference so the team can link my donors to me.

Here's to doing something different!

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