ORPHANAGE SUPPORT: Four London taxi drivers present Tanzanian High Commissioner £2,000 cheque

Image credit: Taxi Charity

Four London cab drivers have presented the Tanzanian High Commissioner, Asha-Rose Migiro, with a cheque for £2,000 which will help to buy the land that a Tanzanian orphanage near Arusha stands on.

When London taxi drivers Daren and John were in Tanzania in 2019 to climb Kilimanjaro to raise funds for the Taxi Charity for Military Veterans, they were invited to meet the children who live in the Huruma orphanage near Arusha. They were totally overwhelmed by the joy and love that they witnessed and when they learnt that the land that the orphanage was built on was going to be sold and they were to be evicted they knew they had to help.

The orphanage often struggled to give the children in their care the essentials so they could never imagine raising the money they needed to buy the land and had nowhere else to move to. John and Daren stepped in and promised that they would raise money to help buy the land from a bigger double challenge to climb Meru and Kilimanjaro.

London cab driver, Daren Parr, said: “I had personally never experienced anything like the reception we received when we visited the Huruma orphanage. The children were so happy and so grateful for the little they had, and they smiled and sang to us and left a huge mark on my heart. To hear that the land was going to be sold from under them was horrific and we were determined to prevent the children losing the only home they knew. Fast forward a few months and who could have guessed that a worldwide pandemic would delay our trip back to Tanzania to climb Meru and Kilimanjaro but we finally did it and our generous supporters helped us to reach our targets and secure the future for the children of Huruma.”

The intrepid cab drivers are now training for their next challenge, to row the Atlantic in 2023 to raise money for the Uhuru orphanage, the Taxi Charity for Military Veterans and the Stroke Association.

To follow Cabbies do Atlantic Row, to donate or to sponsor the challenge visit www.cabbiesdoatlanticrow.com or email cabbiesdoatlanticrow@gmail.com