Travel on the Phelophepa Train in South Africa

With a chance to help out those in need as well as win a $40,000 trip to South Africa, I decided to spread the word about the Phelophepa Train…

I’ve recently been contacted by an organization that was reaching out to fellow travelers, among others, to help support a cause in South Africa, namely the Phelophepa Train (pronounced pay-lo-pe-pa). So often for those of us that live beyond the borders of countries that we may never see first hand, rarely do we truly see what’s behind all the glitz and glamor of the tourist industry. Such as the images of your typical sandy beaches, mountain sunsets and exotic travel experiences. True, that description could define some of the photos on my blog however I’m not in the tourist industry nor am I looking to promote it. My motivation in writing this blog post is simply to help out an organization that’s promoting a good cause and had just asked for some support. And since so many of us want to see and experience life in South Africa and all it has to offer, I’m passing along a link to their donation drive. It offers the chance to win a $40,000 14-day trip to experience South Africa for a mere $5 donation. My hope in this is to help promote awareness of what they are trying to do as well maybe even inspire some folks to take action and be a part of the movement to help them out. Of course, it would also be really cool to have someone win this trip to South Africa via this post from my blog:)

To offer some more insight into the Phelophepa Train, also known as the ‘Train of Hope’, it is made up of two trains with 18 cars each. They travel across rural South Africa every year to offer health care services to those in need. Believe it or not, there is currently only one doctor to every 5000 people which, as you can imagine, puts those in need in a difficult situation. The main goal of the Phelophepa Train donation drive is to fund the purchase of 50,000 pairs of eyeglasses that they will hand out this year in hopes of reducing blindness in both children and adults. Since starting back in 1994, the Phelophepa Train has distributed over 500,000 pairs of glasses which has made quite an impact considering more than a 100 people go blind every day in the country due to preventable causes. That gives you something to think about the next time your in the market to buy a pair of sunglasses online considering a $5 donation can go so far with this organization for those in need.

As stated, I’m just trying to do my part here to help spread the word for their cause, to help promote their donation drive and of course, to my fellow travelers, here’s a chance to win 14 days worth of travel in such an amazing and unique country for a $5 donation. The 14 day trip for two includes all-inclusive stays at hotels along with a choice of activities from shark diving and paragliding to things more tame such as a round of golf, whale watching and hot air ballooning. They will also have you on board for a day along the Phelophepa Train to see what it’s all about.  For more details on the $40,000 trip giveaway as well as the Phelophepa Train in South Africa, follow the link “Train of Hope“. And thanks for allowing me to side step onto an unfamiliar topic on my blog!