Sunday 30 July 2023Â is World Against Human Trafficking Persons Day and with that in mind, Pretoria resident, Gideon Swart, will once again be lining up to race the 75km 2023 K-Way SA MaxiRace Cape Winelands presented by Banhoek Chilli Oil in association with On Shoes, not simply for the love of running, but to raise awareness for the plague of human trafficking that is taking place in South Africa.
âI will be running to raise awareness for the work Brave to Love are doing in the human trafficking arena,â says Gideon Swart. âTheir mission is to rescue, recover, rehabilitate, restore and re-integrate women and girls that have become victims of sex trafficking in the sex trade in our country, our continent and our world. This is done through providing medical, psychological, emotional, physical, and mental support to those women that have been vulnerable and ended up as slaves in the sex trade.â
Currently in South Africa, human trafficking brings in more money than the illegal drug trade, and is showing no signs of slowing down, with girls as young as 10 being sold into slavery, many times by their own families!
Having always been active, Gideon wanted to use his sports training as a tool for good. In 2022, he decided to use sporting challenges to raise awareness for important issues. Last year he completed the 2022 Ironman Africa Champs in April in PE, having never cycled further than 100km or run further than 30km at a time, and then finishing the 75km K-Way MaxiRace Cape Winelands in October! Through his sport he has been able to raise awareness for what is happening in South Africa and forge relationships to make a permanent change!
âRunning MaxiRace last year was honestly one of the highlights of my year, not only was it an awesome event, but it allowed me to spread the word about Brave2Love and what we need to do to help eradicate this evil from our country,â explains Swart. âI am back again for 2023 and look forward to the new route and meeting new people to help us in our battle!âÂ
âI hope that through this we are able to spread awareness and raise funds for Brave to Love, so that they can continue with their awesome work,â says Swart. âI donât want anyone to live in fear, but I want people to know what is going on around them so that they are able to protect their children and loved ones.â
If you would like to find out more about Brave to Love please visit https://bravetolove.org/
If you would like to contribute financially to Brave to Love:
Brave to Love
First National Bank
Account Number 62784156690
Branch Code 252145
Swift Code FIRNZAJJXXX
Your Reference â wildcactuscafe
The K-Way MaxiRace Cape Winelands presented by Banhoek Chilli Oil takes place on Saturday 30 September 2023 in Stellenbosch and Franschhoek. Entries for each of the distances are still available, enter at http://maxirace.co.za/
Â
#MaxiraceSA
#makemaxiyourgoal
#timetoexplore
