RIDE 4 AFRICA
MIZRACHI RIDE 4
AFRICA ISRAEL
INNOVATE, INSPIRE, ILLUMINATE
JANICE LEIBOWITZ
child. Even though I didn’t finish the race I felt I did something for someone and or me that meant success.”
The feeding scheme implements innovative drip irrigation,
and there’s potential for this project to eventually reach
an estimated 1.5 million underprivileged kids across the
country.
The team itself was a multi-racial, multi-cultural, multireligious group, including members from the Hope of Glory
Tabernacle Church, some of whom are orphans. Bicycles
and full kits, bearing both the South African and Israeli
flags, were provided and many of the team proudly use their
bikes on a daily basis in Vosloorus.
I’VE ALWAYS
been intrigued as to what
would motivate someone to get onto a bike and ride 94.7
kilometres in order to ‘ride for a purpose’. Can’t we just
donate funds towards a cause and show our support that way?
Training was done over the 5 months prior to the actual
event, and just to give an example of how enthusiastic
people were to participate: at least one team-member had
never even ridden a bike before!
But imagine if all of us just made donations, and nobody
was actually getting out there and doing something to
donate towards? Thank goodness for the passionate and
motivated individuals in Mizrachi SA’s “Team Entebbe”,
who decided that raising money and local support for Israel
was all well and good, but who also realised that there is a
huge opportunity to take the positive messages and bounty
of Israel into places where it is most needed in our country
and to educate disadvantaged South Africans about Israel’s
true identity.
When asked what his most inspiring moment of the
whole experience was, Josh Gavronsky (Mizrachi Project
Coordinator) replied that as the team arrived at the start
and were announced over the loudspeakers, instead of the
animosity he’d expected, they were received by loud cheers
of support from the crowd. His sentiments were supported
by his team-mate Refilwe Maphisa who said, “It felt great
to ride for a nation I love and have a special connection to,
it gave me a platform to literally show my support for Israel
in action. To me it meant that the relations between South
Africa and Israel could blossom into greater things if there
weren’t third parties involved. It broke cultural and
religious boundaries between the Jewish and Christian
(black) communities and it gave both communities a chance
to acknowledge one another’s strengths.” Refilwe managed
to perfectly summarise the purpose of the entire venture!
The brainchild of Rabbi Ramon Widmonte, Mizrachi
approached various organisations to partner with t