Epic expedition to raise funds for Nelson Mandela Children's Hospital

Stan Hannath at NoordKapp, Norway

The adventurous cape2cape4kids road expedition will cover 27 countries and 28,000km and is intended to last about four months. The Hannaths are funding their own journey so 100% of all donations will be given directly to the hospital.

Supporting Mandela's legacy to Africa's children

The Hannaths have just completed 5700km of their journey and travelled through six countries including Germany, Norway and Sweden since starting the self-funded expedition in mid-June.

Highlights include visiting the 14th century medieval town of Tallinn in Estonia and catching a 2.7kg rainbow trout on a homemade fly made from goose feathers in Sweden. Disasters include Stan breaking his laptop screen while in Sweden.

"Our planned and self-funded overland cape2cape4kids journey started in Hamburg, Germany where we collected our vehicle then travelled to the official starting point, NoordKapp in Norway. Our journey will end in Cape Agulhas in South Africa. We plan to visit many hospitals and schools along the way to raise awareness for the new children's hospital in Johannesburg," says Stan Hannath.

The Nelson Mandela hospital will be one of only five dedicated children's hospitals in Africa. Currently there are only four hospitals serving 450 million children on our continent. This compares dismally to Canada which has 23, Australia which has 19 and Germany 20. This hospital, to be built in Johannesburg, the gateway to Africa, epitomises Nelson Mandela's love of children and is considered his final legacy to the children of Africa.

An inspiring and humbling mission

The dedicated and self-funded team is looking for sponsors, both corporate and individual South Africans, to support the cape2cape4kids cause by donating funds towards the new Nelson Mandela Children's Hospital. All donations will go through the recognised donation sites Givengain and Justgiving.

"Stan and Sally's mission to travel not only across countries but also across continents is as inspiring as it is humbling. We are honoured that they have chosen the Nelson Mandela Children's Hospital Trust as the beneficiary of their fundraising endeavour, and we look to the global community to also consider how they can help Madiba's wish for a dedicated children's hospital come true," says Sibongile Mkhabela, CEO of the Nelson Mandela Children's Hospital Trust.

The adventurous retired couple will travel through Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia and finally South Africa.

For more information or to make a donation, go to www.cape2cape4kids.co.za.