Former South African journalist and author, Gavin Evans, now a journalism lecturer living in London, is running the Rotterdam Marathon on Sunday so as to raise money for broadcaster John Perlman’s Dreamfields organisation.
“I am not running for the place so there is no fixed target,” says Evans. “John set a random target of R20 000, which seems about right.”
As of today [Friday], pledges stood at around R13 650. Perlman – a broadcaster on Kaya FM – is calling on supporters to keep the momentum going.
“Arsenal fan and journalist Gavin Evans is running the Rotterdam Marathon on Sunday to raise money for Dreamfields, so that we can start finding some South African Artetas in our primary schools. Please go to www.dreamfieldsproject.org and sponsor Gavin on his run. Every little bit helps,” he wrote on Facebook.
Cape-Town born Evans says he chose Dreamfields as they’re doing “wonderful work in terms of securing fields, kit, balls and tournaments for poor children, and because, from what I have seen, it is very efficiently run.”
In 2009, Evans ran a marathon in Scotland to raise money for Dreamfields. “I do it every two years for a charity (because I feel a bit embarrassed asking people every year). I think of running marathons as quite a solitary and solipsistic activity so running for a charity kind of balances that out, and I feel if I am putting all that work into training, why not put a bit of extra effort into raising some money so that others can benefit,” he said.
Talking about his commitment to raising funds for Dreamfields, Evans said that as a white South African growing up during apartheid he was “given privileges denied to 85 percent of the country’s children”.
