Welcome to the EBCA Neighborhood

Hi Everyone!

I'm an NIH employee and East Bethesda resident seeking to spread the word about my participation in Enduro Africa 2009, a fundraiser and organized 2000-km off-road motorcycle ride in October in Southern Africa that benefits UNICEF, Sentebale, TouchAfrica, and the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund.

The 8-day ride will end with the donation of funds raised and our rugged motorcycles to local agencies providing HIV prevention, education, and care to Africa's most vulnerable in remote communities.

But to participate, I need your help to raise money and attention for these worthy charities, especially in this challenging economic climate. 

Please visit my blog to learn more, to follow my progress raising funds and training, or to make a donation. Support from local businesses are most welcome!

Thanks so much, 

Andrew Forsyth, Ph.D.

adforsyth @ yahoo.com

Here's a nice article that the Gazette ran in its April 15 online edition on my fundraiser and motorcycle trek through Southern Africa in October. I'm so excited that I can barely wait to start the ride! 

And please visit my blog to track my progress, post comments/questions, and, of course, to donate. There will be a lot of interesting material and events posted there. 

Thanks, everyone, for the incredible support, interest, and words of encouragement. The adventure continues...

Andrew

Thanks, Ilaya and EBCA newsletter staff, for including a short piece on my adventure in the recent edition.

By way of an update, I've now raised ~$7.7k toward my participation in Enduro Africa 2009, thanks to the generous support of neighbors, friends, family, and a few area businesses.

Feel free to follow along at my blog as I count down the remaing days before the October ride starts. See: http://andrewsenduroafrica2009.blogspot.com/

I'm back, and I survived Enduro Africa -- a 1500-mile offroad motorcycle ride and fundraiser through the Transkei region in South Africa -- relatively unscathed. I'm still sporting what I think is a fractured toe from one of my many falls, but that won't be news to those of you who followed by daily blog posts from the trail. 

On December 7th, I'm planning to do an Enduro Africa slideshow and pub quiz at Bethesda's Harp & Fiddle. Come learn the results from my online poll ("how many falls will Andrew take?"), hear about the volunteer work we did along the way, and find out what the trek was really like. Stay tuned for details. 

In the meantime, please to enjoy this 6-minute video compilation of the trip made by a fellow rider, Nick Stubbs: 

Thanks again to all of my generous donors and supporters, who helped me raise about $8300 for four charities doing amazing work in the region.

Here, at last, are the details for Andrew's Enduro Africa Slideshow & Pub Quiz Night

Date: Monday December 7, 2009

Time: 6:30 pm (Slides @ 7 PM, Pub Quiz @ 8 PM)

Location: Flanagan's Harp and Fiddle

Street: 4844 Cordell Ave

City, ST Zip: Bethesda, Maryland 20814

For more info, click here. See you there!