Enchanted by Cape Town's remarkable beauty and the unfortunate circumstances of some South Africans are born into, Johannesburger Andrew Patterson has decided to dedicate this year to a cause bigger than himself.
Entrepreneur Patterson, an avid hiker, kicked off 2018 by making his way up Table Mountain on January 1, where he watched the first sunrise of the year atop the famous landmark.
With his 365 Ubuntu Climbs initiative, he has pledged to hike up the mountain every day to raise R1-million on donations-based crowdfunding platform BackaBuddy. He hopes his innovative crowdfunding campaign will transform a million lives in 365 days.
"I aim to empower one million South Africans who, through no fault of their own, started life on the back foot," Patterson said.
"Sometimes you might feel overwhelmed by an idea you have, or a task you need to complete. These can all be broken down into bite-sized chunks. '365' sounds a lot –– focusing on the one I need to do today sounds much more manageable, doesn't it?"
"Eight days before my last day of work, the idea came to me while driving past the mountain on my way to Stellenbosch. My retrenchment was effective on July 1st, and instead of returning to corporate life, I decided to focus on honouring my idea –– which I treated like a business training for both my body and mind simultaneously. "
Although Andrew has been involved in a number of adventure activities in aid of various charities, he has never attempted a project on this scale.
Thus began a comprehensive training schedule that involved at least three hikes up Table Mountain a week.
"The saying 'the longest journey always begins with the first step' has never been more appropriate for me than 4:33am on January 1, 2018, when I began my year-long journey," he says.