needy communities in Senegal and Guinea Bissau #Rust2Dakar

SUPPORTING COMMUNITIES IN SENEGAL AND GUINEA BISSAU

#RUST2DAKAR 2025 RALLY

John and I have – amazingly - been selected from among 500 applicants to take part in the 2025 Rust2Dakar endurance rally - the perfect way for us to celebrate his 75th birthday this year!

We're signing up to this challenge - raising awareness of and seeking donations towards the impressive work of Tavolo8 Humanitarian Association: an NGO working in Senegal and Guinea Bissau.

A contribution from you will help us make a big difference to people’s life opportunities in some of the world’s poorest countries.

Find out more about Tavolo 8 and its inspirational community development work in Senegal and Guinea Bissau here: https://www.tavolo8.org/vision Tavolo8

(but please come back to this GoFundMe if you want to contribute. Don’t click on the DONATE tab on T8s website, or they won’t know it’s come via us!)

Rust2Dakar is the realisation of a dream held by both of us since 1993, when we signed up for a London-Cape Town rally. But it was an event that eventually – for geopolitical reasons – couldn’t happen.

This year’s challenge, of course, is a bit shorter – a mere 5,000 km by car from Tangier (Morocco) to Guinea Bissau via the legendary end-point of the Paris-Dakar rallies of the 1990s, the fabulous Pink Lake of Senegal. It has to be done!

It's not as easy as it seems, though, and it’s not the normal rally raid through the desert: we find, buy, and prepare, from our own funds, a vehicle suited to that part of Africa. On arrival, we hand it over as a gift to the organising charity for repurposing within the local community – possibly to a women-only co-operative of taxi drivers - and fly home to Spain.

We’ve now bought the car, a well-used 1990 Peugeot! Our trusty mechanic, Miquel, will soon be busy fettling it for desert conditions. 1990 coincidentally is the same year that former World Rally Champion Ari Vatanen won the Dakar Rally, in a highly-modified Works Peugeot 405.

And in addition, we’re aiming to be able to donate at least 2,500 GBP to Tavolo 8, which will help support a wide range of much-needed (and impressive) projects.

Everyone contributing 25 GBP or above will have their name (or that of a loved one) signwritten on the car by way of thanks. You can even choose to sponsor a particular part from our ‘needs replacing’ list!

To quote Tavolo 8: 'Rust2Dakar isn’t just a rally; it’s an experience that leaves its mark—an adventure that changes lives, pushing you beyond your limits, taking you to incredible places, but most importantly, it allows you to make a tangible difference in the world.’

Here's what your contribution to Tavolo 8 will also allow us to buy for the donor car … :)

A 25 GBP donation will cover …

One shovel (to dig us out of sand!)

A 50 GBP donation will cover …

A 75 GBP donation will cover …

A 100 GBP donation will cover …

Read more