Sue has set off on her epic challenge cycling 44km for 5 consecutive days to raise money for DanceSyndrome. It's all in…
Posted by DanceSyndrome on Monday, 16 February 2015
Sue has sent through an update!! This is for real then! Now in Ouarzazale. Yesterday was spent transiting into the High…
Posted by DanceSyndrome on Tuesday, 17 February 2015
220km later, delighted, surprised and energised! This has been a revelation. I was so hesitant about accepting this ‘invitation’ seemingly so impossible but being sponsored for DanceSyndrome made all the difference to my determination to raise our profile and support opportunities for people with a learning disability specifically and society as a whole. DanceSyndrome is led by dancers with learning disabilities, uses dance to improve lives, break down barriers and challenge presumptions.
It’s easy to give by signing up to our local giving page ……I do hope you can find some cash to help the cause to raise our profile and support opportunities for people with a learning disability. Find us at LocalGiving and there’s more on our Facebook Page. Every donation counts whether large or small it creates more opportunities.
We cycled in numerous and varied parts of Morocco through good sized towns and tiny backwater villages, on mountain roads with hairpin bends to undulating countryside designed to test even the toughest with no opportunity to freewheel.
We were usually on tarmac though often of dubious repair and frequently narrow where larger vehicles forced us off the road. And then there were the people often living in abject poverty. Far from centres of population we’d encounter a sole person bent double under the weight of huge bundles of harvested brush on their backs, or with a donkey so laden it could barely be seen. Nomads tended small flocks of sheep and dried their clothes on thorn bushes. The women we met were working but men of all ages seemed to be waiting. Waiting for what? I’m not sure they knew, just waiting for something to happen. Excited children ran to meet us to greet us and cheer us on our way whilst in the towns hordes of teenagers on bikes thronged the roads when schools turned out. But mostly the sense was of waiting. Small groups of men dressed in the traditional djellaba with pointed hoods stand at every street corner but almost always a friendly word or wave was returned.
By the end and in spite of of being seriously saddlesore I was having fun and could smile, neither of which I could say of the first two days. I’d definitely undertake another challenge. I am the richer for it and possibly a little fitter. Explore make a point of supporting small local traders whilst knowledge of DanceSyndrome and our mission has reached a wider audience. Please will you help too as we make real differences to people’s lives in the fun filled world which is DanceSyndrome where everyone is richer for their encounters through dance.
Thank you for any and all of your support. It is truly appreciated.
Sue Blackwell
