We are aware of our privilege to have full access to education, to be able to study and to be able to do the job we choose when we grow up. However, 75% of children in poor neighbourhoods in South Africa do not have access to education. They feel the consequences of apartheid and are affected by extreme poverty. On the ground, among many other problems, there is a lack of a proper educational infrastructure. There is hardly any state support, not enough accredited educators and many neglected kindergartens. It is therefore not surprising that children are already “left behind” in primary school, never learning to read, write or calculate. This often leads to a lack of prospects, social isolation, crime and drug abuse, as well as teenage pregnancies and diseases.
With the Miles4Education project, we have the mission to make people aware of the problem of early childhood education in South Africa through sport and to generate donations. Everyone can support us – as a sponsor or as an athlete. Through your financial contribution or the kilometres you cover, we would like to reach our fundraising goal of 100,000€. This will enable us to build an after-school care centre and a sports centre and support the children in Grabouw on their way to further education.
Yannik Waiz, 29 years old
Yannik is 29 years old and originally from Heilbronn, in Baden Württemberg. He completed his Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration – Commerce at the Mosbach Cooperative State University and worked for the IT service provider Bechtle during this time. Following his studies, Yannik worked as a product manager at Bechtle for another 1.5 years before he decided to complete his Master’s degree in Management in Lisbon. Until his time in Lisbon, Yannik actively played football in a club and now devotes himself to new sports such as tennis or surfing.
In 2020, Yannik founded the social initiative Pedal4travel out of his passion for sport with the vision of empowering people through sport to do good and contribute to our environment and society. Through long bike tours like the one from Munich to Split in Croatia in 2021, they have managed to raise more than 20,000€ in donations for the NGO The Honu Movement with the help of partners & crowdfunding. With this money, more than 20,000 kg of plastic waste has already been removed from the world’s oceans.
Florian v. Waldthausen, 27 years old
Florian is 27 years old and comes from beautiful Cologne. He graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Psychology in the cathedral city in 2019 and has since done various internships in sales, HR and startup accelerators. After 2 years of work experience, he decided to start his Master’s in Lisbon and wrote his Master’s thesis about the impact of virtual reality use in fundraising campaigns on supporters’ willingness to donate. Besides his studies, Florian plays tennis and is a passionate supporter of a German football club.
During his bachelor thesis, he founded the association BuildingFuture e.V. in 2018 and has made it his life’s mission to support children on their educational path. After his stay abroad in South Africa in 2016, he had the inner desire to work for sustainable aid and not just to help for the moment. Thanks to the great support of the Lebenslinien e.V. association, he was able to pursue his dream and gain a lot of valuable experience over the last few years on how to implement projects on site and thereby provide concrete support to some local people.
Our volunteers
Leon, 29 years old
Julia, 29 years old
Jojo, 27 years old
Julian, 24 years old
Nadine, 31 years old
Anna, 27 years old
André, 27 years old
Lara, 29 years old
Lisa, 28 years old
