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The flight took off several minutes early and I have an entire row of seats to myself. The Garuda stewardesses are serving breakfast. I chose the scrambled eggs.

To say I live a life of privilege would be an understatement.

Most of the people I’ll meet this week don’t live in a comfortable, four bedroom, suburban home. They live a very different life to me but I know that at the heart of it all, they’re people just like me, walking, and sometimes stumbling, on this journey we call life.

I’m spending a week in Indonesia with Compassion Australia
, seeing how local churches are working with Compassion to release children from poverty in Jesus’ name.

I’ve seen poverty before in places like India, Bangladesh, Papua New Guinea, Haiti and Dominican Republic. I’ve also seen poverty in Australia.

Poverty looks different wherever it’s found and it takes many forms.

It’s been said that poverty is essentially a breakdown in four key relationships. Our relationship with God. Our relationship with ourselves. Our relationship with others. Our relationship with the rest of creation. By that definition poverty is something experienced every day by rich and poor alike right around the world.

I really don’t know what poverty will look like in the places I’ll visit this week but I’m looking forward to meeting people and hearing their stories. I’m looking forward to hearing how hope is being restored and how dreams are being born. Big dreams in the hearts of small children.

I hope that I’ll be able to share some dreams and hopes with you over the coming days and that maybe you’ll even decide to release a child from poverty through Compassion.

(This was posted from the airport after arriving in Indonesia.)

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It was the shortest day but that doesn’t mean it was the easiest day.

Yesterday the Morning Cafe Ride for Hope team cycled a little under 60 kilometres, the shortest one day distance we’ll cover on this ride. There were many hills along the way between Katanning and Wagin but the toughest thing we faced was the heat. Some cyclists were getting readings of around 43 degrees Celcius on their bike computers. The already hot day was made even hotter by the heat reflected off the roads.

The 21 cyclists pushed on, trying to stay hydrated and battling to find the energy to get over ‘just one more hill’ as we drew ever closer to our destination.

Today we have 100 kilometres to ride. Once again there will be hills and once again there will be heat. The forecast says the heat won’t be as intense but with the extra distance it’ll still be a challenge. We’ll leave an hour earlier to try to cover more kilometres before the heat starts to bite.

Why?

Why would a group of cyclists continue to push on in such harsh conditions?

The team is raising money for Cancer Council WA and SIMaid’s Girls off the Streets projects.

If you’d like to sponsor one of the team by supporting Cancer Council WA just follow this link and select the rider or support team member of your choice.

If you’d like to support the work SIMaid does in bringing hope and healing to young girls in Bangladesh and India who have been rescued from sex trafficking, you can select a team member from the list on this page.

Please consider giving whatever you can. What can you give? Five dollars? Ten dollars? Fifty dollars? The need is desperate and any donation of $2 or more is tax deductible (in Australia).

My chosen cause for the ride is Girls off the Streets.

If you’d like to make a difference in the lives of young girls who desperately need your support, simply visit our fundraising page and choose my name from the drop down menu as the participant you’d like to support.

Let me thank you in anticipation of your support.

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I’m sitting on my bed thinking about the day ahead. I’ll be joining 20 other cyclists to ride from Katanning to Wagin, a distance of around 55 kilometres. While it may be the shortest ride on the Ride for Hope, throw in a slight head wind, some hills and extreme heat and you have the recipe for a tough day in the saddle.

This will be our third day of cycling. On Monday we left Albany and rode 91 kilometres to Cranbrook. Tuesday saw us riding around 80 kilometres from Cranbrook to Katanning. By the end of the week we will have cycled around 510 kilometres from Perth to Albany.

Our team is working well together with strong riders supporting those who are finding the road a little tougher. In the end we all know that we’re riding for two important causes – Cancer Council Western Australia and SIMaid’s Girls off the Streets.

Girls off the Streets

I’ve chosen to ride for Girls off the Streets this year.

Childhood should be a time of innocence, yet for millions around the world it’s a time of abuse, exploitation and despair. It’s impossible to imagine the horror a young girl experiences when she’s stolen from her home then raped a dozen times a day by different men to make money for someone else.

Human trafficking enslaves about 27 million people around the world. That is more than the population of Australia. Of these modern day slaves the UN estimates 79% of them are caught up in sexual trafficking. According to “Save the Children” at any one time across the world, around 1.8 million children are being abused through prostitution, child pornography and sex tourism.

I took a trip in December last year to Bangladesh and India to see the excellent work being done through SIMaid’s Girls off the Streets. I was so amazed at the work that is being done to bring hope and healing to young women who have been rescued from sex trafficking that I wanted to do more to help shine some light into some very dark corners of our world.

What I saw on my trip was young women, some very young, who had been sexually exploited and sold into prostitution but who are now growing in confidence as they learn to trust again and develop life skills that will give them a strong foundation for life ahead. Girls off the Streets is giving them a future and importantly, letting them know that they are truly loved.

Please consider giving whatever you can. What can you give? Five dollars? Ten dollars? Fifty dollars? The need is desperate and any donation of $2 or more is tax deductible (in Australia).

If you’d like to make a difference in the lives of young girls who desperately need your support, simply visit our fundraising page and choose my name from the drop down menu as the participant you’d like to support.

Let me thank you in anticipation of your support.

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