Sara Stringfellow is a water baby in every sense of the word. Any and every opportunity she has to be near water or actively in water-she will exploit it with gusto. It comes as no surprise then that she combined her passion for swimming with her desire to make the world a better place. Only a mind as waterlogged as hers could conceptualize an event called ‘Swim to Africa’

She didn’t actually jump into the Atlantic Ocean and swim to Africa from the US, but rather set herself the goal of swimming 11 miles in 11 hours in a pool at her local gym-

The purpose of this marathon swim was to raise funds to participate in a two-week mission trip to Africa in support of local non-profit oganisations.

“At first it was just a crazy challenge for me,” Stringfellow says. “I’ve always been curious to see how far I could swim if I just didn’t have to stop. Then, a great opportunity came to support a mission trip headed to Africa. I had never been to Africa, didn’t know a single person on the continent, but for I felt inexplicably drawn toward raising money for the trip. I did some brainstorming about what I could attempt that would attract donors. I enjoy swimming, so on a whim I launched ‘Swim to Africa’ .It was crazy enough to get attention.”

After months of planning, training and campaigning, she heard disastrous news just days before her planned swim.

“I had already found over thirty donors, set the date for the swim, and then suddenly the mission trip got canceled. Too many people backed out and the group fell apart.”

She had to break the news to her funders, family, friends and supporters. The news wasn’t what they expected.

“I just told them flat out ‘I’m going to Africa regardless’ and then I asked the donors if they would still support the swim.”

Stringfellow then shocked her friends and family with the news that instead of the proposed two-week mission trip, she was now going for three months entirely on her own.

“I think it made people realize how serious I was. This was really about what can happen when people who are committed to changing the world, just give everything they have. It doesn’t matter if its money, time or skills-my friends gave me their loose change and I gave one lap, after another and swam more than I ever thought I could.”

During the event, Sara swam for 11 hours without stopping, 354 laps, which translates to 11 miles.

Sara set out with her own savings to find the best places to allocate the funds she had raised. When asked about her experience on the continent she responds enthusiastically but frankly.

“I loved Africa! I think I spent every last dime I had traveling around the continent. But I was guarded over the donated funds. I rarely told anyone about the project until I was certain their organization was the type I was looking for. Sometimes, I’d visit an organization and transfer the money anonymously. It was more important for me to observe without biased than to get recognition.

She began in Cape Town, South Africa and traveled north to Kenya, researching different non-profit and non government organisations in ten different countries along the way.

“I saw some unfortunate things being done by very well-intentioned yet misinformed people. I didn’t want to be one of those philanthropists who, for example, by funding a free medical clinic to local people, were actually putting local doctors out of work. There is a scary catch-22 with handouts. A group of American teens flying in to build an orphanage just looks silly once you see how many strong, capable African men are jobless, literally sitting on the street corners just begging for the chance to build something. A lot of what I saw came down to a real need for investment in job creation, and more importantly, and investment in building people. The future will be determined based on how much is invested in young people’s self-confidence, capabilities, and courage.”

Stringfellow found many organizations to support and having allocated her funds and depleted her savings, she returned to the US to her post-graduate studies.

Two years later after sharing her story with a new audience, her original funding allocation was matched dollar for dollar by a small group of donors, invested with the knowledge and trust that Sara would know the best place to allocate the funding.

“At that point there was no question where it needed to go. One of the organizations I found right before I left Africa was Outward Bound Trust of South Africa. What they are doing for young people is incredible, truly bringing out strengths these kids didn’t even realize they had. They take care to pay special attention to women’s empowerment, are deeply committed to youth development and have even expanded to skills training with unemployed adults empower them to break the shackles of poverty. They don’t do it with handouts, they do it by getting these kids to look at their own hands and realize they have the capacity to change their own lives. The crazy thing is, the kids do it, and they get absolutely stoked about it! Seeing them beam in self-accomplishment at what they have achieved, that’s what really convinced me this was the right organisation to support. It was the same stoked feeling I had when swam more than I thought was possible. It’s universal; everyone gets joy out of meeting a challenge and overcoming it.
That is what I think poverty stricken areas need, what racially divided areas need, and it’s needed in America as well as Africa. That enjoyment of achievement is what is going to take any individual or even a nation into a better future because they know, deep down, they already have what it takes to accomplish anything.”

Sara Stringfellow’s indomitable spirit and generous contribution toward Outward Bound South Africa has enabled us to arrange for 224 students to participate in the 2010 World Cup Legacy Program and empowered young South Africans with the will, values and self belief to live their lives to the full and to consistently make the right choices.

Thank you!

For more information on this initiative and for updates
Visit

www.outwardbound.co.za or www.grassrootsoccer.org