Pilot set to fly aid to 30 SA schools in 30 days

By Janine Oelofse Garden Route Bureau Chief

WESTERN Cape Education MEC Cameron Dugmore yesterday joined British pilot Robert Vallier on the first leg of his attempt to fly to 30 South African communities in 30 days.

He is raising funds for schools in Plettenberg Bay and the Eastern Cape, among others.

Dugmore's spokesman, Gert Witbooi, said the two men, travelling in a single-engined aircraft, flew from Cape Town to deliver books to Beaufort West Secondary School.

The project, Unity Flight of SA (Ufosa), aims to raise funds from the international community for education, health and social welfare.

The flights form the launch of a five-year commitment to support the schools with 1 000 books from the Donate a Book campaign in Britain and the US.

It also aims to supply computer labs for the schools, infrastructure such library buildings, and the salary for an additional teacher for one year at each school.

A teacher and student exchange programme with Britain and the US is also being implemented.

Vallier will be landing in Plettenberg Bay today to deliver books to the Hoërskool Wittedrift.

Tomorrow he travels to Port Elizabeth to help the Northern Lights School in Cotswold.

He will then visit schools in Middelburg, East London and Mthatha, and elsewhere in South Africa.

Vallier's Ufosa Foundation has the backing of the United Nations. It aims to focus global attention on the plight of people all over South Africa and raise funds from the international community to help them.

The money goes towards improving education and funding hospices dealing with HIV/Aids.

"My challenge as a private pilot is to fly a few thousand miles in South Africa and manage a very tight schedule in 30 days.”

The communities he will be helping faced far greater challenges, he said.