Cycle of Life

Friend of the firm Jessica Hatcher is taking part in an epic four-month, 5,000 mile bike ride around southern and east Africa to raise awareness and funds for environmentally responsible community projects in rural areas from Namibia to Kenya.

Jessica, a broadcast journalist, and three friends are taking part in this year’s The Cycle of Life expedition. The group will also be joined for part of the journey by two young people who have been helped by homeless charity, Centrepoint, plus their social worker and a journalist from The Telegraph newspaper. Cycle of Life hopes to raise £500,000 through sponsorship. Along with national organisations who have pledged money, Hatchers Solicitors is delighted to have donated £500 towards this worthy cause.
 
All money raised will be looked after by charity Tusk Trust, and will be distributed to projects to provide long-term stable funding for proposals that aim to alleviate rural poverty without threatening wildlife. Prince William is a patron of both Centrepoint and Tusk Trust, and the official launch of Cycle of Life was held at Royal residence Clarence House in April. The Prince said: “Rural African initiatives that foster education, responsibility and participation in the local community light the way for conservation. They go hand in hand with sustainable social and economic developments in remote areas. The ‘Cycle of Life’ expedition promises both to highlight these projects and to raise the money needed for them to succeed. The expedition has my fullest support.”
 

To read Jessica’s blog on how the expedition is going, click on the following link to The Telegraph’s online pages:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/05/01/eajessblog1.xml