Donkeys Delivering Dreams!

On the 8th of April 2025 Pediatric Care Africa will embark on our first 500km Donkey cart ride through the Klein Karoo to collect funds for Klein Karoo children with Cerebral Palsy or other serious physical abilities.

We aim to be able to purchase fitted specialist Buggies for disabled children to vastly improve their quality of life, and is asking individuals and businesses to support and sponsor us per km driven by the Donkey cart.

We very specifically chose to use donkeys for two reasons, namely they are a symbol of the Karoo and secondly to show people how special and beautiful Donkeys are, and that they must be treated with kindness and respect.

The special light weight Donkey cart named “Kiddies 1” was built by the people of De Rust in the Western Cape, especially for the purpose of helping our Klein Karoo Children with serious disabilities and the harnesses was handmade for us by “Oom” Andries Smit of Adendorp in Graaf Reinet. Andries arguably has more experience and knowledge with and about Donkeys than anyone alive today.

Between “Oom” Andries and Andre Bosman our official Donkey handler and carer who is travelling with us, they have over 80 years’ experience with Donkeys.

500km by donkey cart sounds very far, and it is, but most people can easily walk 500km if given enough time. The Donkeys are absolutely the stars of the show and like all stars deserve to be treated as such.

We have 3 pairs of Donkeys and a 4th pair in reserve, with one pair of Donkeys pulling the Donkey cart whilst the other two pairs of Donkeys are transported by trailer to our next overnight stop, meaning that each pair of Donkeys only pull the cart every 3rd day with 2 days of rest in between except in areas that may be a bit hilly or if it is very hot, donkeys will then be changed during the ride.

All the Donkeys have passed their medical examinations and Ferrier checks and will be re examined the day before departure to ensure all our Donkeys are in optimal health.

The Donkeys will be checked by both Dr Garth Ryder a renowned local veterinarian and animal lover and also by a qualified Ferrier on 4 occasions during the Donkey Cart ride, and as mentioned also before and after the ride.

We have a spare team of Donkeys in reserve, as if a donkey for example step in a stone the entire team of two is retired and taken back to their owner, and will be replaced by the reserve team and any injuries treated if needed by our Veterinarian.

Our speed will be mostly walking speed and we will travel at the speed the donkeys dictates.

We will be accompanied by two support vehicles, with one support vehicle transporting the “off duty” Donkeys to our overnight stop and the second vehicle and trailer carrying bales of food and drums of water, and will be driving directly behind the Donkey cart with a large reflective sign on the back of the trailer (Donkeys ahead) and white flashing strobe lights mounted on the roof to warn any approaching traffic of the presence of the Donkey cart.

For more detailed information please visit our website at www.pediatriccareafrica.org

Other Donkey lovers and or Donkey experts are very welcome to join us during our ride for a chat and a visit, and let us show the world how Donkeys should be treated and just how special they really are.

Donkeys must be seen and never hurt!