Johannesburg: Inspired by UK centenarian Tom Moore, Solly Krok, a 91-year-old South African businessman, completed a 100-kilometer walk to raise more than 2 million rand (USD 120,000) to assist people with food during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Krok, a co-founder of the world-renowned Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg, raised the money with his project titled ‘Keeping the Wolf from the Door’. He said he initially thought he would walk 91 kilometres to mark his birthday, but it turned into a 100-kilometer walk as a number of celebrities and other businessmen joined him.
“It’s of great concern for me to see the increased poverty that has mushroomed overnight as people are not able to work or support their families,” Krok said before he started his walk two months ago.
“I am determined to make a long-term difference by coupling our programme with sustainable food banks. For the first 24 days, the best I could do was 2-km a day, but by the 25th day, I started increasing to three, then four and on some days even six kilometres,” the nonagenarian said after the end of his walk which was celebrated by just a handful of people due to the COVID-19 lockdown restrictions in place. Krok said he was inspired by UK centenarian Moore, a British Army veteran who walked around his garden to raise 39 million pounds for charity and who was subsequently knighted.
The philanthropist said he wondered after the first few days if he would meet his target by his birthday as he was not motivated enough, but his mindset changed after he reached the halfway mark of 45 kilometres.
Krok said that he was now considering starting another venture in which he would challenge other elderly people across the world to walk just one kilometer to raise money.
Confessing that he had never exercised a day in his life, Krok said he was now also thinking of establishing a ‘camaraderie club’ with fellow global “walk for funds” mates like Moore and others.
The funds raised by Krok’s initiative will be used by non-profit organisations Afrika Tikkun and Siyakhana, primarily to support children and the elderly with food parcels. (PTI)