2024 Hennops Challenge
Pretoria, South Africa
When deciding to plan and host a challenge within one and a half months, we honestly had our doubts on whether we’d be able to pull off anything substantial, however God is faithful and exceeded our expectations with this Hennops Challenge.
On November 30th, we hosted a hiking and Mountain biking challenge at “Hennops Trails” in Pretoria. With 5 mountain bikers and 28 hikers, we set off to explore the beautiful property in the Magalies mountain range. For the hikers it was a 5km intermediate trail and the mountain bikers braved a 20km riding trail. The Hennops river cuts through the property which also boasts of some wildlife, including zebra and wildebeest.
Coming from different walks of life, participants got to make new friends and supported one another as a team through the different stages of the trail. Before setting off, they were given short stories of real human trafficking victims- and the millions they represent. They carried these stories in their hearts and prayers while hiking/ biking. This made the reason we were doing this challenge a bit less abstract and more ‘real’.
“It was great to connect with nature while supporting such an important cause. What stood out most for me, was hearing first-hand from the victims of trafficking about how easy it is to get trafficked and how difficult it is to get free.”
-Challenge Participant
“During the hike we came across a pile of rocks, and as we were praying for God to intervene in the lives of victims across the globe, we added stones to the pile as a declaration of our prayers.”
-Willem, Hercules and Susan
Post Hike/Ride Challenge
After the hike/ride, we all came together at basecamp where we had the opportunity to hear first-hand testimonies from trafficking survivors. We got to talk to them and support them in different ways. We are extremely thankful that these precious ladies were willing to come out to share their stories with us. It made our efforts so much more worthwhile. Being reminded that, however small a drop in the bucket we may feel our support may be, it’s one more drop than there was yesterday. If it can make a small difference in one person’s life, it’s worth it. That is one more person that has a chance at being set on the path to freedom.
If you’d like to view more pictures from this challenge, check out this gallery.