Almost everything we do when we set foot outside the door comes with a risk and comes with a reward.
If I think that I'm going to drive round to the co-op in the next village so that I can get some sneaky chocolate and a packet of crisps to watch the TV with my son, it's possible I might hit another car and die on the way, but I'm prepared to take the risk, and so this is the way in everything that we do, whether we consider it or not.
It's 6 days until I take off for Tanzania for another one of those lifetime adventures (I live in this extraordinarily privileged world).
So fly to Kilimanjaro, and start to ride a bike on the Monday for 5 days across Tanzania.
Almost certainly everything will be fine, but it is possible that I might get eaten by a lion, or get malaria, or rabies, or fall off my bike and have a terrible injury in the middle of Africa. There are risks to this as there are risks to everything, but I'm banking on the fact that the rewards will massively outweigh the risks, and that the memories and the experiences, and the connections, and the difference this group of intrepid explorers is able to make will be huge.
I want to say thanks here to some of the supply companies who've supported us, particularly Wright's and Nova Surgical Instruments, and Chris Mason at Hu-Friedy.
I get to take a suitcase full of brilliant surgical equipment to give to Dr Chico, who runs the Bridge to Aid programme in Mwanza, amongst one or two other really special gifts.
What I'd like you to do, though, to help, is click this link for JustGiving and give us 1 pound, or a tenner, or 1000 quid. It really will hardly cost you anything, just the blink of an eye and a little bit of Apple Pay, but I promise it'll mean the world to the young children in Tanzania who are having their tooth gems wiggled out of their mouth with a rusty bicycle spoke (infant oral mutilation), or the other guys that are walking hundreds of miles to get their teeth extracted.
Go on, click the button. I dare you.
Blog Post Number - 4419
Colin Campbell, Chris Barrow, and an intrepid group of dentists will be cycling across the plains of Tanzania from Kilimanjaro in early February 2026. If you would like to support the charity, Bridge to Aid, and this extraordinary challenge, please click here.
Thank you for your generosity.
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