2 May 2023
Last weekend’s April sunshine witnessed the return of one of Abingdon’s quirkier traditions as the ten sixth formers and four staff who will visit Moldova in July gathered in the school’s ergo suite to take on the physical challenge of rowing the length of the Dniester River to raise funds for AGAPE, a charity based in Moldova that works to improve the lives of young people there. The Dniester separates Moldova – which for many years has been Europe’s poorest country – from its neighbours Transnistria and Ukraine, and runs for 398km in total.
As the Abingdon team assembled, calculations were hastily scribbled on the back of a piece of graph paper before Mr & Mrs O’Doherty announced to a mildly grim-faced gathering how many kilometres each person would have to complete. The rival sporting commitments of some members of the travelling party meant they were unable to take part from the start, which resulted in a rather daunting initial estimate of 40k per person. However, spirits – and the kilometre count – soon rose as reinforcements arrived from the boathouse and the cricket field. Sterling work was duly done, and the total was achieved by mid-afternoon.
If you would like to support the fundraising effort, please follow this link. All contributions will be very greatly appreciated.
