A good night’s rest ahead of an early start for the next leg of his Paddling for Smiles coastal fund-raising campaign became a nightmare for paddler Richard Kohler.
He and his support, Riaan Fourie, woke to find that a break-in at their overnight accommodation in Glenmore on KZN’s South Coast, saw opportunists make off with thousands of rands’ worth of equipment, crippling Kohler’s 2 600km campaign.
“We were staying at my uncle’s house in Glenmore. We went to bed at about 11pm and got up at 4:30am to find that all our equipment had been cleaned out,” Fourie said.
He said that despite having taken all the valuables into the house, the thieves had bent the burglar guard on a window and had spent the next few hours removing an estimated R170 000 worth of equipment, their personal belongings and R11 000 that had been raised during the initiative.
The only item of value that remained was their van, which the thieves left despite stealing the wallets and radios inside by using the key to open it.
“We are very disheartened and distraught especially because we are doing this for charity,” he said.
Since the beginning of his campaign earlier this month, Kohler has been marred by unfortunate circumstances.
He has endured a shark attack, several hammerings at sea and a back injuryin his endeavour to raise funds for 200 children born with cleft lips and palates to undergo surgery.
However, Fourie said, the most recent incident has left them “helpless” as they do not have the resources to continue.
“Richard is dependent on co-ordinates to navigate at sea, which I cannot communicate to him without our radios and navigation systems,” he said.
Kohler’s sister-in-law, Lindy Kohler, wrote on the Paddling for Smiles Facebook page: “Terrible news… Too many signs that maybe it is not the right time to be doing this expedition?? I know you like challenges, Rich, but it’s time to come home.”
Fourie said they were likely to return to Cape Town to regroup but intended to pursue their goal once they had rebuilt their resources.
He added that while they were dejected by the incident, they were not deterred because the campaign was about the children and not them.
Kohler was 455km into his 50-day journey along the South African coastline, which he was expected to complete by the end of January when he would reach the Namibian border. - Daily News