TWO BIRDERS, TWO BIKES, MORE THAN ONE SCHOOL!
Leo and Cezary are home! They set off on Jan 1, 2024 as two 18 year olds, aiming to ride around Australia on push bikes – spotting as many different types of birds as possible and raising $100,000 to build a school in a remote part of Timor-Leste.
A year later, they’re back after incredible adventures, including a side trip to Timor- Leste, having raised a massive $140,000. Construction of the school they are funding will start early in 2025.
This fabulous 5 minute film Cezary has made about their journey and goals gives a great sense of their journey.
Cezary and Leo were totally self-funded, camping in tents and under bridges as they made their way around the country. They lived off their savings – allocating $25 a day each for all their expenses and have braved floods, extreme heat, closed roads and road-trains in their quest to raise the money to build a new school for the children of Builecon Village.
Builecon School is outside Balibo, a three hour drive from the capital Dili. Builecon’s 134 children are being taught in a three classroom building that an Australian engineer has raised great concerns about, believing it is at risk of collapse. The money raised by Leo and Cezary will build a new four classroom building and refurbish the toilets which are currently unusable. It will also pay to establish a school garden and kitchen to help address the serious malnutrition issues suffered by the the children.
At the end of August, Cezary and Leo had reached Perth, having travelled 10,000km anti-clockwise from Melbourne. Nandy, Simon and I sidetracked them to take them to Timor Leste for an extraordinary week to see the country and the children they are helping. They visited Builecon school and met with the President, the Minister of Education and the Australian Ambassador, all of whom were amazed by what the boys were doing.
The extra money Cezary and Leo have raised is allowing them to also build a kitchen for Bulecon school, provide all the kids with backpacks full of stationery and fund a scholarship for a young girl in a different part of the country. All additional money they receive will be used to help other schools and children in Timor-Leste.
Spend it Well has built 22 schools to date and takes no administrative costs from donations – It’s not too late to donate to support the boys and 100% of money donated will go directly to building Leo and Cezary’s school and the other educational projects they decide on. All donations are tax deductible.
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