Pakistan has been torn apart by wars, terrorism and natural disasters. Sussex Partnership owes much to Pakistan, because some of our most senior doctors were born and trained there, including my dear friend and colleague Dr Shakil Malik. Shakil has been going back to Pakistan since the mid 1990s and doing amazing voluntary work, and Sussex Partnership has supported this in different ways since the earthquake in 2005.

In 2011, I started raising money so that 12 Pakistani children from Peshwar in the Northern Punjab (where my Anglo-Indian maternal grandmother Alicia had connections) can go to school. You will have heard the story about Malala, who came from the same area. The children I support - 8 boys and 4 girls - are brave and clever just like Malala. The money we raise has already made sure that one of them can start her nursing training. Two of the other girls want to be doctors, and one to become a teacher. And five of the boys also aspire to be doctors. I met the children on a visit to Pakistan in March 2012 and I'm going back to see them in December 2013. They write to me regularly and give me their news.

My latest fundraising adventure was a bike ride from Morecambe Bay to Scarborough. At 200 miles it wasn't quite so long as previous rides i have completed, but it did include crossing the Pennines, which were, without exaggerating, pretty steep. Nothing like the Himalayas of course!

Please help me to help these children of Pakistan to find a future. Education is their greatest hope. Who knows, one day one of the children may work in mental health services in Pakistan and take over the amazing clinic that Shakil has helped to set up.

Thank you very much

Lisa