Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

I was inspired to run a half marathon for Stepping Stones Nigeria (SSN) after watching the Channel 4 Dispatches documentary ‘Saving Africa’s Witch Children’ back in November last year:

'In some of the poorest parts of Nigeria, where evangelical religious fervour is combined with a belief in sorcery and black magic, many thousands of children are being blamed for catastrophes, death and famine: and branded witches. Denounced as Satan made flesh by powerful pastors and prophetesses, these children are abandoned, tortured, starved and murdered: all in the name of Jesus Christ.'

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dispatches/episode-guide/series-8/episode-1/

SSN raises funds to help Sam Itauma who, five years ago, rescued four children accused of witchcraft. He now struggles to care for over 150 in a makeshift shelter and school called CRARN (Child Rights and Rehabilitation Network) based in Akwa Ibom State.

Please visit SSN's website for more info on child 'witchcraft' and the work SSN carries out: http://www.steppingstonesnigeria.org/

The belief in child 'witches' in Akwa Ibom State remains the key challenge that SSN faces in its work – especially as this belief, and the subsequent abandonment of these children, significantly contributes to making Akwa Ibom State have the highest rate of child trafficking in Africa.

Progress is being made: the UN recently produced the report 'Witches in the 21st century' and SSN will be presenting a paper at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva this month in order to call for urgent inter-agency action on this issue. However, there is still a long way to go:

http://thepmnews.com/2009/09/01/witchcraft-dad-bathes-3-kids-in-hot-water

Please, please, please donate what you can for this very worthy cause.

PS. I am training hard!

Thanks,
Kate x 

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