Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

I have just returned from an amazing trip to Kenya where I was fortunate enough to stay at a beautiful place - Ol Malo. Whilst I was there I met Julia Francombe, the founder of the Ol Malo Trust. The Trust was born out of the devastating drought of 1999-2000, which saw the Samburu (the local nomadic people based in north-central Kenya) lose  over 80% of their cattle. The position is grave now too - although the rains came while I was there it will be a number of months before these beautiful people are out of danger.

Julia inspired me to nominate the Ol Malo Trust as my charity for my forthcoming cycling trip to Vietnam & Cambodia.

The aim of the Ol Malo Trust is to contribute to the preservation of the Samburu people in terms of qualities and health in such a way that the Samburus are independent, strong and empowered to live their lives in the way that they strongly desire and choose.

This means helping the Samburu to maintain their traditional values - including honesty, kindness, hospitality and respect, along with their nomadic behaviour and traditional skills - while assisting them with health and educational issues in a way that will avoid their dependency upon the Trust.

The Trust acknowledges the law of unintended consequences and does not intend to introduce programmes that will interfere with the Samburu people’s traditional culture. It is dedicated to the survival of the wildlife that has lived among the people for thousands of years.

Whilst we were staying at Ol Malo I was fortunate to join Julia in a visit to one of the local schools established by the Trust. Here, children aged between 5 and 10 years old have an opportunity to receive a basic education, a decent meal and have fun.

Children of this age - younger than both Molly and Max - would traditionally be out herding the cattle and goats which are so important to their families. As the drought has taken hold the herds have had to move further and further to find food and water.

In addition, Julia has been at the forefront of groundbreaking projects to improve the health of the Samburu people including organising mobile clinics and education to eradicate trachoma (a debilitating but curable and preventable eye disease) and working with the local communities to effectively trap water which would otherwise be lost when the rains come. The protection of these water sources and the education of the local people into conserving them will ensure that the benefits of her work are felt by future generations.

I have set a challenging target of £1500 - I hope that together we can raise this money which will be used (and all of it) to make a real difference to these amazing people. I hope that we can raise enough money to enable Julia to buy educational materials for these children - maybe we could also contribute to building another dam which will mean that people can access fresh water and keep their cattle alive in the next dry season.

So, what is my challenge this time? I am taking part in a 400km cycle ride from Ho Chi Minh City to Siem Reap, the gateway to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Angkor Wat. The trip is from 19 to 28 November and I will be in the saddle for 6 full days, covering distances of up to 95km a day.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.

Thanks for reading.

Lee