In September, from Monday 19 - Friday 30, I will be walking round as many lakes in the English Lake District as possible in an effort to raise money to provide flushing toilets, for the first time ever, for a school in a tiny village in southern Belize. With me will be my old (as in ‘longstanding’) friend Judith Shingler, and a few other friends and members of the family. San Pablo school has a very special significance for my family.

In 1998, my niece, Anna Lightfoot, was working as a project leader for Raleigh International, responsible for building a new school in San Pablo. But after just nine weeks, on Monday 24th August that year, Anna was robbed and murdered by two local men on her way back to San Pablo from a nearby village. There isn’t room here to tell you Anna’s story, but I hope you can find time to visit the blog:

http://www.sanpablostoryofaschool.blogspot.com/

Here you can read about her life and death, the great success of the school today and the campaign to secure the recapture of one of her murderers who has escaped from prison.

I visited the school last year with my niece, Anna’s sister, Debbie. We were delighted to find that the school is now the thriving heart of the community, with pupil numbers of about 130 and rising. Anna would have been pleased and proud. A water tower recently built nearby means that flushing toilets are a possibility for the first time, but the Claretian Mission Charity that runs the school, together with fifteen others in the area, simply cannot afford to pay for that kind of project. And that’s where you come in. We hope you will be willing to sponsor us on this mission. Every contribution, however small, will be appreciated. Thank you very much.