On Sunday 22nd November, I will take part in the Great Ethopian Run. The biggest organised road race in Africa and part of a trip where I will be hiking in the rift valley and discovering this beautiful country.

Whilst I never usually ask for sponsorship, I want to use this trip to raise awareness and provide support to tackle mossyfoot. For those of us who love to run, it is a shock and scandal that this preventable disease affects several hundred thousand people a year in Ethopia.

The condition (called Podoconiosis) is poorly understood, and affects people in wet volcanic highlands. It is a disease of the poor. Silicates in the soil get into the body through the skin of the feet as a result of not wearing shoes, and the legs and limbs swell severely.

Sufferers attract social stigma, are likely to lose their job or not be able to attend school and the condition can be fatal. Although the disease is common there is no WHO intervention programme. Moosyfoot UK is a registered charity that has been set up to provide education, footwear and support. The impact of relatively modest amounts of funding support is enormous:

£2 a year covers the costs for a sufferer to be included in regular weekly clinics where selfcare techniques are taught and treatments provided.

£20 is the monthly salary for a health worker.

£50 will train a patient in shoe-making skills and supply him with a set of tools to earn his own living.

£200 will buy the fuel for 14 outreach clinics to be visited twice per month.

£1,000 will vocationally train 165 patients over the course of a year.

Any contribution you make will go direct to the charity.

Thank you so much for your support.

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