HELPING ECUADOR'S KIDS TO BEAT THE STREET!

Thank you for visiting my fundraising page .  I have been raising money for the Juconi Foundation in Ecuador, through their UK partner ICT, by taking part in London's first musical event of its kind!  On 5th October, I ran over 21 kilometres through the city streets, for the street-working children of Guayaquil (please click through to video link on the left, for a four-minute Juconi experience...)

My training for the race was full of amazing surprises!  Hill-running with Paula Radcliffe herself (albeit only briefly!); kicking up red African dust in the sub-Saharan heat (spontaneously joined by extremely fast local children ); seeing news of Lance Armstrong back on his bike, whilst doing the unbelieveably mentally monotonous tempo treadmill sessions (I won't be missing those...); deriving immense inspiration from meeting the phenomenal Rafael Nadal (before his legendary Wimbledon win - VAMOS!)

Thanks to incredible support from family and friends, my initial fundraising target was smashed!  All the projects cited below can now take place, and any new donations will help hugely with the first (read on ...)

£65: Education enrollment fees - children who graduate from the Juconi programme often struggle to pay their fees for further education; every additional £65 raised will enable another Juconi graduate to enrol in further education.

£400: Afro Dance & Culture Group - Juconi plans to use dance and music as a means of self-expression and cultural learning for the children; £400 of the funds raised will enable this group activity to take place, and will pay for the musician who can teach the kids to play and accompany them in performance.

£500: Emergency medical treatments - Juconi would like to establish a contigency of £500, to fund emergency medical costs for the children (including for operations, and treatments for serious health problems such as TB and skin disease).  The additional amounts raised from such generous sponsorship to date will enable this contingency to be set up.

£900: Camping trips - this is what the target was originally set for!  £900 of the funds raised will enable 120 street-working children to go on a camping trip.  There would be two trips taking place: one for the older kids, and one for the younger ones.  As the trips would only be for new children on the Juconi programme, it would be for them the first time they had been outside their slum areas, save for street work.

Please do click through to the photos shown in FlickR link to the left, which include one of a Juconi graduate receiving an award from his Provincial Governor, in recognition of the  positive changes he has gone on to make in his own community....

Having worked in-country with Juconi on many occasions since 2003, I have been continually impressed by the commitment of the staff and the changes they make in these young people's lives: with a team of around 30 staff (most of whom work directly with the children) and annual budget in the $400k mark,  they know how to make a little go a long way...!

As above, each additional £65 raised will enable another Juconi graduate to enrol in higher education - so every new donation is very welcome

THANKS VERY MUCH FOR THE SUPPORT.

Donating through JustGiving is totally secure.  If you're a taxpayer, it also means that Juconi Ecuador will get an additional 25% in Gift Aid and a 3% supplement added to your donation (bonus!)