As many of you know, in Summer 2009 I spent three months working in a school and orphanage in Kibera slum, in Nairobi. It was the third time I had worked with a development project in Africa, but it really was shocking to see the conditions of the slum where over 1 million Kenyans live.

I was so priveleged to be working with such amazing Kenyans - Stephen and Esther - who have given up a comfortable life and chosen to live in the slum to work with some of the streetkids. They started out by taking in a few orphaned children, but now live with over 70 (in three small rooms) and run a primary and secondary school which cater for over 500 students. They are amazing people and it has been wonderful to work with Kenyans seeking to help Kenyans, as opposed to working for a large Western-run NGO.

Kibera slum is a crazy place to grow up. The young people that I met living in the slum are passionate and inspiring and want to be teachers, lawyers, doctors - but this is so hard unless they can pass their school exams. If you want to read more about my time in Nairobi you can read my blog at http://www.bexkibera.blogspot.com/ or email me at bexwiles@hotmail.com. The school is always struggling to find money to meet the costs for rent, food and teachers wages. They are particularly struggling now as the World Food Programme has for now withdrawn its support for providing lunch for the day for the students (which for many would be their only meal of the day).

If you're happy to support the work in Kibera, your money won't be going to admin costs or big marketing plans; every penny will go to the Kenyans who are doing the important work and making a huge difference to hundreds of kids in the slum. Thank you to everyone for all the support so far.

I will be running the Staplehurst 10k on Saturday 26th June. I'm a bit scared :-)