Story
<p><span style="font-family: Calibri;">On Sunday 22nd April 2012 I will be running the London Marathon – for the first, and most probably the only, time in my life!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;" lang="EN-US">I am running to raise funds for Book Aid International – a charity based in South London that is dedicated to increasing access to books and other reading materials across sub-Saharan Africa to support literacy, education and development, in some of the poorest countries of the world.</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;" lang="EN-US">Books are crucial for quality education, raising literacy, providing information and underpinning development. Every year, Book Aid International send around half a million brand new books to 12 countries in Africa, which are read over and over again by millions of readers. They work closely with the book and publishing trade in the UK who donate nearly all of the high quality, relevant books they send.</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;" lang="EN-US">Please support me raising money for this fantastic charity, the list below shows just how far your money can go.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will be doing a blog to keep you all updated on my training and experience in preparing for this marathon – all the highs and lows will be recorded with some photographic evidence!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;" lang="EN-US">£2 will send one book to sub-Saharan Africa </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;" lang="EN-US">£10 could send five dictionaries to a university library in Tanzania </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;" lang="EN-US">£24 could send 12 health books to a community library in rural Eritrea </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;" lang="EN-US">£60 could send 30 books to a refugee camp in Kenya</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;" lang="EN-US">£100 could help purchase 70 HIV/AIDS awareness books for children </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;" lang="EN-US">£380 will send a starter collection of 200 books to a community library </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;" lang="EN-US">£1,000 could purchase and send 40 Braille books for the visually impaired </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;" lang="EN-US">£5,000 could help to re-stock a community library in Cameroon</span></p>
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<p><strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US">Because books change lives.</span></strong></p>