<p>Thanks for visiting my fundraising page.</p> <p>As you may or may not know, I am have travelled to Malawi 3 times to carry out aid work for 'Open Arms Malawi', a charity which cares for orphans whose parents have died of AIDS.</p> <p>It was such an eye opening experience for me. I wasn't sure how I would feel when seeing the children for the first time but as soon as we got to the orphanage, all our fears disapered as the children ran with open arms towards us. We spent the week building the managers house as well as helping out at feeding times with the children as there just wasn't enough 'mothers' to go around the 28 babies and toddlers.</p> <p>One overall feeling that I left with was the children at the Open Arms orphanage were the lucky ones. The love and care that they receive from the staff is overwhelming. The fact that they had access to a bed at night, clothes and medication made me realise just what a difference we could make through even small donations.</p> <p>There are over 800,000 orphans in Malawi alone, and the charity is currently in the process of expanding its facilities so that it can care for more of them. We think it would be fantastic if we could raise some money to take over there to pay for building materials, or simply for school stationery and food for the orphans.</p> <p>'Open Arms Malawi' is completely dependent on charitable donations, so to give you an idea of how your money could make a difference, just &pound;2.70 could house and feed an orphan for a week, so you can appreciate that every donation will make a world of difference to them!</p> <p>'Open Arms Malawi' believes every child deserves love, care, and shelter, and ensures that every penny of your donation goes straight into developing the orphanage itself and caring for the orphans.</p> <p>We hope you think this to be a worthy cause.<br><br>Donating through Justgiving is quick, easy and totally secure. It&rsquo;s also the most efficient way to sponsor me: Open Arms Malawi gets your money faster and, if you&rsquo;re a UK taxpayer, Justgiving makes sure 25% in Gift Aid, plus a 3% supplement, are added to your donation.<br><br>So please sponsor me now!</p> <p>Lynsey xx</p>