On May 21 2011, I will be taking part in the second Children of Fire 22 mile Monopoly charity walk around London to raise money for Africa's first burns charity. Last year it was the Monopoly MOONwalk, this year is the NOONwalk. The idea is to visit every location on the classic London Monopoly board.
Back in 2002 my wife read a newspaper article about a little South African girl called Dorah Mokoena who had lost her face and hands in a squatter camp fire when she was a baby. An incredible woman called Bronwen Jones had found her, unvisited and alone, in hospital and had fostered her. Dorah and Bronwen were travelling to London for the latest in a long number of operations, and needed somewhere to stay. We offered them a room and that was the start of our friendship, and involvement with Bronwen's fledgling charity, Children of Fire.
9 years on, Children of Fire does incredible work on a very small budget, looking after hundreds of children who are burned in Africa every year. Children of Fire provides world-leading surgery, schooling and financial support to enable them to make their own way in the world. We also arrange challenging and character-building events such as a teenage expedition to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, and (just for fun) the annual Jo'burg chocolate festival.
But, Children of Fire also helps tackle the causes of fire, we provide education, run Umashesha - a rapid response unit for victims of fires, and we lobby governments to make townships safer places for people to live.
You can track our progress on the day via Twitter. Please follow the team @ChildrenOfFire,
take a moment to look at our website www.childrenoffire.org
or watch Children of Fire,The Movie http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jfk-Ki9MqpU
Many thanks,
Norton York
