On July 11th I'm running the London 10K to raise money for the Donald Woods Foundation, a charity named after my friend Mary’s dad, which focuses on health and education in the rural area of South Africa in which he was born. The Mbashe region suffers 89% unemployment and desperately needs the most basic of resources for building hospitals and schools. The Donald Woods Foundation have built 7 clinics so far for HIV and TB and set up outreach programmes to care for vulnerable people in their homes and children orphaned by HIV. This year it promises to be the largest rural integrated programme for HIV in South Africa.

But We Need Your Help!

The money you donate will mean we can invest in much-needed vital equipment, training and work. Every amount counts! To screen an adult or child for HIV on one of our outreach days costs just £3.95, so your money will be helping to save lives. It's especially critical in testing pregnant mothers so HIV is not passed on to their babies. Please donate as much or as little as you can afford, all of it will be able to make a difference.

I'm excited and nervous to be running for the Foundation - I want to make it to the finish line in a decent time and raise as much money as possible. I haven't done any exercise in years and the training is proving tougher than I thought but with your support, this promises to be a great event!

If you would like more information on our work, visit  www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org

The important stuff:

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.