I am 'skipping for skills'!  I plan to skip 69,130 times* in the next few months, as a reminder of the 691,300 illiterate adults in Zimbabwe**, and to raise funds to support their skills development.  

 

Through The SEED Project (www.seed-project.org), which my husband Jackson and I founded, we've met some of these people.  They weren't able to finish their schooling as children due to poverty - their families couldn't afford school fees and needed their children to earn a living. Now as adults, many feel trapped in poverty.  They have insecure, poorly paid jobs, and live far from family and friends.

 

The SEED Project is helping people like Adam Rosha.  SEED helped Adam to make the transition from gardener to electrician, through encouragement and training.  He now returns to SEED to share his new electrician's skills, and his story, with other gardeners.  Adam says, "SEED inspired me to realise that I am worth more than I thought.  Now I want to challenge others to realise how much they too can achieve."

 

Your donations will help more people like Adam to realise their potential and improve their quality of life. 

 

P.S. 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 SEED 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 SEED.

 

* i.e. 69,130 rotations of the skipping rope, with me successfully jumping each one!  I aim to do 500 skips each weekday (just a few other commitments!), and 2000 each weekend!  Maybe - over 4 months - I'll even learn a few tricks...

 

**Aged 15+.  Source: www.nationmaster.com.  I figured I should do one skip per ten people, otherwise (at 1 skip per person) I'd be at it for 3 years...

 

UPDATE: 15 DECEMBER
13,400 down, still a long way to go!  Getting good calf muscles!  The 2000 on weekends is really tough, I'm only managing 500 a day, 7 days a week.  Still going steady though, and aim to do it on Christmas Day and everything...

 

UPDATE: 2 JANUARY
20,000 down, 49,130 to go!  It's starting to get a bit easier so maybe I'll try to increase the 500 a day.  I did it in the snow on Christmas Day (see photo left), and on my birthday!

 

UPDATE: 9 MARCH
47,300 down, 21,830 to go: over two-thirds of the way there.  I was always a sprinter, but this is a marathon!  I've added some pretty interesting skip locations to the list: Buckingham Palace, up a mountain in the Lake District, up a mountain in Scotland, the balcony of Abbey Pool whilst watching my kids' swimming lessons, the sports hall inside, and the decking outside Romsey Mill (where I work)... I've only beaten 500 a day on ten days :( It's not easy to fit it in!  Thanks to those who've joined me at times to keep me going: my family, Ellie... 

UPDATE: 19 APRIL
You may have noticed the target has moved from the original £1,500 to £1,750.  That's because the target was exceeded, and since I'm still skipping I thought it was worth trying for a bit more!  SEED can certainly spend more than £1,500 on skills development.
I've now passed the 60,000 mark - hooray! Need to keep the motivation up - but the spring sunshine is helping...