O Edwards
I'm running the London Marathon for VSO
Fundraising for Voluntary Service Overseas
Story
On 26th April, I will be returning to my "home" city to run the London Marathon for the first time. I am super excited and hope to see as many of you along the course as possible.
Given how special this race will be for me, I wanted to take the opportunity to raise awareness and support for a charity that is very dear to my heart.
When I was 20 years old, I volunteered for Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO), working as an Education Volunteer in the Maldives. For me personally, it was a life defining experience, dedicating my career to international development and leading me to such adventures as Rwanda, Ethiopia and now New York City.
Any support you can provide to VSO helps them to continue their mission to support the world's poor. $15/ £10 can impact on so many people's lives.
VSO sources and provides volunteers who are experienced professionals in their fields, to work with communities in parts of the world which are facing extreme poverty. They send teachers, health workers, business managers, agriculture experts and many others.
What I love about VSO is that the volunteers are working together with the professionals in the local community. They do not replace any worker who is currently there, nor do they provide a quick fix which will disappear once they leave.
They aim to improve the skills of the people they work with and thus improve opportunities for countless people who are facing poverty.
VSO's most recent Annual Review demonstrates this catalytic approach:
In 2018/19, around 4500 volunteers supported over 1,000,000 people including:
- 550,000 through our education programmes.
- 175,000 through our health programmes
- 115,000 through our livelihoods programmes
- 170,000 through our resilience, inclusion and social accountability programmes
If you would like to learn more about VSO you can watch this video-: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rGxeLRrYEc
