As you will know I spent Christmas and New Year in Rwanda (and Tanzania). My family and I had the most incredible time meeting lots of very generous people who showed us their beautiful country.

On our last day before flying back to the UK we all visited the Rwandan offices of Hope and Homes for Children and then to one of their projects. This is a chairty which my parents support in Bath and actively fundraise for. The general gist of Hope and Homes is to make sure that no child grows up in institutionalised homes - that every child stays with its family. They are in the process of closing down institutions in in eight countries across the world – six in Eastern Europe and two in Africa, South Sudan and Rwanda.

We visited a centre about an hour away from the capital Kigali. Here we saw first hand the amazing work they do. They have created a community hub where children can go each day, are fed and educated (from 3-6 before school age) and their parents are taught skills and given support to ensure that the children stay at home and are not abandoned.

I know how very lucky I am to have grown up in a wonderful family. And it is projects like this which makes sure other children, who are infinitely less fortunate than us, can do too.

I really hope you will be able to support me, particularly in light of the generosity I received running the London Marathon last year. Hope and Homes are a small charity and I am incredibly lucky to be able to advocate what they do having seen their life changing work first hand.

My sister wrote a blog all about our visit which you can find here:

http://kateturner45.wordpress.com/2014/01/13/hope-and-homes-for-children/