This year I’m doing Sydney’s City2Surf run to raise money for ChallengeAid, a charity which builds Schools of Hope in some of Africa’s largest and most impoverished slums.

This is brought about by funds raised through fitness based challenges.

ChallengeAid began in 2005 and has now established over 30 Schools of Hope throughout Kenya and Tanzania aimed at giving aspirational
young people an opportunity to achieve. Last year 40% of secondary school aged leavers who formerly had very limited access to government education went on to University!

Although having an academic focus and being stocked with desks, chairs, lighting and up-to-date syllabus text books, a SoH also provides
life skills programs and sports, music and drama festivals for the pupils. Over 2000 children are educated through Schools of Hope on a night by night basis.

It takes roughly $9000AUD to build a SoH and support it for its initial three years through tapered funding, with $4,500AUD required during the first year. The SoH is run by the local community leadership group (established at the outset) which prepares itself over the first three years to take ownership of the school, thus counteracting the culture of dependency through aid.

Up until now ChallengeAid has been funded through UK fundraisers and events – I’m aiming to help create the first School of Hope funded by Australia!

For more information on ChallengeAid’s mission, current and future projects and some very adventurous challenges, take a look at their website: http://www.challengeaid.org/

Let’s all please please please get around it!

Best Regards,
Dana