On the 23rd April 2017, James Hallett will run the London Marathon to raise funds for a small UK based charity www.wharfkids.org which seeks to secure the future of children dreadfully affected by the devastating Ebola outbreak that tore through Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea from late 2013 to the end of 2015.

This amazing little charity was set up by the then UK military commander while he was serving in Sierra Leone as part of the international response to the crisis. The outbreak killed more than 11,000 people across the region. In a country that was only just recovering from a dreadful civil war, the outbreak had a devastating impact in Sierra Leone in particular.

Wharf Kids focuses on supporting those children most affected, primarily in a very disadvantaged slum area in Freetown. The charity seeks to provide long term education to those children who would almost certainly not otherwise be able to afford the annual school charges. The charity now funds the education of more than sixty children, provides essential financial support to their parents and carers (many of the children were orphaned by ebola, or survived it themselves), and is seeking to provide long term housing solutions for those in most desperate need.

More detail on Wharf Kids and their amazing work in Freetown, Sierra Leone can be seen at www.wharfkids.org, Twitter @WharfKids or Facebook/MagazineWharfKids.