On the 15th April I will be running the Brighton Marathon in support of the Sierra Leone Project - a link between my village of Wivelsfield and the village of Aberdeen in Sierra Leone.

What began in 2009 as a partnership between two church parishes has expanded into other areas of the community including Aberdeen's Secondary School, St Matthew's. Education has now become the link's main project as secondary education is not provided for by the government.

On average it costs just £90 to send a child in Sierra Leone to secondary school for an entire year (inc school fees, uniforms, equipment etc). Although this may seem like a small amount of money to us, it is beyond the means of most families and precludes many children in the village from achieving their aspirations and breaking out of poverty.

At the moment 13 children are being sponsored through this project (half of those sponsored are Christian and the other half Muslim). Thankfully many of the children that have previously been supported have gone onto Higher Education and it is hoped that with these donations we can allow many more this opportunity.

The fund does also support the community in other areas such as providing financial assistance during the Ebola Crisis, supporting the local Shida playschool and contributing to the St Matthew's fund which helps the most impoverished people in the community to basic amenities.

As a project run between two villages, every penny that is donated goes directly to the Aberdeen community without the expenditure on overheads and administrative costs.

Please give what you can to a worthy cause!