In 2017 we visited the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh during a holiday in Cambodia. While touring the pagodas my wife - an animal-adoring heroine - came across a stray kitten being hassled by some fellow tourists. She picked up the little girl, looked me dead in the eye and told me we needed to save it.

After some intense Googling we found a charity in a tiny neighborhood that agreed to take the kitten. All 3 of us piled into a tuktuk and headed off - stopping at a gas station to buy some liver for the cat along the way. When we arrived at the location - the Phnom Penh Animal Welfare Society (PPAWS), we were overjoyed with what we saw.

PPAWS is an NGO run by a British couple and staffed by local vets and volunteers. They dedicate their lives to protecting street animals in Cambodia, and you can imagine there plenty of those who need care. The organization's range of work is amazing and includes rescuing and internationally rehoming as well as providing free neutering and life-saving surgeries.

PPAWS is a locally run outfit that relies on donations from people like us to continue its projects. As such, I'm turning to all my (extremely generous and kind-hearted) friends and family to offer up a little something to support this great cause. In repayment, I'll drag myself 26.2 miles around Estonia during the Tallinn Marathon in September.

Oh. And the cat? She was 3 weeks old and the size of a softball when we squirrelled her to safety. She's now 8 months and doing well thanks to PPAWS. Also her name is Angkor and she'll be joining our little international human & animal family in London in August. [Editor's note: we only discovered 7 months after the fact that the cat is, in fact, female, despite what we first believed.]

PPAWS isn't registered on justgiving so your donations will go to myself. 100% will be wired to the PPAWS. Thank you!! - Mike, Isis, Angkor and the dogs, cats and other critters of Cambodia

http://www.ppaws.com / @PPAWScambodia