Once the £500 has been raised Patrick and I then need to raise a further £4000 between us! Wrightbus has very kindly sponsored us £1000 each leaving us £1500 to raise each. We will be holding various fund raising events over the next two months to help gather the money as we don't have much time till we set off.

The people pictured here, and who feature in the video below, are typical of many young children in Rwanda. Access to clean water is scarce, with many having to travel 2 hours, twice a day, to collecting water in jerry cans weighing 20kg. This affects their lives in many ways – they miss school, are prone to injury and sickness, and worse are often attacked by drunk men on their journeys.

When you add into the mix the backdrop of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, where more than 1,000,000 people were killed during a 100 day period, Rwanda is a country where the scars of the past still run very deep, and whole communities are stuck in a cycle of despair and hopelessness.

In February, along with 17 other folks from around the UK, we hope to make a positive difference. As keen cyclists, we will be traveling to Rwanda (not by bike, we’ll use a plane for that bit!), and from our base in the capital Kigali, will cycle to three key areas in Rwanda covering 60+ miles per day where Tearfund are working in rural communities to address a range of challenges including access to clean water, extreme hunger and peace and reconciliation. Please help me and the team to transform a cycle of despair, into a new cycle of hope for those we meet.

The initial £500 you are donating will get me out there and help support the very people we will be meeting face to face. Thank you.

… and as Rwanda is also known as ‘The Land of a Thousand Hills’, us cyclists will need all the help we can get!