As most of you know, I went on a life-changing trip to
Sierra Leone with Street Child last year. I wasn't sure what to expect from the
trip, but I certainly didn't expect to fall in love with the country and its
people. For those of you who may not have been following me at the time, Sierra
Leone is one of the world's poorest countries, having been brought to its knees
by a savage civil war and then devastated again when it became the epicentre of
ebola. It was by far the most emotional trip I have been on. My mind was
constantly in turmoil processing the levels of poverty I was seeing, while my
heart grew each day larger with the love I was experiencing.

The people of Sierra Leone are some of the kindest I have
ever come across. They had little to give other than their time and friendship,
and they gave that generously. I met countless inspiring men and women building
a better future for their communities, taking progress into their own hands and
building businesses empowering others to do the same. Some of these are focused
on driving tourism, while others are serving their communities. But most
important of all is the role that education plays in all of this.

We take education for granted, but it is a luxury for many.
Yet education is critical for progress, and is one of the fundamental
necessities to eradicate poverty. Access to education is linked to fewer
teenage pregnancies, less child fatalities, fewer child marriages, better
health, improved care for animals, more nutritious diets, improved agriculture,
and overall better prosperity for the entire community.

Education is the key that unlocks everything, and that is
why I am fully committed to supporting Street Child, a charity that fundraises
for local charities working across the most challenging countries in the world.
From the camps in Uganda to the war in Ukraine, Street Child is empowering
local charities to support and protect the most vulnerable children. And right
now, their emergency funds are focused on helping the children affected by the
Syrian/Turkish earthquake.

Street Childs’ biggest fundraising event is the Sierra Leone
Marathon. Every year 100 international runners join hundreds of local runners
on the streets of Makeni to run in extreme heat and humidity to raise funds to
help provide children with a future through education. I never thought I would
be able to complete a marathon, but after seeing the amazing work that Street
Child do, and after meeting many of its beneficiaries, the marathon was
actually the easiest part of my trip. As kids came out to run alongside me, and
grannies handed me coconuts, I forgot about the pain in my legs and focused
instead on the great that would be done with the money I had raised.

And wanting to support Street Child in the same way again, I
signed up to repeat the marathon this year. My training was going to plan
(although my diet wasn't). However, I have found it harder to ask for
donations. Everyone was so generous last year that I feel guilty asking all
over again, especially when some may think the challenge is no longer enough.
So when I heard that Street Child was running a pilot 100 km bike ride in
Sierra Leone, I felt this was my opportunity to add an extra level of
complexity to my challenge! With the bike ride three months away, and only having
sat on my bike a handful of times in the last decade, I felt this would surely
be the challenge everyone could get behind. After all, 100 km on a bike that
isn't yours (will it even have a seat?!), in 36-degree heat and 90% humidity,
sounds horrendous to me.

But when I told my friends about it, everyone replied with:
"Oh, that's not so bad, better than a marathon!". I beg to differ,
but, not wanting to ask people for money for a challenge they didn't feel
warranted it, I have signed up for something more extreme! Over the Easter
weekend, I will be cycling 500 km from my home in the Cotswolds to Breda in the
Netherlands. That is 123 km a day over four days. So instead of having three
months to get fit enough to do 1 100 km bike ride, I am now doing four
back-to-back, 123-kilometre bike rides with only two months of training. Nobody
can tell me that isn't enough of a challenge!! As I type this, the maximum
distance I have done to date is 40 km!

A couple of my colleagues, alongside the company I work for,
Weatherbeeta, have pledged £500 in donations to Street Child if I complete the
ride. With that kind of donation on the line, there is no way I can not give it
my best. Even if I have to crawl to Breda after my backside has become too sore
to sit on a saddle, I will make it. Street Child's mission means too much to me
not to.

My question to you though… how much are you willing to
pledge to help motivate me on this ridiculous 500 km cycle ride to Breda?

Please donate as generously as you can for the children in
this world that don’t have the luxury of an education. They all deserve a
brighter future!

So all that is left to say is THANK YOU! Your support of the Sierra Leone Challenge is critical to the work Street Child does. They have now been able to support over 749,920 children into education and helped 89,773 families to set up businesses so they can afford the cost of education. 

You can read how I got on in 2022 here: https://bea-adventurous.com/sierra-leone-marathon/ It should give you a really good idea of just how much of an impact Street Child has!

Thanks again for your support, I really appreciate it!