I'm afraid I'm not embarking on a monster Marathon des Sables, or even training for a regular marathon; but I am taking on a challenge that will be equally ambitious for me, from a physical, mental and emotional perspective.

I am joining the All Hands and Hearts programme in northern Peru where El Nińo has caused severe flooding with devastating results, leaving whole communities without homes and schools. It's manual labour, six days a week and living in a tent - which most of you will imagine is not entirely within my comfort zone, coming from the world of luxury, five-star hospitality where I've spent most of my working life!

Losing a job I (thought I) loved earlier this year, has enabled me to reassess what I might do with my career moving forward. I realise the thing I enjoy most about hospitality is looking after people and have always longed to do more for others in need. I now feel very fortunate to be able to join a team of other volunteers for 2 months in a part of the world I have yet to visit, and do something that will change people's lives forever. 

This is not on our doorstep. This natural disaster does not directly affect any of my social network. And for that we are exceptionally lucky. It costs the charity $25/day per volunteer and we pay the rest of our way through the programme. But your contribution will go straight to source, to rebuild communities and give a future to people who always had little, but now have almost nothing. I would be so grateful for any small donation. 

Thank you, Claire x

More, from the charity:

Widespread flooding and severe rains in Peru began intensifying towards the beginning of February 2017; this lead to landslides, floods,
flashfloods and mud flows in 24 of the 25 affected regions. An estimated 1.2M people have been impacted and 2457 schools damaged or destroyed.

On 22 March, 2017, our immediate response team began assessing
conditions in the Eastern region of Peru, and identified a great need
for assistance in the town of Huarmey, where countless homes and schools were found to be filled with up to one meter of mud. After four months working with the community to remove mud, mold and debris from homes and schools, we shifted our focus to the longer term need of rebuilding schools – the basic hub of every community.

As part of our “Back to School Peru” initiative in partnership with Happy Hearts Fund, our goal is to get 2,000 kids back to school in the next year. The work includes cleaning out the existing schools of mud and debris, constructing temporary learning centers and flood resistant schools.