Hi everyone, I've committed to running a marathon to raise funds for Clouds of Hope. Clouds of Hope provides care and education to 83 children in Underberg, South Africa.

Many of the children at Clouds of Hope have experienced absolute poverty in their lives meaning they do not have enough food, shelter or clothing to meet all their essential needs.

Often by the age of 12 a child's main carer has died of HIV/AIDS leaving the child the main carer of their siblings. This leaves the children vulnerable and as a result many children have suffered physical, sexual and/or emotional abuse.

The children are often the poorest in their community living in cold corrugated iron shack. The poor housing conditions mean many children suffer from TB. Many of the children were born HIV positive and as they get older their life expectancy will be reduced due to the inaccessibility and cost of anti-retroviral drugs.

Many of the children do not get the chance to go to school as they cannot afford the school fees. For the children, education provides the opportunity to escape the cycle of poverty.  

Clouds of Hope turns the children's lives around and provides the children with a loving foster family, a comfortable home, clothing, plenty of nutritious food, access to medical care and education. Clouds of Hope also provides community outreach, sexual health talks, parenting and skills development groups.

How can you help?

My target is £1,500 this will send all 83 children living at Clouds of Hope to school for one whole year bringing education, happiness and friendship to their lives.