We are all so lucky to have grown up in New Zealand or the UK with safe homes and endless opportunities to decide the path we will take in life. 

By sponsoring my run you will be helping vulnerable children trying their best to grow up in areas almost destroyed by conflicts beyond their control. These children are growing up in remote places where few NGOs operate and without government support. They have often arrived in those places because their families were fleeing violence and are sometimes alone and separated from their parents. 

We can't change the bad hand they've been dealt in their childhood but we CAN change the rest of their lives. You never know what small good thing, learning to read, being taught to sew, finally having a safe source of drinking water, will be enough to change the whole course of their lives for the better.

Your donation will go towards many projects including: helping rebuild schools for refugee children, training teachers, building wells to prevent child death from waterborne diseases and teaching their mothers new skills to support their families.

One story that is close to my heart is that of disabled children in Sierra Leone who face a lot of stigma, often being called cursed and blamed for Ebola and other misfortunes that the villagers face. 

These boys and girls get abandoned by their families and left with no hope for a future. Children in Crisis rescues them and gives them a chance to learn to read, write, and play, provides them with wheelchairs and their own beds. We work with communities to reduce the stigma around disability, and our students have sports games with the local schools to show that they can do all the things that able bodied children can do (the picture above is of these kids on their way to school).

Read more about that here: https://www.childrenincrisis.org/our-work/rrc

Your support will help a small charity making a big difference. No donation is too small, even the price of a coffee will be put to good use, and I will be so grateful.