In June I'll be taking on the Lake District Triple Challenge to raise money for Village Africa, a charity based in Yamba, in the West Usambara Mountains of north Tanzania. Amongst the numerous activities it runs, Village Africa supports local people to access health and education, in a part of East Africa where resources and services are still very basic.

What Village Africa do 
One of the key services Village Africa runs for the community is a life-saving ambulance service (it's the car you can see in the photo above). It is a 3 hour drive in a four-wheel drive vehicle on rough terrain to the nearest hospital and most people don't have access to a car. VA's free ambulance services covers Yamba, Milingano and Makanya (a population of 7,000 people) and delivers approximately 50 people to hospital every year that may otherwise have not made it.

Other projects the charity runs include assisting 4 primary schools (Yamba, Milingano, Kwembalazi and Kweulasi) and 1 secondary school (Mibukwe) with building classrooms and school toilets and providing water tanks, desks, books, cupboards, sports equipment and school stationery as funds permit. VA has also been running a successful child sponsorship programme for several years, helping to pay for children's education who could otherwise not afford to stay in school. 

Locally Village Africa is known by the Kisambaa name ‘Vyaadahikana’ which means ‘It is possible’.

My connection to VA
When I was 18 I volunteered with Village Africa, as an English language teacher in the primary school in Yamba. Those of you who know me well know what an impact my time volunteering with VA had on my outlook on life, and I still think of it as one of the best decisions I ever made. It's an amazing charity and the work that Caroline and the VA team do is sustainable, impactful, collaborative with local people, and incredibly important to the communities of Milingano and Yamba.

The Challenge!
The challenge itself is a Triple Challenge, which involves trekking to the summit of the Old Man of Coniston in the Lake District, cycling through Grizedale forest, and then kayaking across Coniston Water in one day. I'll keep the training progress (which will mostly be consisting of me running around London at this rate), updated on this page and hope to share some photos of the challenge, too.

Despite working in fundraising and being involved in different kinds of voluntary work over the years since leaving school, I've never actually done a fundraising event! This is my first attempt at getting you guys to give me some money to do a thing! I, but more importantly, the people of Yamba and Milingano, would greatly appreciate any donation you can make. I am aiming to raise at least £750.

Do take a look at VA's website to find out more about the extensive and brilliant work they do.

Thanks everyone.