Thank you for visiting my Just Giving page!On the 17th November this year I took part in the Addis Ababa 10K,  joining 45,000 people in Africa's largest road race founded by the legendary Haile Gebreselassie. This was a rare opportunity to participate alongside some of Ethiopia's finest athletes in the home of long-distance running.

Alongside this run I visited and volunteered at the projects supported by Ethiopiaid. For example we visited Hope School for disadvantaged children and the Hamlin Fistula Hospital (where some 60,000 girls and women have been treated for Fistula, a debilitating condition caused during protracted child birth.  The most shocking, yet uplifting, experience was our visit to ASWAD Safe House for abused women, children and girls. Some of the girls were not yet teenagers, yet had suffered the worst experiences imaginable. This amazing project, set up and run by a retired female judge is reliant on its partnership with Ethiopiaid.

 At Menagesha, children from poor backgrounds are treated for conditions such as Club Foot-routinely  treated at birth in the West but not in Africa. Here the wonderful staff deliver pre and post operative therapy, rehabilitation and needs-based activities, games and play therapy. 

We brought clothes and games (thank you to those who passed them on) to the Mekele Blind School in the beautiful northern province of Tigray. Ethiopiaid helps fund ‘talking text books’ alongside Braille books, play and musical equipment. 

This was a life changing experience where I had the chance to give back, help out and see first hand the amazing work carried out by Ethiopiaid's partners.

Lastly I wish to say how I admire how efficiently Ethiopiaid is run, unlike most NGOs, the small, dedicated  team work directly with their project partners, with no expensive offices and minimal costs.

For more information about their work visit: https://www.ethiopiaid.org.uk/