Karibuni Children is celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2025. The charity seeks to transform young Kenyan lives through education, empowering each child to fulfil their potential and release themselves from the cycle of poverty. This UK charity is very close to my heart and has been for over 20 years, specifically since 2003 when my late Mom, Muriel Priest, first flew to Kenya to work voluntarily as part of a team with the charity; this was just after her 70th birthday. She was shocked to the core by witnessing firsthand the poverty and poor living conditions of the people in the slums of Kibera, which was the first place she visited. On her return home some weeks later, and still raw from the experience, she embarked on constant fundraising to support this charity. The experience of going to Kenya a further four times afterwards and supporting Karibuni transformed her outlook and later life. Her largest fundraising efforts were for the borehole project at Njoro. The subsequent enabling of clean water there in 2007 for the school and community has also generated income towards project costs and local employment. An aspiration now is to use solar energy to operate the borehole pump.

I am a keen runner, as you may already know, but I do not usually do consecutive races in such a short space of time and also during the winter months, albeit Nice should be a little warmer! So I have signed up for 3 x 10k races in early 2025 as follows:

5 January, Nice (France) 10k

9 February, Llandudno 10k

9 March, Chester 10k

While I have run the Nice 10k and Chester 10k before (in different years) the Llandudno 10k is new to me and will be a particularly challenging, hilly route up and around the Great Orme. Mom loved Llandudno and holidayed there a lot. So, I feel that this is a suitably challenging and significant venture for me to undertake in memory of my dear Mom. My energy expended in running ‘30k for 30 years of Karibuni’ will hopefully give rise to funds which I have asked go towards realising the solar energy aspirations of the charity's Trustee board and the people of Njoro, Kenya. Thanking you hugely, in anticipation of your generous support. Gill x

About Karibuni Children: Karibuni Children is a UK Registered Charity which aims to raise awareness about the plight of children living off the streets and in the slums in areas of urban and rural poverty in Kenya; and to raise money to support projects to meet their needs. It currently supports well over 1,000 children through 13 projects. Sponsored children are supported throughout their education with the aim of ensuring that they acquire a qualification or a skill which will enable them to earn a living and escape from life in the slums.