Welcome to my Flora London Marathon web page. Here you can find details of the charities I'm running for and (of course) how to make your donation.
This year I have chosen to run for the UK Coalition of People Living with HIV and AIDS (UKC) in support of two very different projects, but both equally in need of your generous support.
The UKC is sponsoring British-based charity MADaboutART's HIV educational work with children at Masizame, in Knysna, South Africa, as part of its international DoUKCare campaign. The statistics of HIV and AIDS in South Africa make grim reading - over five million people infected including children who are often orphans themselves. But it is only when you go there that the statistics are brought into sharp focus. On the way to Orange Farm township the roadside is festooned with billboards, except these are billboards advertising funeral parlours.
Projects like Masizame are making a real difference. Using the medium of art to help children learn about HIV and how to keep themselves safe, the centre also provides a haven for children to get together, to study and to get a basic but decent meal. This project is bringing about real benefits and progress in the face of the HIV epidemic.
Although HIV is a disease that is affecting much of the developing world, it would be wrong to ignore the situation here in the United Kingdom. The UKC has a project that it really wants to do this year, and that is to run some workshops with people about disclosure of HIV to their families. Our NHS has wonderful services for people living with HIV but is unable to provide this sort of social support that so many people need. By sponsoring my marathon run, you will be helping UKC to help others deal with this hugely difficult issue of disclosure to their family and in doing so provide much needed support in very difficult circumstances.
Half the money raised through the run will go to the Masizame MADaboutART Children's Centre in South Africa; the other half will stay in the UK helping people with disclosure within their family.
I am proud to run for the UKC to support these two projects and I am backing myself to get round that long 26-mile marathon course with an initial donation of £100.00 which has been matched by the chief executive of UKC. Please give as generously as you can and be certain that in doing so you are improving the lives of children and young people both in South Africa and here in the UK.
Thank you very much and once again, please give generously.
Andy
|
