Fran's Camino Challenge for Charity

Kenya, East Africa, has an increasing number of homeless children due to poverty and illness. They lack food, shelter, care and education. 
Arrive is an American non-profit organisation dedicated to rescuing these homeless street children and starving orphans. They provide the children with the missing ingredients of life that most of us take for granted for our children. Most of all Arrive provides hope and the tools to create a self sufficient life for themselves. For more information about their work go to: www.ArriveKenya.org.

Arrive is passionate about encouraging sustainable practices and building infrastructure that will provide long-term assistance to those who need it most.
With this in mind they are currently working with their partner organisation, Light School Uriri www.lightschooluriri.org/  to construct an Information Communications Technology (ICT) Centre. This ICT Centre will come complete with a computer lab and sewing studio. This will give valuable life long skills to its 400+ students.
(Approved construction plans for the ICT Centre)

Where do You and I fit into all of this?

* I am aiming to: conquer 825 kilometres and complete my first long distance hike. 
* You can donate to my walk to: help raise the $AU5000 needed to build the ICT/Sewing studio.

Hi, my name is Fran Bruty from Ballarat in Victoria, Australia. I'm an experienced teacher, passionate about nurturing life skills; supporting and empowering marginalised groups of people in the community and also about staying fit, active and healthy!

Having spent time volunteering in both Tanzania and Kenya in the past and more recently, I have been challenged and humbled, consequently developing a strong personal understanding of how powerful it is to give to people more needing than myself!  

In September this year, 2017, I will face the hardest 5-6 weeks (…or more!!) of my life hiking along the Camino del Norte which follows the North coast of Spain, (from the French border in Irun, along the Basque Country, Cantabria, Asturias and finally Galicia region finishing in the town of Santiago de Compostela) in support of www.ArriveKenya.org. 

My time with Arrive, (founded and managed by a friend of mine, Brian, who is younger than my youngest son!)
and the connections I formed with the children they serve, has shown me just how important a project like this can be for these young people. 

This centre would not only regularly serve the children living at the home - vastly increasing their ability to learn and build upon new skills - but it would also give that same access to the 390 other local students attending Light School. Meaning, all 423 students at Light School will have access to a fully operational computer lab where they can learn various computer skills necessary for today's world, communicate with sponsors, friends, and family all over the world, research topics for school and personal hobbies, and easily apply for jobs, secondary school and one day… university! 

Our discussions around using ICT and how important learning to sew would be, were animated and sparked passionate desires in them to be able to learn more. It is not an exaggeration to say that these youngsters are outrageously resilient, passionate and hardworking, and that a project like this can quite literally have life-altering outcomes.

Similarly, a tailoring studio would allow Arrive and Light School to offer free sewing classes to local widows, providing a way to earn a decent income by making and fixing school uniforms. For local widows, tailoring skills and equipment can provide a reliable, sustainable means of providing for themselves and their family. And with time, these same widows will be able to teach the 423 current students and generations of students to come how to sew themselves.

(Photo courtesy of Light School's previous tailoring projects with local women)

In rural Kenya, the importance of introducing these marketable skills early in life is vital. By learning and mastering a skilled trade early, these young people will open up countless doors for their future.

The estimated total cost of this project (excluding the donated computers)* is $AU5,000. That includes the full cost of construction, as well as furnishing the centre with chairs, desks, sewing machines, cabinets, and more. Partnering with Julia, a friend and volunteer I met during my time with Arrive, we each aim to raise $AU2,500 to cover the total cost for the centre. 
*Computer donation is being coordinated separately, and therefore is not including in this project's fundraising cost.

As I prepare and travel my journey, I encourage you to get involved. I anticipate my journey will to be challenging. I know my walk will be gruelling. What is truly gruelling, however, are the lives that street kids in Kenya are forced to live. Living in dumpsters and under cars, sniffing toxic glue to mask their hunger and sadness, all by the age of ten. To really understand ... read their stories: www.arrivekenya.org/the-kids/
I am inspired by these children who never give up and I will think about their resilience as I motivate myself to put one foot in front of the other, over and over and over again.
Every dollar you donate, including any extra funds that are raised above the $AU2,500 goal, will be deposited directly into the Arrive bank account (see the "Certified Campaign" on the right). Any money raised beyond the $AU2,500 necessary to build the facility will exclusively be used to buy necessary resources for the kids (mattresses, food, clothes, school fees, etc.). 

         Asante Sana (‘Thank You Very Much’ in Swahili)
to everyone who supports my personal journey and the mission of Arrive and Light School Uriri, and for donations to my fundraising efforts over the years… your donations are truly making the world a better place.