Hi friends and family! On 12th/13th April I'm taking on the Crawley A.I.M. Charity 24 Hour Track Race (also the UK 24 Hour Championships). I'm raising funds for 3 charities, all of which have similar aims of giving some of the poorest children overseas a hope and a future through education:

The Rhondda-based charity Heart for Africa (https://www.heartforafrica.co.uk/), of which I'm a trustee. Heart for Africa works in the Arusha region of Tanzania with 5 community partners, supporting vulnerable children in their education and carrying out sustainable community projects.

Seed of Hope (EARE) (https://www.seedofhopeeare.org/), which is supported by my local church (Oasis, Pentre). The charity cares for 500 orphaned Indian children in 7 homes, as well as running other community programmes for the elderly and those with leprosy, and drilling wells for villages which do not have access to safe drinking water.

Advance International Ministries (https://advanceinternational.org.uk/), which the annual Crawley Track Races have supported for many years to build, maintain and support Back to Eden School, situated in the hills of Kiyindi, East Uganda.

Education is a basic human right, but in many countries such as those above, orphans and other children living in poverty have so many barriers to accessing the education that will enable them to achieve their potential and play a full part in society. Through Heart for Africa's work I have personally seen the difference that education can make: a boy whose family problems led to him only starting primary school when he was taken in by an orphanage at age 12, now starting medical technician training;

girls from one of our partner orphanages whom we supported through secondary school, now with college degrees; a Maasai girl helped to avoid an arranged marriage at age 13 to access the secondary school education she wanted; and many more. As someone who has benefited so much from education myself, I'm passionate about helping others to access and benefit from the best education available to them. The knowledge that the money I am raising through this run will be used for that purpose, will keep me going round that track when my legs are tired, my feet are aching, and my brain has lost count of how many laps I've done! I'd be so grateful for your support!

The money raised through sponsorship will be split equally among the three charities, and I will post copies of receipts. (The reason I am using GoFundMe is that Seed of Hope is only registered as a charity in India, not UK, and therefore platforms such as JustGiving, TotalGiving, etc. cannot be used to send money to them.)

Thank you for reading and for any support you're able to give!