Hi! I’m Eve, and next year I have been given the incredible opportunity to travel to Zambia with my school, in order to help, teach and provide an incredible experience to both teenagers like us and younger kids living in the town of Vinjeru.

The thing that really drew me to this trip was the opportunity to share some of what we experience everyday, and unknowingly take for granted here in Northern Ireland with the people in a place so much less fortunate than us.

In Vinjeru, the town where we will be based just 30% of the population live with running water. Despite the intense Zambian heat that continues throughout the dry season, many don’t have access to the water we access on a rare Northern Irish sunny day. I spent alot of my childhood around the water through my sport, as I grew up a swimmer. Because the water has provided me with so many memories and so much enjoyment ,I have decided that in order to fundraise I am going to complete an endurance challenge by swimming 6.4km (256 lengths 25m) in one day in July in Spain, to represent the 6.4 million people in Zambia without access to clean water.

I hope that completing this challenge in the heat, and within the water will allow me to remain focused on our goal in Zambia and remind me throughout, how privileged we are to have so much. Especially basic necessities like water.

In order to get our team to Zambia, we will each be fundraising individually as well as together. Any help, donations and encouragement mean so much to me.

Thank you for reading, Eve.