Running the Vitality Big Half Marathon 2021

[p][b]We’re back! From April onwards 2020 was a bit of a write off for fundraising so I’ve persuaded Aaron to get his running shoes back out and help me kickstart our 2021 appeal. With schools in the UK under pressure due to COVID-19 it’s not easy to ask you to support our projects helping schools in Eastern Ghana. But I can assure you we wouldn’t be doing it unless we felt it was really important. As you know COVID-19 is a global problem and the rural areas of Ghana the biggest issue is ensuring the children have at least one meal a day. With some parents having lost income due to the virus restrictions they are finding it difficult to earn enough just to buy basic food stuffs. Ghana does not have a social benefit system or a free NHS so people rely on the government feeding programme for assistance. Sadly, this doesn’t reach every school and so SEPIA is stepping in to offer help to the children in the 4 schools it works with within the New Tafo and Asafo districts. Our aim is to raise £200 for each school which should cover the cost of one free school meal for every child that needs it during 2021. [/b][/p][p][b]Now, I know I’ve asked a lot of you to help out before and, you may think, is it really that difficult to run a half marathon? Well, for some no but I am only doing this as a fundraiser not a fun run! I have already started training because I won’t make it round if I don’t. So I’ll be going out a few times a week from now until April trying to convince my body this is a sensible thing to do. I’d rather stay in and read or watch TV really but I’ve met the children in these schools and many of their parents and I know they need our help. It’s not pretend, they haven’t spent the money on something else. They really do not have it despite making every effort. Many of the children will miss school every Friday because they are selling water or fruit at the local market in order to help the family. It’s that basic. Teachers will help their children when possible and families get together, often in church, to raise money to support the poorer families. But it is hard to cover everyone so SEPIA intends to be the safety new, at least in 2021 whilst people recover from this virus. So why is Aaron running too? Well he has met some of these children too so feels the same. Plus he will be my motivator and will let me know when he has been out training just to make me feel guilty. It’s fair enough, I encouraged him to sign up for the race even though he’ll find it hard to fit in training due to work! So, any support will be gratefully received and, as you would expect, every penny will go direct to this SEPIA project I guarantee. [/b][/p]