We are proud of all our trustees for their fundraising efforts this year, but a special mention has to go to Kevin who last month spent 55 consecutive hours running across the beautiful, dramatic and at points treacherous island of La Reunion.

Diagonale des fous 2023 : favoris ...

In the Southern Indian Ocean, La Reunion hosts La Diagonale des Fous, a pinnacle in the ultramarathon racing calendar. It is an epic race, covering 182km and 11,000 metres elevation (for perspective Mount Everest is 8,848m).

 

Kevin set off at 10pm on Thursday and ran through 3 nights of punishingly slippery, rain-soaked mountain trails; in a tropical climate where temperatures reached over 30 degrees by day and dropped to 5 at night.  Spurred on by locals who gave runners a hero’s welcome whenever the course took them close to civilisation. 20 check points later, Kevin crossed the finish line at 6am on the Sunday morning.

It’s a feat few of us can really imagine.  We were all marvelling and cheering virtually from the side lines via WhatsApp; Kevin was able to see the messages but not reply, being somewhat occupied.  Unfortunately, about half way in, his ankle started to hurt badly. This turned out to be a sprain which incredibly didn’t deter him – he powered through.  Kevin said afterwards that there were 3 or 4 points when he thought he couldn’t carry on but it was the cause of running for BFZ that got him to the end.

He said; “It has been absolutely epic.  Receiving the “Diagonale” Finisher Medal in aid of BFZ was a proud moment I will never forget.” … And some weeks later he was able to say; “I loved it!”

Kevin, October 2024

Thank you so much Kevin for taking the BFZ cause to La Reunion, for sporting the BFZ logo on your bandana, and for the impact the funds you raised will make to the lives of families and children in Zambia. You’re an inspiration to us all!

This year marks BFZ’s ten-year anniversary. Over the past decade, and thanks to the generosity of supporters, our sponsorship programme has supported hundreds of children to achieve an education that would otherwise have been out of reach. Many more children and young people have benefited from weekly wellbeing sessions and one-off workshops addressing areas of pressing need in Zambia such as child marriage and teenage pregnancy. Our first BFZ pre-school offers vital nurture and stimulation to 80 vulnerable children each day.  

We are proud to still be volunteer-led and run. Over the years we have partnered with the same collective of orphan care givers, who work together to improve their own lives and prospects and those of the children in their care. This approach has allowed us to develop d deep relationships with our partners in Zambia and ensures we can live true to our founding principle to always be led and driven by the needs of the communities we support.  

As a small charity we can also respond quickly to urgent situations such as Covid 19 or harvest failures and target our support directly to affected households. It also allows us the privilege of watching the children we support grow-up and celebrating their individual successes. 

As we reflect and celebrate the successes of the past ten years, we prepare to work harder than ever to face the new challenges brought about by the economic downturn in Zambia and the pandemic. We are deeply grateful for the support BFZ has received from regular donors and followers over the years, but we are asking for help once more as we launch our 10 year-anniversary fundraising challenge. 

10 Years, 10 Weeks, 10K!

From 12th September to 20th November (World Children’s Day) 15 of us are walking, cycling, running and/or kayaking 10km a week. We will do this over 10 weeks to make up the combined length of Zambia, a total of 1500km! Each week we will post an update here on our blog and on social media with an inspiring story from our decade of work and an update on our (virtual) progress through the beautiful Zambian landscape. 

We would love it if you could support our campaign by following our stories, liking or sharing our posts and, if you are able to, making a donation. We have an ambitious target of £10,000. This will enable us to further expand our sponsorship programme, set up a new college and university scholarship for our alumni and expand our wellbeing and sexual health programmes.  

Thank you for reading our blog and being part of our Brighter Futures Zambia community. 

Katie and all at BFZ trustees.