More than 400 runners from all corners of the globe will run in the upcoming Street Child marathon. The Sierra Leone Marathon – which will take place on May 28 – was crowned best international event at this year’s Running Awards, which celebrates the world’s best and greatest marathons. The 2017 marathon will return to Makeni, the home to Street Child’s first-ever projects.
Runners need to cover their own costs and are encouraged to raise £1000 each. Just £20 can send a child to primary school for a year. As the sixth annual marathon approaches, the event is just as relevant as ever as the country still recovers from the devastation left behind by the Ebola epidemic of 2014-5 – that cost over 4,000 lives and orphaned more than 12,000 children.
Street Child’s focus is now helping to support the Ebola-affected children. Street Child has identified 1,400 seriously at-risk Ebola orphans across Sierra Leone and Liberia who are in urgent need of support.
The Sierra Leone Marathon has been running since 2012. From humble beginnings, it has grown to be Street Child’s flagship fundraising event – raising over £1.5million. It is a unique event in that everybody that travels to participate is united in a common fundraising goal: to support the projects of UK charity Street Child.
St. Thomas Norwich has been involved with the marathon since its inception in 2012. St Thomas’ have funded two schools in Sierra Leone and last year they arranged a trip to visit one in combination with the marathon.
Rev. David Lloyd, along with a team of people from St. Thomas church in Norwich, is running the marathon for the charity Street Child. They will also be visiting and supporting the projects that make a difference to vulnerable children.
Churches for Street Child are a supporter-led initiative started by Norwich vicar David Lloyd. It is a network of churches that support Street Child’s work helping vulnerable children to go to school.
Whilst on the ground, the runners will be given the opportunity to visit, meet and draw inspiration from the very children that they have been fundraising for – some of the most vulnerable children in the world.
Dave Lloyd said, “We have twelve runners and one filmmaker going out to encourage the work of the charity and to raise the profile of Churches for Street Child to encourage more churches to engage in the work of the charity.
One of the team’s runners, Joel said, “I’m really looking forward to running alongside my brother and other friends within our group. It’s going to be a tough challenge but I’m excited to take it on and complete it! I thought it would be an adventurous experience to go to Sierra Leone to see the work that Street Child is doing, while running a marathon along the way. It will be tough, but I think a lot of motivation on the day will get me past the finish line.’
Thursday May 25, 2017.