Running the Masai Mara half marathon for So They Can

So They Can, is an Australasian not-for-profit making a real difference to Kenyan and Tanzanian communities, empowering them to break the poverty cycle through education. They provide an orphanage, education for both children and adults and social business projects among other things to build a more sustainable future.

Trilogy Natural Products, my employer, has been in a partnership with So They Can, which I've been lucky enough to be involved in over the past two years. Previous projects have involved creating natural perfumes made with hand-harvested sunflower oil from women farmers on one of So They Can’s social business projects in Tanzania. Trilogy bought the entire first year’s harvest and for every bottle of perfume sold donated a further $2 to 'So They Can' - a totalling of $50,000 so far. This amount goes a long way and has provided countless benefits through employment of the farmers, support for their families and community around them and education for over 500 children.

I'm excited to be able to personally contribute to this amazing charity even further. Trilogy are generously covering all of my travel expenses to go to Kenya and participate in the run, so everything I raise can go straight to So They Can. I'm aiming to raise $5,000 to donate to help fund future projects.

This trip will be life-changing. Not only will I face the personally huge challenge of running 21km through the Masai Mara national park at high altitude and filled with wild animals, I'll also be visiting So They Can's communities to experience their work first hand.

So They Can embrace the African philosophy of Ubuntu - 'I am, because of you'. This is the happiness you get through the connection with others.

This philosophy really resonates with me and I hope that my small part will be able to make a positive difference to communites that So They Can support, that are less fortunate than the one I live in.

Any funds you can contribute will make a huge difference:

$5 Two meals a day for one school child for a month

$10 Vegetable seedlings

$15 Exercise books for a child for a year

$50 Library books pack

$75 Sports equipment for Aberdare Ranges Primary School

$100 Mosquito nets for two homes in the Holding Hands Children’s Home

$200 Two weekend outings for children at the Holding Hands Children’s Home

$600 Sponsorship of a child for a year

$850 5,000 litre water tank for a classroom

$1,000 School excursion to the national park for 120 school children

$1,500 10,000 litre water tank for one of our projects

$2,500 Furniture for 40 children for one of our new classrooms

$3,500 Provide two nutritious meals a day for 50 unsponsored school children for one year

$5,000 Supply our local community clinic with life saving medicines and supplies for one year