Mahatma Gandhi said; "Be the change you want to see in the world" and running the Amsterdam BIG marathon gave me an opportunity to do exactly that as the funds raised are going to change a lot of lives.

I had been running for four years but mostly half-marathons. I trained hard and had to challenge myself to complete this full marathon. I caught a cold on my way to Amsterdam and it rained on the day so I had the odds against me. Somewhere past 25km I felt I couldn't go any further, muscles were sore, it rained and I was struggling to breath. The other Vodafone employees were really supportive and one actually slowed down to run alongside me for over 5km's and that really gave me the inspiration I needed to bear the pain and make it to the end. Blood, sweat and tears was literally what it took to get to 42,2km but it was so worth it. I would definitely do it again if I had to:-)

Lesotho has a population of about two million and 23% is HIV positive. Out of the 41000 children and young people under the age of 16 diagnosed HIV positive, about 36,000 are not on treatment due to the cost and availability of transport to get to medical facilities where treatments are administered. By raising funds and using the Vodafone mobile money payment service, we can ensure children living with this disease access to treatment by supporting their travel costs to clinics.

Thank you to EVERYONE that made a donation to MOYO Lesotho - Project Leseli prior to Amsterdam. We still need your support to kick off and sustain this project so please continue making your contributions so we can provide treatment to children living with HIV in the Mountain Kingdom of Lesotho.

In Africa, we believe it takes a community (village) to raise a child, it will definitely take all of us to fight this pandemic and give hope to our children living with HIV. Please help me to support this project.

Cashena's where to from here; I plan to tackle my first Triathlon this year in an effort to raise more funds for Project Leseli. WATCH THIS SPACE=)