Hello & thanks for viewing my page!

Long story short, I'll be climbing Mt. Kenya in the summer - in its 5199 metres glory - to fundraise for a charity close to my heart, Raising Futures Kenya (formally known as Vision Africa). 

I witnessed first hand the amazing work Raising Futures is doing in Kenya and I believe every donation will ensure that children and young people are empowered through access to quality education and facilities.

I am self-funding the cost of travel, accommodation and all other fees, so anything you give will go straight to Raising Futures as donations. Please help me reach my target of £2750, your support means a lot! 

I'm also running a print sale with all proceeds going towards my fundraising goal. If you'd like to get yourself a nice print whilst helping me reach my target, follow this link: https://doradc.co.uk/shop.

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Now for the long story long, facts, and figures:

The end of October '18 saw me on a rather long flight to Kenya with Vic Hancock-Fell, director of Raising Futures and roommate extraordinaire for a week. 

You can view some of my photos from this trip in the gallery below.

During our stay, we visited and photographed the projects Raising Futures is supporting.

- Two specialist schools, Percy Davis and Kirunguru, where Raising Futures supplements the feeding programme, educational resources and a therapy room.

- Three Seed of Hope centres (Nairobi, Kitui and Kariti), where disadvantaged young people are offered free training in vocational skills, life skills and enterprise or job skills. This is to support students who cannot afford the cost of secondary school education.

The vocational training courses include motor mechanics, IT, fashion and dressmaking, hair and beauty, hospitality, carpentry and joinery.

I was so blown away by the young students' resilience, enthusiasm and commitment to learning despite the many barriers they are faced with, such as limited access to clean water and sanitation, lack of learning materials and resources, having to walk really long distances (3+ hours) to get to school. Worse yet, girls are at risk of rape and sexual assault on their way to and from school. Regardless, they turn up to school. Every day.

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Since 2002, Seed of Hope vocational training centres have witnessed more than 1,500 young people graduate with the skills, confidence and experience they need to build secure livelihoods.

Young people have been exposed to high-risk situations including child marriage, child prostitution, familial abuse and extreme poverty. 72% of Seed of Hope’s student population are girls, the majority of whom have not had the opportunity to attend secondary school. 

Students receive training and after the completion of training Seed of Hope facilitates the launch of small businesses for graduates.

In September 2016, a survey of 209 SoH graduates found:

• 69% had been idle at home before joining Seed of Hope and 20% engaged in casual labour
• 86% are currently employed or self-employed, 5% in further education or training
• 59% have no struggle to provide for themselves and their dependants
• 89% contribute to their family’s needs every month
• 50% are currently mentoring others in their community (of which 34% are mentoring 10 or more individuals)
• 21% are currently training others
• 5% are employing 1 or 2 people in their business

Thanks a lot for taking the time to read this, your support is greatly appreciated! 

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Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.