A TILEHURST couple has been raising funds for a trip to Lesotho to raise awareness of HIV through sport.
Mike and Kate Harrison, of Vale Crescent, aim to raise £5 000 (M75 300) for the Kick4Life trip which will take place in September next year. At the moment, the couple has signed-up 14 others to go on the trip, including seven friends from a cricket team called The Ricky Holland team.
Harrison said: “We are paying for our own accommodation and flights — we don’t see why other people should not pay for that.” The couple ran a stall in a car boot sale in Swallowfield June 30 and raised £91.57 (M1 400). They are planning further car boot sales, including one at Newbury Race Course on July 29, a race night and a big “charity bash” in London to continue raising funds.
At their car boot sale, they sold balloon hats, swords and sausage dogs made with the help of children’s entertainer Jelly Kelly — a family member. Lesotho is one of the poorest places in the world with an HIV prevalence of 23.6 percent and thousands of children orphaned by Aids. Kick4Life uses the power of sport to transform the lives of some of the most disadvantaged children in the world.
The K4L Curriculum is a health education and life-skills development course delivered by local role models, and 40 000 girls and boys have completed the course. The Test Your Team campaign provides voluntary counselling and HIV testing in the context of a soccer tournament — 8 000 have been tested with more than 450 referred to medical treatment and support.
K4L also offers a care and support programme for orphaned and vulnerable children that helps severely disadvantaged children to enjoy sport, receive mentoring and access health and education services.
There are also projects to help vulnerable women and teach literacy and numeracy to children not in school.
These programmes have been delivered in partnership with Unicef, the Premier League, USAID, Fifa, Standard Bank and the Vodafone Foundation.
Harrison, 44, works for Vodafone and carried the Olympic torch in Thatcham last year. Harrison, 46, is an accountant and is hoping to take part in the Reading Half Marathon for the cause next year. — Getreading