Going the Extra Mile for Malawi

Going the Extra Mile

FOR MALAWI

By Alice Bradshaw

Above: Andy O’Sullivan MBE launching the Bolton School Junior Girls’ fundraising campaign with Mrs Julia Marsden (Bolton School Junior Girls’ teacher) and a group of pupils

Below: Julia Marsden (Bolton School Junior Girls’ teacher) with children at Chisomo Children’s Centre in Malawi during her visit in 2017 with the charity Retrak

This half term, the Junior Girls at Bolton School will take on the challenge of collectively travelling 12,000km and raising enough sponsorship to fund the building of a school for street children in Malawi. The distance represents the number of kilometres between Bolton School and the site in Malawi where the new school will be built.

The fundraising venture was inspired by Bolton School Junior Girls’ teacher Julia Marsden, who travelled to Malawi to work with street children in 2017 and 2018. However, the challenge itself was prompted by the pandemic.

During the various lockdowns, girls have missed participating in sport as they would normally in school and fitness levels have dropped. Therefore, the Bolton School Junior Girls’ teachers have pledged to walk or run with their classes in the Bolton School grounds every day (weather permitting) until half term. This will not only go towards the school’s sponsorship challenge, but also help the children to get active and feel good about themselves!

Girls have been asked to set themselves a target distance to travel in their own time as well. Family members are invited to contribute their kilometres, too! As they walk, run, swim, cycle and so on, the total distance collectively travelled by the Junior Girls’ School will be combined to hopefully get the school up to 12,000km and all the way to Malawi.

Mrs Marsden said: ‘Since my visits to Malawi in 2017 and 2018, I have been appointed as a trustee of the Maphunziro Foundation, whose focus is to create a conducive learning environment for every Malawian child 40 to prosper. The school we hope to build will provide bursary places for children living on the streets and a safe place for them to live, learn and thrive.’

The project was launched in school by ‘The Voice of Manchester Races’ Andy O’Sullivan MBE: a former policemen, passionate fundraiser and dedicated race commentator who is involved with organising various races in the North West. The girls were delighted to meet him, hear his stories and even see his Olympic torch, which he carried through London in 2004. The girls will spend the next half term collecting sponsorships and getting active for an excellent cause.

If you would like to support the Junior Girls’ fundraising to build a school in Malawi, please visit the JustGiving page: www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/ smilestomalawi?utm_term=EyR63rMD7.

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