Hi friends 🙂

In November, I’ll be running in the New York City Marathon with team Shoe4Africa for reasons near and dear to my heart. I’ve been an athlete for most of my life, so I find myself jumping at any opportunity to get the competitive juices flowing. More importantly, helping pave the way for a brighter future for children in Africa has always been a goal of mine. Being from South Africa, the struggle of access to basic education and healthcare, especially for those living in poverty, is apparent.

I will be running for kids born into poverty and diagnosed with cancer. Sadly, in Africa, the childhood cancer survival rate is around 20%, compared to more than 80% in high-income countries.This can largely be attributed to the cost of treatment but also the fact that Sub-Saharan Africa does not have a children’s cancer hospital. To put this into perspective, in 2020 nearly 30,000 children in Sub-Saharan Africa are believed to have died from cancer during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The charity I am running for (Shoe4Africa) is committed to building the 1 st children’s cancer hospital in Sub-Saharan Africa. In 2015, they built East & Central Africa’s 1 st Children’s Public Hospital in Kenya, which treats over 400 patients per day. There are only two other children’s hospitals in Sub-Saharan Africa, and they are both located in South Africa.

The organization has also opened six Public free-to-attend schools to date, which gives over 2,000 children the opportunity to receive an education. Your support will help Shoe4Africa save lives every day by providing healthcare and education to our most precious and our most vulnerable. Any amount given will mean the absolute world not only to me, but to the hundreds of thousands of kids whose lives will be positively impacted by this project. Every dollar and cent make a difference, and 100% of funds raised will go directly towards building the first children’s cancer hospital in Sub-Saharan Africa – all donations are tax deductible.

“There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its
children” – Nelson Mandela

Lastly, I will be running for my father who was diagnosed with and prevailed through his battle with cancer. His strength and perseverance are a true testament to his character, which I will use as fuel to get me through the finish line!

Much love,
Lynn