Mission Malawi is a biannual charity challenge raising money for HIV/Aids projects run by ActionAid in Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe and to date we have raised over £250,000.
Les Pratt, a radio producer from Manchester, started the challenge in 2003, and there have been treks every two years since 2004, and the next trek is departing in May of 2010 and will be the fourth team to visit Malawi.
Malawi is particularly hard hit by the Aids crisis almost 15% of the population is HIV+, and this is disproportionately skewed to young people, and 60% of those infected are women and girls. There are over 91,000 children infected as well, and over half a million have been orphaned by the Aids pandemic.
ActionAid is an international development charity that works around the world to improve peoples lives, and work to end whatever it is that’s keeping people trapped in poverty. Mission Malawi works directly with ActionAid so that all the funds raised go as grants directly to projects in Africa, with no administration fees being taken by the charity in the UK.
The treks themselves are always comprised of a physically demanding cycle ride, coupled with kayaking and hiking across Malawi’s beautiful landscapes, the teams generally cover a very tiring 400-500 km on each trek.
All of our fundraising activities are either through sponsorship or events supported by families, friends and colleagues, and the monies raised have funded projects as diverse as Community HIV/Aids projects, Womens Rights Groups and Street Kids outreach projects, all of which are helping to break the cycle of poverty and end HIV in Africa. One of the unique aspects of Mission Malawi is that as part of the visits the teams get to visit some of the projects that receive grants from the funds we have raised.
Please take a look around the site where you can learn more about the stories of each of the past three treks, find out who’s been involved in Mission Malawi past and present, see the projects that have benefitted from the quarter of a million pounds so far raised by our hard working teams. You can also check out the Gallery and Cinema for some of the amazing stories we have captured as part of our adventures in Malawi over the past five years, and if you’d like to support us please have a look at upcoming events or simply click the red button and you can sponsor a member of the 2010 team right now!
Many thanks from the entire team.
© 2010 Mission Malawi
