Thank you for visiting my fundraising page. I ran the New York City marathon on Sunday 1 November 2009 to raise money for Save The Children's lifesaving Kenya Food Crisis Appeal. That's 26.2 miles to help children suffering from acute malnutrition caused by Kenya's worst drought for years. If you don't want to read any more background before handing over the cash, just click on the orange "Give Now" button above!
I finished in 3 hours, 24 minutes and 32 seconds, coming 3,953rd out of over 40,000 finishers. It hurt! I then flew back to Nairobi, a 20 hour journey, at 8am the next day. That hurt even more! I'm hoping this tale of pain will inspire some of you to contribute....(More details on my race are at http://www.ingnycmarathon.org/Results.htm - search by Fernie)
Kenya, where my family and I have lived since January, suffers from some of the worst rates of child malnutrition in the world. In parts of the north-east, one in three children is acutely malnourished. Rains across much of Kenya have been poor this year so far, as they have for the last three years - which could partly be as a result of climate change. Crops have failed, and water sources and pasture where people usually take their goats, cattle and camels have dried up. Livestock are dying in huge numbers. Food and water prices are high. As the rains come, they may create flooding which will cut some areas off from help, damage crops and spread disease.
The UN estimates 3.8m people don't have enough food and require immediate help. Of these, 261,000 are acutely malnourished children. The Kenyan government has reallocated some of its own budget to provide assistance, but has also declared a national emergency and asked for extra international aid. I've visited some of the affected areas. Life there is grim. If you met these kids, you'd want to help.
Your money will go to the Save The Children, one of the world's most reputable humanitarian charities. As head of the British Government aid programme in Kenya and Somalia, I have seen their work first hand and know they will spend your cash well. They are feeding the most vulnerable children and mothers, running nutrition programmes in Wajir and Mandera districts in the north-east. They have mobile outreach teams reaching families in isolated areas. They screen children for acute malnutrition and provide them with nutritious therapeutic food. They also help families to support themselves, for example by giving them livestock, such as goats, to help them through the crisis.
The organisation I work for (the UK Department for International Development) is currently funding Save The Children's work on the Kenya food crisis (and has contributed $25m to humanitarian work in Kenya this year). But more money is needed. There are still tens of thousands of acutely malnourished children in Kenya who are not getting help, and risk starving to death, or dying from other complications such as diarrhoea, malaria or measles because they are so weak from lack of food. And although many of us are contributing as taxpayers, I believe there's still a role for personal contributions too. So I'm putting in $1,500 of my own money to get this appeal rolling.
You can find out more about Save The Children's work on the Kenya food crisis, and see photos and a video of the people your money could help, at http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/en/7728.htm. Please dig deep, and ideally sponsor me here online. Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with FirstGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. You can donate using any credit or debit card. If using a non-US bank account, you can pledge in dollars and the amount will be deducted from your account or billed to you in your currency at current exchange rates. That includes UK accounts, although I also have a parallel site at www.justgiving.com/fernie for UK donors. If this is all too complicated and you'd prefer to send a cheque or cash, let me know and I'll pass it on.
With best wishes
Alistair
What difference will your money make?
$3 can buy a blanket for a malnourished child receiving treatment
$22 can buy a course of antibiotics for a malnourished child suffering from illness
$53 can support ten families with a supply of meat, milk and beans for a month (half their protein needs)
$100 can buy five families a goat each, so they can produce milk and meat themselves
$144 can pay for a health outreach team for a day for one remote site
$258 can pay for water to be trucked to a remotely located treatment centre for malnourished children.
Please sponsor me today! Many thanks for your support. If you're having any problems with this site or need to contact me for any other reason, please email me at alistairfernie@hotmail.com.