Real Life Stories
ukSarah from Surrey
I saw the footage on Sport Relief of how malaria affects communities and families across Africa. I was shocked to see so many children being rushed to hospital because of malaria, and sadly how many of those died because of it.
I was staggered to find out that 655,000 people die from malaria each year, even though it can easily be prevented. This motivated me to fundraise for a malaria charity. I chose to support Malaria No More UK, because I was impressed with the all round approach that Malaria No More UK takes, using nets, educating communities on how to use them etc. I am a keen swimmer and had already entered the Great London Swim, so I thought that this would be the perfect opportunity to raise money for Malaria No More UK.
I am pleased to say that I completed the Great London Swim in 31 minutes and 43 seconds, which is 25 seconds faster than my time for the Great North Swim last year! This put me 809th out of 5,000 participants, which is fantastic news.
I was staggered to find out that 655,000 people die from malaria each year, even though it can easily be prevented
I arrived just as the elite swimmers were doing their swim around the course, they’re so quick! When it was my turn to swim, Dave Davies and James Goddard, both elite GB swimmers gave everyone pep talk to inspire us for our swim ahead. The course seemed to go on forever, always seeing the yellow buoys ahead which we still had to reach… Finally the ‘Finish’ sign was in sight, so a last minute sprint was in order to get a good time in. The water was a lovely shade of green, and all I could see in the water at any time were my hands in front of me!
Thanks to everyone’s amazing generosity I have been able to raise over £600 for Malaria No More UK, this is brilliant, and will really make a difference in helping prevent children and adults from dying from malaria across Africa. This is enough to help to buy, deliver and hang around 120 insecticide treated malaria nets.
Sarah’s online sponsorship page is at virginmoneygiving.com/SarahBromley.
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