In the latter half of May, Gavin Kibble MBE walked over 200 miles to raise money to build new classrooms at The Lukkomano Christian Academy in Mazabuka, Zambia.
“It seemed like a good idea at the time. In January this year, Feed The Hungry received an email from our partner in Zambia, The Lukkomano Christian Academy, which we had helped to set up a few years ago, and where we regularly provide food for the students,” explained Gavin.
Double the students requires double the capacity
Lukkomano primarily serves young people in Mazabuka, Zambia, many of whom have been orphaned by the HIV AIDS epidemic, which is prevalent in parts of Africa. The school has grown tremendously in the past years; there are now double the number of students on roll than the school has capacity for.
“The Zambian Government had issued a notice to say that the school needed more classrooms, including an IT suite. However, there were no funds to make this happen. I was going to turn 60 in a few weeks, and in a moment of inspiration, or possibly madness, I decided that I was going to do something to raise money for the school.”
“I am a whole lot more resilient than I thought I was.”
Following a beefed-up training regime, on 17th May, Gavin travelled to St. Bee’s Head in Cumbria to begin a journey of over 200 miles. In the following two weeks, he walked between 10 and 21 miles each day. The terrain and weather was incredibly variable and sometimes unpredictable.
“The Coast to Coast is the biggest challenge I’ve undertaken in my entire life. There’s nothing really which can adequately prepare you for how brutal this particular walk is. You just have to go through the pain barrier and come out of the other side. It doesn’t get any easier as you go on but the brain somehow switches into a different mode.“
“It asks questions of you as an individual all the way through but I learned I am a whole lot more resilient than I thought I was.”
Support Gavin’s fundraising to help the orphaned students at Lukkomano.
Breaking ground
Gavin was accompanied on parts of the route by friends and colleagues from Feed The Hungry. Despite some days dogged with injury and rainstorms, happier memories of the journey include the views over Ullswater from St Sunday’s Crag four days into the walk, and meeting a bride making her way to her wedding ceremony on the Fells, dressed in wedding dress and hiking boots!
Gavin’s walk gathered a following on Social Media, where regular updates were posted of his progress. Some 5000 miles away, the walk was being watched by staff and students at the Lukkomano Christian Academy in Mazabuka, where the new classrooms were going to be built.
“As the walk went on, we were getting messages of encouragement from Zambia. They could see the total amount of money that had been raised, and steps had started to be taken to do the groundwork for building the new classroom blocks.
“These classrooms are desperately needed and so no time was being wasted once they’d realised that there was enough money to start the building work.”
The Finish Line
The final days of the walk were long and challenging – two 19 mile routes that included inclines and a lot of rain. The Chair of Trustees for Feed The Hungry, Martin Goodchild, and his wife Susie, who is also a Trustee, joined Gavin to walk on the penultimate day.
Gavin completed the walk to Robin Hood’s Bay on 30th May.
He shared, “We are hugely appreciative of the donations we’ve had so far which will allow us to build the school but we would love more funds so we can kit it out as well with desks, chairs and computer equipment.
“It helps children who have been orphaned and will give them greater chances to flourish in their own country by being properly educated. By donating you are helping to improve the life chances of hundreds of children.”
Thanks to Gavin’s hard work, we now have enough to build the classrooms. We’re continuing to fundraise for the equipment, and particularly the IT suite the government requires for the school.
