Make a New Year Resolution to end hunger and change lives in Africa

26 December 2014

With Christmas over and January fast approaching, many of us are already beginning to think about making a resolution or setting some personal goals for the New Year.

And while some of us may even stick to our resolutions, many more of us will set ourselves challenges that we cannot keep.

So why not this year make a resolution that’s both easy to keep and makes a life-changing difference to those less fortunate than ourselves? Like those struggling with one of the biggest problems facing the world today: hunger.

Hunger is lethal. And despite going largely unreported, it kills more people each year than malaria, AIDS and TB combined. In Africa millions of families will go to bed hungry every night.

Farm Africa is a charity with a different approach to ending hunger. Instead of treating the symptoms of hunger by providing yet more food aid and hand-outs, the charity is working to tackle the roots of the problem. This takes the form of providing African farmers with agricultural skills and commercial know-how so they can grow enough food for their families – and have extra to sell at market.

It’s a far more sustainable approach to ending hunger. And if you think that this sounds sensible, you can help too by fundraising in your community to support Farm Africa’s life-changing work.

The charity has a wide range of really fun activities that could help bring a community together while raising funds for people in real need. In 2015 you could commit to hosting a coffee morning, arranging a cake sale, taking part in a sponsored walk or getting your local school or church to take part in a welly-walk to raise funds for Farm Africa.

Or if you fancy taking on something a bit more adventurous, you can run a marathon, or even climb Africa’s highest mountain, Mount Kilimanjaro!

Here are just some of the ways in which people have helped to raise funds for Farm Africa in 2014:

• Sussex farmer, Tim Jury, staged a ‘Ride for Africa’ event over the summer. Lucky Sussex residents made donations so they could ride horses or walk across beautiful Sussex farmland that is normally closed to the public. He also recently opened one of the barns of his farm for his annual carol concert that has been raising funds for Farm Africa for many years now. Tim has been fundraising for Farm Africa for almost 30 years, raising well over £100,000 in the process.
• Pupils at Kirkhill Primary School in East Renfrewshire in Scotland got sponsored to pull on their wellies for a ‘welly walk’ as part of Farm Africa’s annual ‘Give Hunger the Boot’ fundraising appeal. The fab fundraisers raised an astonishing £3,700 from their efforts.
• Adrian James from Malton in north Yorkshire joined a team from the Lincolnshire egg-suppliers LJ Fairburn in a demanding climb to the top of Africa’s highest mountain, Mount Kilimanjaro. The team raised a staggering sum of over £40,000 for Farm Africa’s Food for Good campaign.
• Pupils at Avonbourne College in Bournemouth set up their own enterprise group, keeping bees to produce honey which they are selling. A percentage from each sale is donated to Farm Africa:  

To find out much more about all the different ways in which you can make a life-changing resolution this New Year, please visit: http://www.farmafrica.org/get-involved/

Want to get started straight away? Run the Brighton Half Marathon in February!

If you’re keen to hit the ground running in 2015, why not sign up for one of Farm Africa’s places in the sold-out Brighton Half Marathon which takes place on 22 February? It’s one of the most popular and sought-after runs on the fundraising circuit, and in a fantastic location right next to the sea and in one of Britain’s most vibrant cities.