24 Hour Famine

by Shannyn Martin

All throughout my life I have been a swimmer. With being a swimmer comes great hunger. As a result, food has also become a huge part of my life. This being said, I have always been incredibly grateful for all that I have, however it has always bothered me that there are children in Africa, just as deserving as any kid around the world, who is severley malnourished. Around 257 million people in Africa are undernourished - which is around 20% of their whole population. Children are the future to our generation. Every child deserves the same opportunity to live their best life, and when 45% of deaths in Africa are linked to malnutrition, I find it unfair that some children aren't granted the simple necessity of food.

Respectively, I have decided to fundraise for these said children, in the hopes of raising enough money to give an opportunity to these children to strive for their futures. On the 14th of May, I have decided to not eat for 24 hours followed by a 5km swim in order to endure the struggles that these unfortunate children have to face on a daily basis. 

Thank you, I hope you can contribute to this great cause!

I would like to start by saying a huge thank you to everyone who has donated and shared my campaign! I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy in this Covid-19 situation. In terms of my campaign, with everything going on right now, I have decided to extend my deadline till after summer - therefore I will be doing my swim after August. This being said, despite the virus, the world is still turning and there are still many people dying due to famine however this virus has only made it worse. With things such as lockdown implicated in most countries now, it is becoming increasingly harder for some people - economically. People in the Labour work force, factory workers, tourism workers etc... This means it has become that much harder for people to not only earn money to feed their families but to even make food for their families or even things such as exports. Also, since Africa has majority of the less developed countries in the world, they do not have enough resources to combat this deadly virus. As of today, Uganda was approved a loan of $491.5 million to help soften the impacts of this virus. However there are still plenty of countries, let alone small villages, who are still struggling to stay afloat. As a result I have decided, with the money that all of you amazing people have donated, will also go towards funding a few necesities for this pandemic such as: masks, hand sanitzers, clean water, anti bacterial soaps and some basic baby needs such as diapers. Alongside all this, the money will still also go towards the (unpearishable) food for the children but also the elderly to keep the most vulnerable as safe and healthy as they can, given theses circumstances. Once again, I just wanted to keep everyone updated and hope you are all doing well!