Maltese Woman raising funds for orphans in Lesotho

Maltese national Daniela Gusman, 36, is facing the challenge of a lifetime as she gears up to run the Victoria Falls Marathon in Zimbabwe on Sunday.

This will be her first marathon. She is donning her shorts and running 26.2 miles to raise money for an orphanage in Lesotho – a developing country, landlocked in Southern Africa.

"I am very nervous about running my first marathon," says Daniela. "However the fact that I am raising money for a very good cause will help me when I will no doubt hit that wall during the race. I am sure this will give me motivation to finish."

The hard work will be worthwhile for Daniela if she succeeds in raising £3,000 for Me Neo’s Orphanage where she volunteers some of her time with the 34 two to 17-year-olds living at the orphanage.

Daniela moved to Lesotho in September, to work with a charity called Kick4Life, an NGO which uses football to teach children about HIV prevention and essential life skills. Lesotho has the third highest prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the world and there are over 110,000 orphans due to the pandemic.

"These children have so little, and yet are so happy their smiles light up a room” says Daniela.

“The money I am raising from the marathon will pay for four showers in the orphanage, so that the children will no longer have to use buckets to wash themselves as well as four toilets to replace the small rickety old out-house they currently use,” she said.

www.justgiving.com/danielag