Keen runners turned up in their droves to take part in Run For Africa at Abbey Park, Leicester, to raise money to help people improve their professional skills in a village in The Gambia.
The run was organised by a team of De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) student volunteers with Global Hands, some of whom went out to the The Gambia with #DMUglobal, DMU’s pioneering international experience program, during their studies.
Global Hands is a community interest company which aims to tackle issues of local and global inequality by raising awareness through community engagement.
Together with Global Hands, the students travelled to the Manduar Development Hub in The Gambia, that they helped to build and furnish to provide the locals with somewhere they can study and improve their education and employability skills.
Ayolah Hanley, Director of International Development with Global Hands and a DMU graduate, said: “There was a great turn out on the day, people kept turning up throughout the day to do their run.
“Abbey Park was a great venue for the run because it was a family day out, the focus wasn’t just on the run itself. I think everyone that turned up enjoyed themselves, the weather was nice and participants could turn up, do their run, and make a day of it.”
Global Hands managed to raise approximately £3,000 on the day with sponsorship money still coming in, and some of the student volunteers are already preparing to go to The Gambia to take their money to help with the Manduar hub.
Ayolah added: “The hub is for the people in the village to work on business and enterprise and it will have access to the internet which people there can use. Local children from other villages will be able to work on community development projects and take them back to their own villages.”
Following the success of the weekend’s activities, Global Hands is now looking to make Run For Africa an annual event in Leicester.
Posted on Friday 29 May 2015