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Kieran, Maliah, Friday and Amy ready to embark on a marathon walk
Footsteps to... Paris
Issue 018
THURSDAY 19 FEBRUARY 2015
F
OUR teenagers are planning to make an epic walk from London to Paris to raise money for charity. Maliha Reza, from Romford and Amy Lee, from Stratford, both 17, plus Kieran Goodwin and Friday Piccio 16, from Grays, have joined together to attempt the marathon trek to France. They have just created a charity, the World Youth Organisation (WYO), and thought what better way to promote it by walking 200-plus miles from capital to capital. As the charity is still in its early stages they will be running under their
already established charity the Extreme Sports Challenge Association, which has helped teenagers across the UK get more involved with their surrounding community. The group, who came together through Maliha and Amy’s close friendship, are hoping to raise £5,000 through the eight day walk, and are training for it by walking 20 miles a week. Maliha, who attends Frances Bardsley School for Girls in Brentwood Road, Romford, said: We want to push ourselves and show what teenagers are truly capable of.
“Our aims are to get teens involved in more things concerning the world and for us to get rid of the negative stereotypes associated with teenagers. “The ultimate goal is to raise £5,000 and awareness for our chosen charities, Cancer Research and The English Federation of Disability Sports.’’ The group’s parents are all ‘‘very proud’’ of their children, who recently walked from Gidea Park to Hyde Park for a trial run. They plan to start the walk in just over a month’s time setting off on Saturday, March 28. Mahila added: “We want to reach the
Dr.Winifred van Rensburg
Eiffel Tower, not for ourselves but to make people supporting our walk and the charities proud.’’ They eventually hope that the new WYO charity will become established on an international level. “We have good contact abroad, explained Maliha, ‘‘and volunteers in different countries through social media, but it is in the early stages.’’ So far they have received donations totalling over £600. To find out more information about the walk look at their World Youth Organisation facebook page and to donate go to uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/wyo.