In February i will be flying to Africa. First stop - Tanzania! My original plans were to hop all over the planet, take in New York City perhaps & then party in Thailand and see what was happening in Vietnam. These are still places i would like to see but i kept changing my itinery & i couldn’t really settle with where i wanted to be.
Until i met someone who inspired me :)
When i get to Africa i will be taking part in the Kilimanjaro half marathon on the 27th Feb 2011 and then climbing Mt Kili - initially i was going to do this, just because i could. Just as an achievment for myself. But then i thought, no hang on a minute - i could make a difference to someone elses life. So i set up a just giving page (www.justgiving.com/Laura-Halpin) and all money i raise will go to a charity called EdUKaid.
‘EdUKaid is a UK based charity that aims to enable the children of the
developing world to gain dignity and future prosperity for themselves and
their communities by providing education.
Education is critical for development. Every economic, social and health issue can be improved by the provision of education which is why we are so devoted to this cause. EdUKaid is addressing many different areas of education in the Mtwara region of southern Tanzania, one of the poorest regions of one of the poorest countries in the world.’
In the UK we take education for granted, even if we don’t do very well in primary /secondary school - we always have lots of opportunities to further ourselves afterwards.
I want to help, i want to try and make a difference.
I hope to spend a substantial amount of time working and volunteering with the children in Tanzania doing whatever i can to help. And it would be awesome if you could help too - either by sponsoring a child through EdUKaid or sponsoring myself through my just giving page :)
Thank you xx
‘Love is a verb, Love is a doing word, Fearless on my breath’
My tattoo - taken from some lyrics from the Massive Attack song ‘Teardrop’
I love my tattoo! I got this a few months ago and it took me a long time to decide on what i wanted. But as soon as i listened to the lyrics of this song one evening i knew it made sense. There are many different variations of what the lyrics actually mean but for myself it is about taking chances in life and not being afraid. I have always been the type of person to be afraid of things, to come up with excuses, to find a reason to say no or not today. One day someone close to me told me ‘Laura, you’re just not the type of person to take chances’ - this really made me angry.. mostly with myself cause i knew they were right. From that moment i tried my best to overcome any fears i had - to learn to say Yes. To try things even if i was scared - to really believe that it is best to try then to say ‘what if.’
So my tattoo is a reminder that we only get one life - Don’t be afraid to take chances or fall in love and most of all, live in the moment.
