Briton in aid of Mulanje orphans

A Briton Brendan Rendall, who is running a marathon across four African countries in aid of orphans in Mulanje, arrived in Malawi through the Mwami/Zambia-Mchinji Border on Wednesday.

The 36-year-old Manchester-based trainee teacher, who is accommpanied by four others, will run 4 000 kilometres across the coast of Africa in a marathon dubbed Running Africa Coast to Coast Challenge for three months to raise money for a boys’ hostel at Friends of Mulanje Orphans (Fomo) Secondary School.

Rendall started running in June from Walvis Bay in Namibia through Zambia and Malawi to Pemba in Mozambique.

In an interview, he said he has been supporting Fomo for 10 years and he decided to embark on the marathon to further help the orphanage.

“I have been in Malawi before to help Fomo and I made a commitment to help children in Malawi. I came back with the idea of running in the four countries to raise more money to help the children, especially in the education sector,” said Rendall.

He said he is expected to raise 75 000 pounds (about K75 million) though his website brendanrendall.com and is hopeful that the marathon will inspire more people to donate to the cause.

Fomo founder Mary Woodworth said she was grateful to Rendall and his colleagues for the support.

“We have over 3 000 orphans at Fomo. We support 14 orphan centres. We feed and we educate them. The funds raised by Rendall will go towards construction of a boys’ hostel at Fomo Secondary School because I believe education is the best gift one can give to a child,” she said.

Fomo was established in 2000 to aid orphans in Mulanje and it looks after 3 500 orphaned and vulnerable children.