AN Evesham man on a mission plans to walk more than nine miles every day for a week, to raise money so he can teach sex education in Zambia.
Ellis Tustin, 21, hopes to travel to Africa in September as part of the Restless Development project, which aims to raise awareness of how conditions such as HIV and AIDS are spread.
He needs to raise £800 so he can spend three months in Zambian schools and has been busy gardening around Evesham to try and raise some cash for the trip.
But now he is planning to put his best foot forward by setting off at 4am to walk 9.4 miles a day from Monday, August 22 until Sunday, August 28, to highlight how Zambian children walk that distance just to get to and from school.
Speaking to the Observer, Ellis said: “Through the work I did at university with the LGBT students, an issue that has become a personal mission of mine is the tackling of conditions such as HIV and AIDS.
“On September 25 I shall be jetting off with Restless Development to teach around Zambian schools subjects such as sexual education in order to raise a general understanding of how these conditions spread and how to avoid contracting them.
“After some research I have learned that some Zambian children walk on average three hours to school, starting at 4am, which adds up to a 9.4-mile walk give or take.
“Many of these children will be the faces and names I will come to know and I feel it only right I get a feeling of what this is like.”
Visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Ellis-Tustin to sponsor Ellis.
