Faye's 60th fundraiser

Happy birthday, me!
Facing 60 this 31st August is certainly making me think harder than ever about life.Indeed, I can’t recall a birthday which has caused me quite so much self-reflection about the life journey I have been on and where I am headed in the decade until I am 70.
In a challenging and uncertain world, I know a few things I am aiming at for sure.
A simple life avoiding stress, containing as much peace and joy as I can bring into it.
Sharing the emotional and spiritual healing I have found in my recovery programme.
Living as healthily-mind, body and spirit- as possible.
Investing as much as I can in the incredibly impactful work of charity Africa’s Gift.
With all this in mind, I am excited and very nervous about my next challenge which I have been over-thinking for months. Train and flight booked this week, I have committed to walking the second longest and popularly considered the very toughest of the Camino Ways- the Camino del Norte from the French Pyrenees following the Bay of Biscay Northernmost Atlantic coast of Spain into Santiago.
The route is over 865 kilometres, typically walked over 34 day stages between 20 and 30km- all day, every day. For comparison, that’s hiking about the distance from Bakewell to John O’ Groats on the Northernmost point of Britain. In late summer heat and autumn rain. With an 8 kilo pack. In a different hostel almost every night. With an additional weekly ‘rest’ day. Six weeks in all. 
The daily elevation across varied challenging terrain ranges from 300 to 800 metres, with some day stages exceeding 1200 metres in cumulative climbing. That’s why it is considered the toughest camino. Longer than the most famous and walked Frances Way, with much harder climbs. For context, the hardest days are the first five which will include climbs totalling above Kinder Scout’s 636 metres. And my meniscus around my knee joints has started playing up big time again, so back to the gym to strengthen my knees for the next six weeks while climbing all the Peaks I can manage.
I can only say I will do my best to complete the challenge at the start of my sixtieth decade.
Many of us facing 60 know we have enough ‘stuff’, so value time and experiences over everything else. For my 50th, I asked for- instead of cards or gifts- just a note with a square of fabric which could be made into a friendship quilt I hugely value to this day.
Two years ago I hiked the Camino Portuges Coastal which- thanks to the generosity of my kind supporters- raised over £1200 to purchase life-saving eco cookbags for women subsistence farmers in Lesotho communities.
For my 60th, I am asking friends, family and anyone who wishes to offer a donation in place of a card, stamp, gift to the Gabi Smith Africa’s Gift Memorial Education Fund.
Gabi is 26 in September. She only had two earthly terms at senior school.
If- back in January this year- you followed my adventures in Africa working with local women and girls to establish a small community production line of eco cookbags in Lesotho ready for their King’s visit, you will likely remember four young women I met who massively impacted me. 
I called them The Magnificents, because they were feisty, fun, lively, opinionated young women. Some are still teenagers, some already mums, all younger than Gabi who have none of the opportunities my own daughter would have had.
Ntsoaki is a 20 year old mum of one who dreams of going to the Blessing Academy to study hair and beauty. A one year course there costs £635
Rejeleng is 21 and aspired to become a hairdresser and beautician too.
Mats’eliso is 23 and wishes to complete the dress making course she was unable to before. A year costs £340.
Mabet’se is a 23 year old mum of one who would love to go to catering college around £340 for the year.
I can no longer help Gabi live her dreams, but through your challenge sponsorship in place of birthday gifts and cards, we could together make an enormous difference in these four lives in Gabi’s memory.
My starting target is £2000 for my toughest physical endurance challenge yet. At 60. Two pounds for each kilometre I pray my knees hold out to walk.
You can find out more about the live saving and changing eco cookbags we made side by side at Eternal Flame Worldwide Ltd and www.africasgift.org.
As a thank you for donating, Africa’s Gift will send you my illustrated travel story of our awesome adventure meeting The Magnificents and the King in January this year, which I hope will inspire, entertain, uplift and encourage you in equal measure.
And if you would like to gift an eco cookbag in someone’s name, tell us.
If you have helped me before to support this fantastic cause and see the delight in women’s faces as I place an eco cookbag into their hands saving their health and hours of pot stirring every day- I thank you. You changed and saved lives. If you can help now or again, I am deeply grateful.