Walkers raise £1,500 for charity

WALKERS from across Oxfordshire took part in a five-mile sponsored hike in Bix on Saturday.

The event was organised as part of Christan Aid Week, which supports vulnerable communities around the world.

This year’s appeal focused on work in Burundi, one of the most densely populated and poorest countries in Africa.

Organiser Rosemary Croft said: “Several years ago my husband and I visited a Christian Aid project and will never forget the change in the village women’s lives that they shared with us.

“Thanks to training and support, the women could eat sufficiently, pay for their children to go to school and have savings for when a family member got sick — quite a transformation. This year Christian Aid is raising money for Burundi. I cannot imagine a more enjoyable way to raise money than walking in this area. We’ve raised more than £1,500 so far and there’s still more to come in.”

The event was supported by the Reading and District Amateur Radio Club, a voluntary group which operates radio networks where normal communications have failed, such as the countryside around Bix where mobile signal is poor.

Money raised during Christian Aid Week will help the organisation’s partners empower vulnerable communities to find practical and sustainable ways out of poverty.

Christian Aid has been working in Burundi since 1995 when it first offered humanitarian assistance to people surviving the civil conflict.

Now, alongside local partners, the organisation helps establish village savings and loans associations.

For more information, visit www.christianaid.org.uk