Di's London Marathon Challenge

Five years ago this year, my husband, Phil O'Keefe died and we raised money in his memory to support Helen Loewenstein Memorial Trust (HLMT). I wanted to do something to remember Phil, who worked extensively in Africa and to contribute some more funds to Helen's Trust. HLMT was set up in 2019 in Helen's memory by her parents, Pete and Stella, dear friends whom Phil and I knew from my medical student days in Nottingham. Helen was a highly respected midwife and someone who touched the lives of so many, both in the UK and Liberia where she was helping to set up a midwifery training programme. HLMT provides grants to support student midwives in Liberia who lack the means to cover course fees and essential study expenses, ensuring that talented individuals from less privileged backgrounds can pursue midwifery education. These grants, approximately £3,600 each, for the four-year training course, aim to enable students to become qualified midwives, irrespective of their financial situation. The first recipients graduated last year and HLMT currently supports 10 Liberian midwifery students and aims to continue offering sponsorships in the future. Liberia is one of the poorest countries in the world and currently has 200 midwives to serve a population of 4 million people-it needs 4000 to help reduce the maternal mortality rate which 90 times higher than in the UK.

To this end I am running the London Marathon on Sunday 27th April to raise as much money as possible for HLMT, and to remember Phil,  part of whose heart was always in Africa. I was lucky enough to get a 'good for age' entry based on my Edinburgh Marathon time last year-getting older does have some advantages- and this means that all the money raised goes directly to HLMT, they have not had to purchase a place to allow me to run. I do hope you will feel able to support  this fundraising challenge for such an excellent cause. All contributions will be greatly appreciated.

https://hlmt.org.uk/

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HLMT raises funds in the UK to make grants to cover the course-fees and essential study expenses for student midwives in Liberia who would not otherwise have sufficient funds to train to become qualified midwives. Grants are around £1000 per year for each student midwife for each of the four years. In 2024-25 it is supporting ten midwifery students at the Phoebe-Esther Bacon School of Health Sciences, Zorzor, Liberia. As HLMT grows, we hope to increase the number of grants offered. The Trust has been set up in memory of Helen Loewenstein, a remarkable midwife who touched the lives of many people, both in the UK and Liberia.