La Liane: house of children´s and women´s rights

For almost a year now I have been training for various athletic events. This training has helped me grow and understand better who I am, leading me to reflect upon the amazing life I was given since the day I was born. While it changed every couple of years, I had a warm and loving home, caring and supporting parents, and never worried about having food on my plate. Having traveled the world and been lucky enough to integrate into numerous cultures and communities, it quickly became obvious that the privileges I certainly had taken for granted as a child and into my teenage years were beyond the dreams of many children in vulnerable areas. After living in 8 countries (and hoping more will come), Sénégal gives me a sense of home nowhere else found. And now I would like to give back to this home which fostered me in important years of my life and shaped a great part of who I am today. La Liane is an NGO based in Saint Louis, northern Sénégal, and for the last 15 years, they have been providing support and protection to vulnerable children and women. Their primary mission is to rescue and rehabilitate young girls who have been victims of sexual exploitation, forced labor, or other forms of abuse. The organization offers these children a haven, education, and psychological support to help them heal and build a brighter future. They have developed a women´s workshop in which women use recycled items to create clothing pieces or traditional artifacts using the funds for the organization. Only now, several kids have obtained their high school diplomas and started studying for a degree. Still, higher education in Senegal is very pricey, and thus La Liane needs you to help to continue supporting the young adults. To this day, 39% of women in Sénégal remain illiterate, 25% (age 15-49) have reported being victims of genital mutation, and the large majority will never have their bank account, let alone property rights. Helping this cause means giving young women the opportunity to become financially independent and thrive in the emerging Senegalese economy. November 16, 2024, I will be running the Queenstown Half Marathon trying to achieve a time under 1h30 (previous best time 1h42), so let´s set a target of 2100 euros, 100 euros per kilometer to help la Liane!