Ironman challenge for Muungano school raised over £10,000!
A good luck message before the challenge!
Jonny, Tom and Matt undertook an Ironman challenge to fundraise over £10,000 towards renovations at Muungano primary school in rural Tanzania. Renovations began this month by local builders and with the help of the community and parents. We are very excited to see the finished results!
“ With our limited triathlon experience (practically zero) the 4 of us start with the Half Ironman (70.3 miles) in Switzerland on June 11th. A mixture of 1.2 miles of open water swimming, a mountainous ride covering 56 miles and 4,000 feet of elevation, topped off with a half marathon.”
10 weeks later on August 20th, Jonny and Matt did the full distance Ironman (140.6 miles!) in Copenhagen.
Thank you to everyone who donated!
This money will make such a big difference to Muungano.
Children of Muungano Primary School.
Here's why…
Mungano primary school has 515+ students. The classrooms do not have enough desks, students are cramped 5 to a desk. There are no textbooks making it hard to concentrate and hard to learn. The classrooms are dark without enough light and during the rainy season students will get wet as the windows have no glass.
The money fundraised will go towards renovating all these dilapidated classrooms and filling them with desks and chairs. This will make school a more comfortable, safe and effective learning environment for students.
In Tanzania, if a child doesn't pass their secondary school entrance exam they cannot enrol. The pass rate for students at Muungano Primary is just 48%. Those who fail will almost definitely go into child labour, child pregnancy or child marriage. Education is not very accessible to Children at Muungano because the school feels unsafe due to the building being very deteriorated and at risk of being closed permanently. This is why the renovation of these classrooms is so important! Every child deserves an education to give them the best possible chance in life.
A classroom at Muungano with a leaky roof and open windows.
An example of a classroom renovation completed at another school, with a watertight roof, glass windows and plenty of desks!
Children learning in a completed classroom with education paintings on the wall.
We are so grateful to Jonny, Tom and Matt for raising over £10k to help Muungano primary school. Thank you to everyone who donated and congratulations to Jonny, Tom and Matt for an amazing achievement!
We asked Tom all about it:
What was your motivation for the challenge?
Jonny approached me at the end of 2022 and asked me whether I fancied doing a half Ironman with him and the other two. I hadn’t done any swimming since school (20+ years ago) and knew that would be a challenge itself so I agreed and away we went!! However, whenever I put myself through a challenge like this, I also like to raise funds when appropriate. Jonny showed me all the work that has been done through Made With Hope and this was the added motivation I needed.
What difference do you hope the money will make?
I appreciate the work has already started, however, when Eleanor (Made with Hopes Founder) was speaking to me about the possibilities that certain amounts of money would make, I was hoping that the money would make the exact difference it is making. I’ve seen the new Muunganno Primary school project being developed on social media and it’s amazing to see! Whenever I was struggling during the challenge, I would think of the previous projects that Eleanor had shown me and it would push me through!
How did you find it?
The swimming was by far the worst bit. There were lots of people in a very small space and it made me panic! I decided to take it easy and let everyone go ahead so I could get through the swim with enough energy for the cycling and running. The cycle was tough but I enjoyed it when I got up the last hill. The last bit of the cycle is downhill and then flat so I could take it easy ready for the run. The run was amazing, there was lots of support on the roads and my legs felt fine. The best bit by far was crossing the line and because i was the slowest out of the four of us, they were all waiting for me as i crossed the line! It’s hard to beat that feeling, but the beer afterwards tasted pretty good!!
Have you fundraised for Made with Hope before?
No, this was the first time! We have discussed other challenges so watch this space for the next time!
If you would like to try a fundraising challenge for Made with Hope we would love your support.
In Tanzania £100 can buy 15 textbooks for students to read, £8 can buy a pack of reusable sanitary pads and £5 can pay for 2 boxes of 50 pens. Whatever your fundraising goal, know it will make a huge difference!
Made With Hope is 100% run by olunteers so all the money raised goes directly to purchasing building materials, paying local construction workers, and sourcing chairs and desks for these classrooms.