Cambridge priest, 83, walked 83km, raised £3,800

Fr Colin Carr completed an 83 km walk for his 83rd birthday from October 1-8 to raise funds for the Mutemwa Leprosy Centre in Zimbabwe, surpassing his £3,000 target to support the education of local children. He reports.

From October 1-8 this year, my birthday fundraiser was an 83 km walk to raise money for the leprosy centre at Mutemwa in Zimbabwe. That was where the remarkable Servant of God, John Bradburne, ended his days in service of those who had leprosy. I had known John in what was then called Rhodesia. He and I were both working with Jesuits before he went to Mutemwa. The John Bradburne Memorial Society continues his work with the leprosy centre, and we were raising money for the children of Mutemwa so that they could go to school.

My walk was not a long hike, but simply the accumulation of kilometres in my normal day, with a bit of extra effort. So, walking around Blackfriars Priory, walking into town, walking to and from St Laurence’s Church, all added up. A nice thing this year was that at least three people walked parts of the way with me, including John Bradburne’s niece, Teresa, who is in the picture outside St Laurence’s.

I posted pictures and a narrative on Facebook each day, and people were remarkably generous so that we raised well over our target of £3,000, reaching almost £3,800, and so were able to help the children of the staff at Mutemwa as well as the children of the Centre.

Last year, we raised nearly £3,000 from an 82 km walk. Next year – 84 km? It’s in God’s hands.

Pictured above is Fr Colin arriving home with the walk nearly completed, and below, from the top, Fr Colin with Teresa, Fr Colin eating breakfast before his walk, and some of the children of Mutemwa.

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