A Ballarat woman has completed a five week trek in Spain to raise money for street orphans in Kenya.
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Fran Bruty originally set out to raise $2500 for international not-for-profit Arrive but has since almost doubled her fundraising goal.
After working with Arrive, rescuing street children, and their partner in education, Light School Uriri, Ms Bruty decided to take on the Camino del Norde.
Her travels have raised much needed funds for a new ICT centre which will be equipped with a computer lab and sewing studio aimed at providing long term assistance to local street orphans and widows.
She said the goal of her walk and the reasons she started the fundraiser has kept her going.
“Right now I am on a high.”
“People have followed my Camino journey with interest and been so generous in their donations and encouragement.”
“I met many wonderful pilgrims, each with their own reasons for walking and all of us with our daily challenges; mine were my feet that kept blistering but you learn to manage the pain and get on with it.”
“Always for me the Arrive kids were my inspiration. Walking into Santiago and arriving at the Cathedral was surreal. Meeting Camino friends who had 'done the hard road' and finished was also rewarding.”
Ms Bruty set up a crowd-funding page before starting her walk on the Spanish/French border.
The donations have been directly deposited into Arrive’s bank account they have almost completed building the centre.
She has finished the trail she originally set out on but her journey is not over.
“I am taking three days rest before I start walking the Portuguese Way to ensure we reach our fundraising target and beyond,” she said.
“We need to finish the ICT/Tailoring Hub. The building has started purely funded by our donors money.”
“Thank you to all. We need to fund the equipment and employment of the widows; whatever we can raise will make difference.”
“I am so proud of everyone who is supporting me and am so excited that we can support a truly amazing charity organisation who are making a huge difference to so many vulnerable people.”