I am inspired by Kickstart Kids International, and hope you will be too!

A couple of years ago I migrated to Australia and as part of my induction into the Australian society one of the partners at firm where I worked decided to take me to Shelly beach for an ocean swim. Back then I had never swam in the ocean, yes I had gone to the beach before but I had never gone pass the beach break. I was given a pair of googles and FLIPPERS!!! To be sincere I was quite ashamed that I was given flippers, hence I kept coming until I became a bit more proficient. The reality is that I came for the brunches we used to do after, which were the highlight of my weekend. The time went pass and before I realised I was doing open water races on the weekend competing with my French boss, which was as awful as me swimming but I happened to be slightly better. There is nothing like beating your boss right, so I kept coming.

A few years later I decided to improve my stroke and I went to see a group of long distance swimmers and they helped me out, for a small fee!! Before I realised I was training with this group of marathon swimmers. For those who know me I am a competitive individual. Therefore, I thought if these guys swim long distances so can I. Consequently, I decided to do a 5km race to test myself. After having sea sickness and vomiting over the last 2km I did finish the race but as I finished last within my group of friends (seasickness to be blamed :) I decided to come again the next year and so I did. Only that this time I swam 10k (my friends bailed on this one using some common excuses).

This 10km race helped me qualify for the longest open water swim in Australia. Therefore, in March 2017 I faced my greatest challenge and I swam from Freemantle to Cottesloe back to Freemantle and from there to Rottnest (25km in one go). 25 people attempted this swim and only 20 of us finished. After this I thought I should set myself a new challenge and I enrolled myself to do a solo crossing of the English channel in 2019, which is circa 50km in cold water.

Hence, now I not only had to train but I also had to decided which charity I would support in this event. The training will be difficult but selecting the charity was easy.

I selected this charity because it is close to my personal story. I come from Argentina and I am the eldest of a family of 5 siblings (4 boys and the youngest is a very spoiled girl). Back in the early 90s life was good I was going to a nice bilingual private school and I was enjoying the perks that come with that lifestyle. However, in my last year of school my parents started having some problems and shortly after it came a very nasty divorce, which landed with both of them leaving the house. My mother departed with the two youngest siblings and my father, who was then over 50 and unemployed, got a job in another province which was 700kms away from our house in Buenos Aires.

At this point in time life took me by surprise, I not only had to raise my two older brothers (aged 12 and 14 back then) but within 6 months I also had to raise a friend of my eldest brother who went orphan at 14. I am happy to say that I raised them all and I looked after them the best I could until they were in their 20s, which was when I migrated to Australia. As none of them ended up doing drugs or in jail and they all grew to become repsonsible individuals I believe i have done a good job.

As you can imagine when I have to choose my charity the election was easy and I decided to go the charity of friend of mine. A former colleague who I sincerely respect. This bloke left his whole life in Australia to move to Kenya to open an orphanage and raise the kids he had seen in the streets while travelling in Kenya.

My personal goal is to swim the English Channel from Dover to Callais (48km!) and in the process raise $10,000 to support this amazing organisation.

Kickstart Kids is a charitable organisation working to kickstart the lives of vulnerable children in Kenya.  Kickstart's goal is to achieve financial, environmental, and community sustainability so that Olturoto Childrens Village can kickstart the lives of up to 30 children at any one time in the future.  Kickstart Kids has already welcomed 17 children to Olturoto Childrens Village and plans to open two new houses, bringing 16 more kids into the programme.

Until the farm is generating enough funds to cover the costs of caring for the children, Kickstart needs our help!  And that's why I'm taking on my challenge.

Click 'Donate Now' to make a secure online donation.

You can also start your own fundraiser for Kickstart Kids, just by visiting their site here.