A former high-school English teacher from Norwich has completed the virtual London Marathon for an Indonesian literacy charity he works with.
Stu Patience, who with wife Abi and their two young sons, has lived on a alleyway in Jakarta, Indonesia, for the past seven years, completed the marathon while back in England due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The family are part of Gateway Vineyard church in Norwich and are currently living with Abi’s parents in Cambridge during the pandemic.
Stu took advantage of the clean air and cooler climate back in England to run his first-ever proper marathon in Cambridge on Sunday October 4 to raise money for the work in Indonesia.
The literacy charity is called Saya Suka Membaca – “I Love Reading”.
“We create Indonesian-language reading books and teaching materials and train teachers how to use them in a way that kids find engaging and fun,” said Stu.
“About one-in-three Indonesian children leave primary school unable to read and understand a simple written text, and this ‘learning poverty’ affects the rest of their education and working life, often leading to other kinds of poverty in a country where the average person earns under £10 per day, or less than £2 per person in a normal family.
“At Saya Suka Membaca we hope to change this by working for a future where every Indonesian child has the opportunity to learn to read, and to love reading. Since 2014 we’ve trained more than 200 teachers, and more than 10,000 kids have been taught to read using our materials,” said Stu.
“It was a wet and windy day on Sunday – very different conditions from my training runs – which made for a tough race, but I was delighted to finish in a little under 4 hours (3hrs 56 mins). I’ve been blown away by the generosity of those who’ve supported me – so far we’ve raised almost £1,200, and the page will be open for another ten days,” said Stu.
“The team in Jakarta have been really encouraged by the support during these challenging times! We plan to head back to Jakarta to join them as soon as the situation with Covid-19 allows.”
You can support Stu and I Love Reading here.
Visit the charity website.
Pictured above is Stu Patience ready to complete his Virtual London Marathon.
Click here or below to watch a short video about the charity
Keith Morris, 08/10/2020
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