Coventry Cathedral to Bath Abbey

200 miles of a solo pilgrimage to celebrate my 70th birthday and raise sponsorships money for the work of IJM

We shouldn’t need a World Day Against Trafficking in Persons in 2023.
Yet right now, children, women and men are being trafficked across international borders. Children like 12-year-old Ny* and 16-year-old Lalin*, who were trafficked from Cambodia into domestic servitude in Malaysia.

Do you remember your first trip abroad? The excitement of experiencing a different country and culture? Ny and Lalin will never forget the first time they travelled to a different country.Unable to afford an education, the young friends were tricked and trafficked abroad into domestic servitude:
“My employer’s children hit me, pulled my hair and spat in my food. I felt hurt and worthless,” Lalin told us.

Imagine being trapped in a foreign country. Abused. Forced to work long hours with little food. Ny was also sexually assaulted: “I was very scared... I thought of ending my life.” Trafficking knows no borders and can happen to anyone. Last year, Sir Mo Farah shared that he was trafficked as a child from East Africa into domestic servitude here in the UK.

Trafficking is an international crime that demands an international response.

WHO or WHAT IS IJM?

“ IJM (International Justice Mission) is the largest international anti-slavery organization. We work in almost 20 communities around the world to fight for justice on behalf of those who are being oppressed. Because of IJM supporters, families have been freed from slavery, girls from brothels and children from cybersex trafficking. ”

The work that Bath Abbey is doing in regard to the Monuments and Memorials and the issues being raised about slavery have got me thinking! We can’t personally do anything to change history; but we CAN do something positive to try to end the slavery and human trafficking that is still happening today. So I decided that I’d celebrate my 70th birthday by walking a long distance Pilgrimage and ask people to sponsor the miles by making a donation the International Justice Mission: a non-profit anti-slavery organisation with the aim: to end slavery, trafficking and violence.

I‘m walking about 200 hundred miles in September 2023 from Coventry Cathedral to Bath Abbey, aiming to raise £10 for every mile I walk. You can sponsor me here.

Thank you in advance for whatever you're able to donate. I'll be posting on my website at the end of each day's walk, so you can follow my progress there!

WAYS YOU CAN HELP:

- Pray. Pray, pray, pray for the work of IJM. Pray for the walk, for safety, for strength and for determination to finish and walk every single step from Coventry Cathedral to Bath Abbey.

- Provide a bed or a meal along the way. Do you live near the route? Could you pick me up from the path, drive me to your home and give me DBnB for a night? (and take me back the next morning!)

- Promenade. Join me for a day to walk. Ask others to sponsor you too for IJM for the miles you walk.

- Pledge Sponsor the miles I do by making a donation to my IJM fundraising page on JUSTGIVING: www.justgiving.com/page/coventry-bath-pilgrimage