Blind schoolgirl all set for Ethiopia run
A blind schoolgirl from Bath is going to be running a 5km race in Ethiopia for charity. Hester Poole is hoping to raise £20,000 for blind children who are living in poverty in Ethiopia. Sighted guide and Paralympic gold medallist, Charlotte Evans MBE, will be supporting Hester in the Women First run, and said that she is honoured to be joining her. Hester, 11, has already raised more than £4,500 towards her cause. Incredibly one donor has offered to match the first £10,000 that she raises pound-for-pound. She is donating every penny to Ethiopiaid, a Bath-based charity which supports the Mekele School for the Blind in Ethiopia. Hester was diagnosed as blind when she was a baby but has never let her disability hold her back and is very ambitious as an athlete. She is an alpine skier and a future Paralympic hopeful, who trains with Precise Racing’s visually impaired elite ski team. She is also part of the University of Bath Futures Athlete Development programme. In 2017, she completed 100 sports in 100 days to raise funds for her ski team. Hester will visit the Mekele School for the Blind in March. She plans to bring specialist equipment and hopes that she can help the pupils to enjoy the same education that she’s had She said: “A good education is the only way a blind child can hope to access an independent adult life either financially or socially. “I have the ambition to go to university and lead a successful and independent life. This is also the ambition of the blind children of Mekele School. “I love school and I want other blind children to have the same opportunity to learn and play that I have had. “I am very lucky and have had some wonderful teaching in school and in sport. I feel that, if I put the effort in, I can do anything that I want to do. “I hope that by bringing specialist equipment and supporting this school in Ethiopia more blind children will be able to fulfil their hopes and dreams too.” As many as 13,000 runners will be joining Hester in The Women First Run, which takes place in Addis Ababa. It’s the biggest all-women’s run in Ethiopia and one of the biggest in Africa. Charlotte, who is Hester’s ski coach, will also be joining her. The pair have been participating in parkrun in preparation for the event and Charlotte is quite excited for the challenge that lies ahead. Charlotte said: “We’ve got a really nice relationship and I feel really honoured that she’s asked me to come to Ethiopia to do this big challenge with her. “The altitude is a lot different to here, so I think that it’s going to be pretty tough. But, we’re quite excited to take it on.”