Former students’ triple marathon effort for Starehe UK

John Kibugi and Alexandra Akinyi are going the extra mile and raising money for Starehe UK in this year's Brighton and London Marathons. Good luck with the training John and Alexandra!

“It’s really exciting to have a place in the Brighton and London marathons,” says John (Starehe Boys’ Centre from 1979 – 1984) “I will be forever grateful to the opportunities Starehe gave me and I want to give back to the school community.” John is currently sponsoring a Starehe student and is involved in a range of fundraising activities with the Old Starehians UK group. 

“I was involved in so many different activities at Starehe, from scouting, participating in the President’s Awards Scheme as well as being in the basketball team and performing in musicals,” reflects John. “The opportunities available to me at Starehe were truly life-changing.”

John completed his degree in medicine at Nairobi University and worked at the hospital in Nairobi before moving to the UK in 2000. He currently works in emergency medicine at Weston-super-Mere Hospital. He is a keen runner, balancing training alongside a busy working schedule at the hospital. He has previously completed the Great North Run and Brighton half marathon and is now focusing on his training to cope with a challenging programme of two marathons in close succession (Brighton is on 12 September and London is on 3 October).

“Attending Starehe School has made me what I am today,” says John. “It helped me to understand my potential and how I could achieve my goals.”

Joining John for the London marathon is first-time marathon runner Alexandra (Starehe Girls’ Centre, 2009-2012). Alexandra has warm memories of her time at Starehe: 

“I was so lucky to attend Starehe school. For me it was the opportunity to meet with so many people from different walks of life that was so interesting. It opened up many different perspectives for me and inspired me to do something different with my life,” explains Alexandra.

After completing a business and commerce degree at the University of Multimedia in Nairobi, Alexandra was accepted onto a volunteering programme for a Scouts company in the UK and then later joined the Royal Navy. She is currently based in Portsmouth working in the logistics department and is undertaking further training in data and coding.

“I come from a family of athletes and my partner is a keen runner. Being surrounded by so many talented athletes provides great motivation for me – I’m very competitive!” explains Alexandra.  

Alexandra was sponsored to attend Starehe by a sponsor from Germany. “I will always be so grateful to my sponsor. It is amazing that thanks to someone who I didn’t know at all, I was able to have a fantastic educational experience at Starehe,” Alexandra says. “I am motivated to raise money to help current Starehe students. If I can change that one life I feel I can make a big impact. I want to give someone else the chance that I had.”

Fundraising is going well for John and Alexandra already with around £1,800 committed in sponsorship money. John and Alexandra have ambitious targets to raise £6,000 for the Starehe Schools.

You can help them to maximise their fundraising efforts by sponsoring them here:

www.justgiving/fundraising/John-Kibugi (Brighton Marathon); https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/JohnKibugi (London Marathon)

https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/AlexandraObonyo/1 (London Marathon)