Malawi Fundraiser - Joe Langton
- Joe Langton
- Aug 20
- 3 min read
Over the past few years Camino (coaches) have had the real pleasure of supporting some of the most incredible women (who have been the most unbelievable ultra-runners) stationed in Malawi. They are all UK medical professionals supporting projects in and around Mulanje - southern region of Malawi in a town called Blantyre- close to the border of Mozambique.
In 2023 several hundred people died here after Tropical Storm Freddy ripped through this area bringing long lasting medical after-effects.
At the end of August our friend and Camino athlete Joe Langton will take on her own Malawi Mount Mulanje adventure.
She will be running 110km around this epic landscape to raise funds for the Childrens A&E at Queen Elizabeth Blantyre and continue to make a tremedous impact to the lives of the children that they support.
Joe has given a huge amount to the training for this and has suffered with injuries that would have side-lined most of us 'if we were perhaps just training for a race'.
This is much more than a race and we are grateful that Joe is providing us with a powerful Why? as to what we can achieve as a Camino community.
You know (Joe) that we know that YOU CAN DO THIS x
JOE:
I’m a 45 year old, mum of 3, who works and lives in one of the poorest countries in the world. As with most people who work in this type of setting I wear many hats…I am a paediatric emergency medicine consultant and run the paediatric emergency department at one of the main tertiary hospitals in Malawi…I am an associate professor in paediatrics and child health…I am the lead for postgraduate training for our paediatric training programme which produces our Malawian paediatricians…I am part of a global medical education team creating materials with an aim to neonatal mortality…I am a PhD student…and that’s not everything!
I am also the chair of a charity called Friends of Sick Children which aims to support paediatric training (nursing and clinician), to augment clinical care (with drugs and investigations that cannot be provided through the government) and to improve infrastructure with the paediatric department at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre, Malawi. Over the years we have successfully created a high dependency unit, cardiac ward, and renovated our paediatric A&E. Most of the money for these have been raised by covering a lot of miles!
In addition to all of this…now I have set myself the challenge of running 110km round Mount Mulanje…the highest mountain in Malawi…on the 29th and 30th August. Most of this journey will be run alone and is being done to raise awareness of this fabulous charity…but also to raise much needed funds.
I am doing this to raise £50,000 (110,000,000MK) for the children’s a&e at queen Elizabeth central hospital. This will buy 10 resuscitation beds, which will significantly improve the quality of care that we deliver in our newly renovated children's accident and emergency department. It will also improve staff well-being, as currently they are trying to provide emergency care on low-level beds leading to them having back-pain and an impaired ability to work.
However the department also has other things on our shopping list, all of which are necessary to improve delivery of quality of care. These include:
Infusion pumps = £750
Vital signs monitors = £2000
Portable monitors = £4400
Defibrillator = £7500
Portable suction machine = £1300
I have currently raised about £18,000 (~ 41,500,000mk)
But I need more help to achieve the target and to motivate me to keep going.
Any support - big or small - will genuinely make a difference and will help to improve the quality of care provided to some of the most vulnerable children in the world. The support will also help me as i train for this challenge and ensure that I put one foot in front of the other as I complete the 110km.
Please help to spread the word wide and far to help me achieve my target.
And finally a massive thank you to my coaching team at Camino…without whom even the thought of doing this would not have been possible. They have provided expert guidance from afar…supported my emotional well-being when required…and motivated me to keep going.
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