I'm making him do it again!

A little bit of background. I work for a charity called the Leprosy Mission Scotland. Each year, we hold a sponsored walk along a section of the Fife Coastal Path (which we call the Empower Walk) between North Queensferry and Aberdour (just over 8 miles). The route is chosen for ease of access by public transport and because the church in Aberdour holds one of the best examples of a hagioscope in Scotland. A hagioscope was formerly known as a 'leper squint', but we avoid use of the L word, so prefer hagioscope. Basically it is a small window through which people with leprosy could listen to the service or receive the sacraments, as they weren't allowed into church because of their illness. Thankfully the last Scottish case was in 1798 (approx) on Shetland, and we've got a bit better about stigma and discrimination since then. Sadly leprosy is still a notifiable disease in England and Wales, though not Scotland, we're a little more logical (loud laughter, but am glad this is not an issue in Scotland). Find out what our colleagues at The Leprosy Mission England and Wales are doing about that here.

Anyway, another digression over, back to Teddy Mac and the Empower Walk. Being as I have to go on the walk for work, I don't think it's ethical to ask for sponsorship for myself. However, I don't have to take my teddy with me - and he got me a lot of weird looks last year, but he did come in handy for carrying the rucksack, so he's coming again this year, whether he likes it or not. Having raised just over £160 last year, he's keen to beat that this year, being a competitive wee guy! So today, I duly set up an online sponsorship page and posted a link to it on Facebook. Having done that, I came home and persuaded him to do some posing for a photoshoot, during which I took this nice pic of him which will be posted on the Facebook pages of any of my friends who sponsor him, in fact I have already done that for one! He's quite cute, isn't he!

In case any of you are feeling sorry enough for him and his poor wee feet and back to consider sponsoring him, or if you think it's a good cause, here's the link, and you can find about a little about the project in Nigeria we're raising money for from the link on that page.