Lake Malawi swim

Abigail Brown will be the first woman to attempt to swim 25 km across Lake Malawi. Dodging the crocs and hippos, she will follow the sun's path from east to west, crossing the lake at a natural bottleneck between Makanjira and Salima. Two men completed this swim in 1992, but it has never been done by a woman.

Abigail, an alumna of St. Clare's (2002), explains that her motivation to attempt this swim "is driven by a desire to break two sets of barriers; my perceived physical limits and some of the real practical barriers that Malawians face every day in trying to improve their standard of living".

Abigail will be raising funds for two projects which help local people - Chembe Village Projects at Cape Maclear and the Microloan Foundation.

Chembe Village Community Project Centre was created in 2009 to raise awareness and assist with fundraising for existing projects in Chembe Village (also known to tourists as Cape Maclear, Malawi). Projects that they have been involved in include the Chembe Hunger Relief, a subsidized food programme created to support the local community in times of hunger.

Microloan Foundation is a UK based microfinance charity providing small loans, business training and continuing guidance to groups of women in sub-Saharan Africa. To date they have supported over 84,000 projects with over 80,000 loans.

Everyone at St. Clare's wishes her well with the swim and with her fundraising.