The Girl That Ran Across Africa

In 2014, I became the first person to run across Africa. True story! I have also completed many other epic, physical challenges in my life including getting a Guinness World Record for riding an elliptical bike across Australia, hiking the Australian Alpine Walking Track solo and unsupported, cycling from England to the Dolomites in Italy and roller-skating across the Netherlands. Over the last three years, I haven't been able to continue with any physical endeavours as I've struggled with an undiagnosed leg condition. But I've decided to turn adversity into opportunity and recreate my life.

I've always loved art and bringing happiness to people through vibrant pictures. For the past two years I’ve worked hard to become an artist and I was even commissioned to create a huge mural in Queenstown International Airport. Up until recently I had been selling my artwork at markets but due to Covid-19 there are no longer any markets, therefore my work has dried up and impacted my income.

Stories are a great way to inspire our younger generation. What better way to combine all of my passions than to create children's books about my adventures!  

Each adventure is bursting with lessons to be learned and valuable skills. There is a moral behind each exciting journey that will captivate young children, get them thinking of all the adventures they could have and give them courage to dream big.  Most of all I believe it’s important to show all children that girls and women can achieve great physical and mental goals too.  

The first book 'The Girl That Ran Across Africa’ has already been written and a rough mock book has been produced to show the layout of each page.  Now, I need the time to create the final illustrations of the book myself.  Each page of the story will be vibrant and eye catching, with many topics of discussion and conversation starters found within the pictures.  This book will be unique in the fact that the main character, the author and the illustrator are all the same person.  With this in mind, once the book is produced, I would love to visit primary schools and share my story with the children as a real life role model.

The generous funds that you donate will be used in two ways. The first $4000 will enable me to take three months away from work and put all of my time and energy into creating the illustrations for the book. On my website and social media accounts you can see examples of the artwork that I've already completed. Then, $5000 will go towards printing my first batch of books. The other $900 will be the percentage that goes to the crowdfunding website for hosting the campaign.

I finished writing the story and completed a rough layout of the illustrations about a year ago. My hope was that I would be able to work on the final pictures in my spare time. Unfortunately, I haven't had any spare time as I work so much and due to my undiagnosed leg problem I spend lots of time and money on healthcare. This is why it's so important for me to allocate my full attention to this project. The hardest parts have already been done... I've run across Africa... I've written the book... now I just need time to get the pictures done.

As a donor you will have access to an exclusive facebook group privy to the development of the book.  You will be able to witness the artwork being created and give feedback throughout the process. This is the only place where anyone will be able to access the entire story and all of the illustrations together.

PRIVATE FACEBOOK GROUP FOR DONORS: https://www.facebook.com/groups/3000554973326214

What better way to instil self-belief into people than to teach them they can achieve their dreams from a young age.

Through my true story children can learn that if they set their minds to something they can achieve whatever they desire.  They are guided through my journey and can experience the highs and lows with a lesson in staying focused even when times are tough.  They'll learn about the different countries I ran through, the animals I saw, and the variety of people and cultures I came across.  This aims to help broaden children’s understanding of the world and other cultures.  At a time when the world is in crisis, it’s really important to show that we are one global community and we care for each other.

To everyone that shows their kindness through donating, however big or small, I can’t thank you enough. This is not only you showing support but this is you telling me that you believe in me.  Your money is not only allowing me to complete my dream but it will spread much further as we show children that they too can have huge goals and work hard to make them a reality.

Website: http://www.emmatimmis.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Missemmatimmis

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emma.timmis.artist/