Toybox is taking seriously the outbreak of swine flu in Mexico and other countries around the world, particularly potential cases in the countries where we work – Guatemala, Bolivia and Peru.

The latest from the BBC is that there is now one suspected case in Guatemala and one in Peru. These are currently being investigated by the World Health Organisation as to whether they are definitely swine flu or not.

We are advising all our teams to be vigilant and ensuring that they know the symptoms. We will be monitoring the situation and working closely with our partners to minimise any potential risk to the children we work with, staff in-country, and volunteers from the UK.

For more information, please contact Emily Fyson on 01908 360081 or email Emily.fyson@toybox.org

We are so proud of our London Marathon runners who took part in the big one on Sunday. We had five intrepid athletes pounding 26 and a bit miles of London streets. Between them they ran over 130 miles and have so far raised over £5,000 to help street children in Latin America.

Our runners were:

Robbie MacNab – 4hrs 53 min

A first-time Marathon runner, Robbie says “it was a manic experience. The atmosphere was so good I was grinning most of the way round!”

Roger Blofeld - 4 hrs 32 mins      

Roger decided to dye his hair blue to stand out from the crowd! Roger has run for Toybox before. He said “I love the work that Toybox does with street children, so it was a priviledge to run for them again.”

Jess Reynolds and Lauren Morris – 5 hrs 57 mins

Jess and Lauren managed to stick together the whole way round and made it through despite dodgy knees! They were also dressed as Toybox super-heroes…which they certainly are!

Roy Matthews – 4 hrs 53 mins

Congratulations to everyone who took part and thank you so much for all the fundraising and awareness-raising you have done over the last few months. You are amazing!!

If you would like to run the London Marathon for Toybox, please get in touch with Justin Bloomfield on 01908 360074 or email justin.bloomfield@toybox.org

Next year it could be you…!

Toybox is taking seriously the outbreak of swine flu in Mexico and other countries across the world. As you may have seen in the news, there is a new strain of swine flu that has developed in Mexico City and appears to be spreading. The symptoms are similar to normal flu – headache, fever, runny nose, sore throat, diarrhoea and vomiting. The flu is transmitted by coughing, sneezing and contact, but not by eating pork.

There are currently 1,614 suspected cases in Mexico City and there have been 103 deaths – 20 of which have been confirmed as attributable to swine flu. The USA also have 20 confirmed cases and Canada 6 – all of which occur in people who have recently visited Mexico. New Zealand, Spain, UK, France, Israel and Brazil are also investigating potential cases.

At the moment there are no suspected or confirmed cases in Guatemala, Bolivia or Peru where we work. We are particularly aware that there may be a risk to Guatemala because it borders Mexico.

With this in mind, we are advising all our teams to be vigilant and ensuring that they know the symptoms. We will be monitoring the situation and working closely with our partners to minimise any potential risk to the children we work with, staff in-country, and volunteers from the UK.

The Guatemalan government has already taken precautions to protect the country by banning live pigs and porcine derivative imports from Mexico or crossing through Mexico.

For more information, please contact Emily Fyson on 01908 360081 or email Emily.fyson@toybox.org