THE founder of a York fair trade business has set up a new charity to help his suppliers in Kenya.

He is now trying to raise enough money to bring a troupe of teenage dancers from a slum in Nairobi, to tour the UK.

In May, Jeremy Piercy, founder of gift shop Shared Earth, visited the slums of Nairobi in Kenya, from where he sources some of the shop’s fair trade jewellery. As well as the jewellery workshop, he found other projects were being run to keep young people off the streets and out of crime.

He said: “I discovered it was more than a jewellery workshop. There was also a football academy, dance academy and various other projects whose aim is to involve young people in activities so they’re not getting into drugs and crime.”

At present about 80 per cent of youths in the slum go into crime, he said, usually at the age of about 13 or 14, because there is no more education and no prospect of work.

Jeremy said: “I was impressed by the enormous enthusiasm of these dancers. They did a performance for us and I was mesmerised because of the enormous passion all these young teenagers were showing.”

He said the youngsters had never been out of Nairobi and they told him their ultimate ambition was to travel abroad.

So Jeremy set up Walk Against Crime, a charity which aims to raise £30,000 to pay for the dancers to do a tour of the UK and to market their skills back in Kenya so they can give performances to tourists and others in East Africa.

To raise funds for the tour next summer, Jeremy will walk 1,200 miles from Land’s End to John O’Groats between April and June 2012, and he has already attracted interest from hundreds of people wanting to walk at least part of the route with him.

Other fundraising events include a Karaoke Against Crime evening in October, and a Speed-dating Walk Against Crime.

Shops, art galleries and businesses have already pledged more than £7,000, and two schools in York have indicated that they would like to sponsor a dancer.

Email info@walkagainstcrime.org or call Jeremy on 01904 655314 to get involved.