Lara’s Visit to Lisbon

Lara’s Visit to Lisbon

Last edition we shared the news that Lara had qualified to participate in an international Hip Hop competition in Portugal. This is her update on how it all went.

Hi, my name is Lara Sutherland, I am 17 years old and in October of 2023 I had an amazing, once in a lifetime opportunity to travel to Lisbon, Portugal and compete in an international Hip-Hop dance competition, Hip Hop Unite. I got to compete alongside my team Rangers and explore with help from IDFNZ/The Kids Foundation. 

We competed two days in a row and made it to the Semi Finals. Leading up to the competition we trained everyday at a local dance studio and worked super hard for this competition. I'm so proud that I got to compete in hip hop at such a high level in an international competition. Getting to Portugal was challenging and we worked hard fundraising to get me and my mum there with the team and we are very grateful that Kids Foundation were able to sponsor me. Portugal is a beautiful country, and the people are really friendly. 

From Samantha ‘ I am so proud of Lara achieving this goal. The past few years after her second liver transplant have been really challenging health wise with ongoing pain and struggles with anxiety and depression from the load on her nervous system. Dance is the one thing that has kept Lara going through some tough times. She set the goal very high this year, joining a highly competitive dance team and working towards international competitions. Just before the competition Lara had suspected fractures in both her wrists, so competed while in a great deal of pain. Luckily, they turned out to be tendon damage but this shows you just how tough she is and what she had to overcome to perform’.

Thanks Kids Foundation for helping Lara achieve her goal of performing at the highest level!

We are proud of you Lara – you are an inspiration for other young members to follow their dreams!