Two of my cousins had already done challenges for other charities, and the three of us said: let's do something together.

I had a few reservations. I didn't want to end up trekking in the Peruvian undergrowth with a load of people I didn't know.

For some people, charity challenges are a cheap way of having a travel experience. Yes, you have to work hard to raise funds, and the charities benefit; but most people are more attracted by the destination than the charity. And the country rarely gets any of the money raised.

I wanted to do a trip with a charity I had a connection with and put money back into the country. For me as a gay man, HIV is a big issue. I'd seen a documentary on the HIV crisis in Malawi, and when I found out that ActionAid had projects there, I got in touch.

Then it was a matter of conning friends and family to come with me. Ten of us went in the end. All of us were from the Manchester area. It wasn't supposed to be a gay event but it more or less became that.

Our target for fundraising was £25,000. The gay scene in Manchester took us to its heart. We ended up with all kinds of celebrity supporters - Joanna Lumley, the MPs Charles Kennedy, Alan Duncan and Chris Smith, musicians like Cleo Laine and the conductor Mark Elder, footballer Trevor Sinclair and many more. We held a ball at Man U - they gave us the venue for free - and we raised £10,000 on one night. In the end we raised £40,000. [About £25,000 of this was net profit for ActionAid.]

The trip was 10 days in all, of which five were the cycling - around Lake Malawi, from Lilongwe to Mzuzu. My cousin, who had just turned 40 and is a bit overweight, fell off his bike on day one and broke his arm, but he continued anyway. When we finally got off our bikes after 300 miles in blistering heat and humidity, through hard terrain, we were in so much pain we all said we were never getting on a bike again.

In Mzuzu we visited one of the projects we were supporting - the St John's Support Project, for about 200 children orphaned by Aids, and it was unbelievable.

After all that physical challenge, seeing some of the kids who would benefit from what we'd done - there we were, seven gays, a lesbian and two straight men, all in tears.

We're getting ready for another fundraising challenge in March 2006: we're aiming to go in a group of 30, back to southern Malawi. It'll be a triathlon - cycling, hiking and kayaking. This time it'll be open to the public.

· To read more about the last Mission Malawi, visit mission-malawi.org.uk. To receive a free information pack on ActionAid charity challenges call 01460 238047, or visit actionaid.org.uk/adventures