Catonsville resident John Walsh and his daughter, Emily, are gearing up for a 300-kilometer trek across Kenya's Rift Valley next month.

The distance amounts to almost 188 miles, a daunting task for anyone unaccustomed, as the elder Walsh is, to strenuous exercise.

And while the 57-year-old noted that his 11-mile practice walk recently showed he can handle the daily mileage expected of him in Africa, his 25-year-old offspring smiled.

"This trip is going to make pulling grown men out of the ocean seem like a cake walk," said Emily, a Washington D.C. resident who worked her college summers as a lifeguard in Nantucket, Mass.

Inspiration for father and daughter comes from knowing that the $10,000 each will raise in completing the trek will help orphans left by the AIDS pandemic in East Africa.

Organized by a family friend, Michael Farley, A Proper Walk 2008 benefits a resource center in Makindu, Kenya, that offers nutritional, medical and emotional support, access to basic education and opportunities for vocational training for more 300 AIDS orphans in Makindu.

Without such resources, the children might be left to roam the community defenseless, ragged and starving, according to John Walsh.

The center is operated by an Oregon-based, nonprofit Makindu Children's Program.

Describing the trek as "physically challenging," Farley said it is "nothing compared to the challenges these children face every day."

Camels will follow the group, carrying food and camping gear and, if necessary, providing transportation for anyone who needs it.

Recalling his camel-riding experience on previous trips to Africa as "not particularly comfortable," John Walsh said the unpleasant memory would inspire him to stay afoot.

Guides will manage the animals and camp setup and, using a satellite phone, call for medical evacuation by helicopter if necessary.

If all goes as planned, the 10 walkers, of which John Walsh is the only one from Maryland, will raise a total of $100,000 for the AIDS orphans.

Emily has sent letters to friends and family members asking for donations.

John and Emily have both visited Africa, he five times and she twice, and love it.

John was a Peace Corps volunteer in Ghana during the 1970s and returned with his family in the mid-1990s when his wife, Kate, established the Baraka School in Kenya for inner city Baltimore youth.

The program ended in 2003.

Emily was born in Takoma Park, grew up in Catonsville and attended Catonsville Elementary School, Bryn Mawr School, in Baltimore, and Notre Dame Preparatory School, in Towson.

A 2007 graduate of Syracuse University, where she majored in international relations, she joined the staff of the public health care provider Unity Health Care, in Washington, in February as a special assistant for policy and regulatory affairs.

Her father also works in Washington, as chief of staff and public affairs for the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, a federal agency that charters, regulates and supervises all national banks.

Looking forward to his August trip to Kenya, Walsh recently began getting off Washington's Metro ahead of his usual stop for work to hone his walking skills.

An experienced runner, his daughter has shifted gears to a slower pace in practicing for the walk.

"She can probably do this standing on her head," John Walsh said.

John and Emily leave Aug. 5 for Nairobi, Kenya, by way of London, and plan to return home Aug. 24.

For information or to participate in the fundraiser, go to makindu.org.

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