One of our volunteers is quite mad. Well, that’s not actually true, it’s not just one of us, almost all of us are mad in some way. This particular volunteer, however, is mad in that he decided to run his first ultramarathon to raise money for this project. This, in and of itself is a little bonkers. Doing this in the heat and hills of Nepal (we are in the Terai rather than the Himalayas so the hills aren’t mountains) is a little crazy. Doing the final 2 kilometres backwards (because he guessed that this would encourage more people to donate more money – he was right) is definitely nuts!
And Saturday the 12th of April was the lucky day. He left base at about 5 in the morning, got a lift on a motorbike to his starting point (which was 15km in the wrong direction), he ran back past base and on to Hetauda. A few other volunteers ran with him at different points, or stood by the side of the road with water, snacks and encouraging signs. Quite a few did the final 2km with him (to make sure he didn’t fall over – which he didn’t). And a big group were waiting at the finish line with a line of flags and a medal.
5 hours and 19 minutes to do 54kms. What an amazing achievement! He raised more than 2,400USD which is incredible. If anyone is reading this and thinks that this insanity deserves support then please do feel free to donate to his fundraising page https://give.allhandsandhearts.org/fundraiser/6020070.
It is also worth mentioning that he was back on site at 7am the next morning to do another full day of work!
The work that we all do here for All Hands and Hearts and the members of this local community is really important to all of us. And while we can’t all run marathons, we come to Nepal (or to other places where All Hands and Hearts works), we live in shared accommodation with people who start as strangers and quickly become family, we work in the sun and the heat and the wind and the rain wrestling shovels and wheelbarrows and concrete mixers and paint brushes. And we spread the word of the work we do. We’re very lucky to receive support from lots of incredible people who put their hands in their pockets and donate. And that money helps to make our work possible.
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