You didn't expect that pic for a Sunday update, did you? Yesterday, I ran a 5k as a part of Drake Relays Road Races. It was FREEZING - hence all the layers of clothing in the photo, and I had some awesome comaraderie with me in the form of two brothers from my college years (at Drake University, finishing 40 years ago this year), some of their family, a local brother, and another friend from college that lives in Illinois that IĀ wasn't expecting to see (and his daughter). So, "how in the world are you going to tie this to Shoulder 2 Shoulder," you may ask... good question...
First of all, let me connect a couple of dots. Each of the connections I mentioned above are connected in some way to either the work in Zambia or our previous work in Ghana, with two of the friends mentioned above being current, regular supporters of Shoulder 2 Shoulder. Those are really fun connections for me!!
Let me back up, for our African readers... here in America, because many of our lives are relatively SOFT and we sit behind desks all day, many of us find ways to punish our bodies in the hopes that the additional physical exertion will add quality to our lives and burn off some of the surplus calories we have consumed - quality now, but especially later in life. So... we run. Or we work with weights. Or we do yoga or Pilates or play sports (even soccer for some... not me, of course). And occasionally we bring our personal running into connection with a bunch of other runners at an organized event like this. There were three separate races this morning: a 5k (which IĀ completed), a 10k, and a half marathon (13.1 miles), and there were over 1,000 participants in EACH of those events. The pic shows me finishing on the actual track at Drake University, where several friends will join me later this week to watch a HUGE track meet (the Drake Relays) - a meet that will include several recent and future Olympians. I know you all do appreciate SPORTĀ - that's why IĀ mentioned soccer above (sorry, if IĀ call it "futbol" it will confuse my American friends), but I wanted to give you specific background into the "why" of the event.
To my American readers, Rog and IĀ have been runners all our lives, and have even run a couple times in Africa. I don't recommend the running in Africa part. But we are runners, so we had to try! We even talked a couple of our African hosts into running with us. But, for the most part, our African brothers and sisters do NOT need to find a way to punish their bodies or burn surplus calories because their lives are hard enough without the added effort.
In specific relation to the brothers and sisters we are serving in Zambia through S2S, if you are only taking in calories a handful of times A WEEK, you are probably not running. Not trying to build muscle or to lose weight. You are just trying to survive. Currently our program is taking over 3,300 families each month from this SURVIVALĀ mode of existence and trying to move them into a place where they can just begin to FLOURISH. In a country where there are MILLIONS undernourished, this is a very small effort. But in those 3,300 familes we are making a difference for sure.
How are we impacting 3,300 families a month? And can anyone participate? If so, how?
Thanks for asking! :)
Two primary ways:
1) We are impacting 3,300 families a month primarily because last year at this time we raised enough funds to purchase around 500,000kg of the maize harvest. We then passed it around to a little more than 100 church communities mostly centered in seven regions in Zambia. We track its use, through our team in Zambia, and we give direction monthly, through our team in Zambia, and it is gradually used up over a period of twelve months. It will be gone in June...
2) We currently have 38 donors (and a handful of American churches) that give on a recurring basis every month. Those monthly donations allow us to pay our team in Zambia, provide funds for shelling the corn to those that are receiving from last year's harvest, and purchase corn meal at the store in 13 church communities where we either couldn't find maize to buy at the time of last year's harvest or they didn't have available storage facilities.
You might have caught that it is currently the time of year when we raise funds for the harvest acquisition. The harvest has already begun for some who planted very early, but for most it will happen over the next two months. That gives us another six weeks or so to raise funds. If you can help us, here is the great news: historically it has cost us around $5 to impact one family for one month. That means for $60 we can impact one family monthly for twelve months. And for $600 we can impact TENĀ families monthly for twelve months. And for $6,000 we can impact ONE HUNDRED families monthly for twelve months. Please feel free to do your own math and join us at whatever level fits your financial wherewithal!!
Still curious about the running? After Saturday's VERY chilly run (in which IĀ finished 5th of 31 men in my age group), I am entered to run an event called The Grand Blue Mile on Tuesday of this week. In this event, likely another several thousand runners will congregate right in downtown Des Moines and run just ONE MILE (for the African readers, this is only 1.61km) on a course that starts at the west end of the downtown area, runs east for a little less than a half mile, takes a city block to turn around, and then runs back to where we started. Besides the difference in length, the forecast at the moment calls for a VERY WARMĀ day Tuesday, so I'm expecting Tuesday evening to be much more enjoyable from a weather standpoint. Ā But I'm glad it's a shorter run, because running in the heat in Iowa does remind me a little of running in Africa...
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