Hi! Thanks for your support.
This is me on January 1st,
2006.
There was no reason back then to
not give myself the benefit of the doubt and say I would go back; however, for
a couch potato, going back to run 100km was/is definitively not plausible at
all. The Sahara is, in my existence, a place that defines me; a place I belong
to, not one I arrived at. From that trip in particular, there are 2 images that
linger in my memory: a lady, seconds before sunrise, washing clothes by hand
in snowy surroundings and taking advantage of a trickle of water coming down
from the mountain, and the children—from the towns we crossed—running next to
the Jeep yelling “a bol”, “a bol”. When
I inquired about it, they explained that they were asking for a pencil to go
to school and learn. It seems silly, but these small people will one day be
men and women who will transform the world that surrounds them, and the access
to education this ‘bol’ will grant them may make a positive change on that
inevitable transformation each generation brings with it. In Costa Rica,
for a while now, school desertion has been an unexplainable issue, and every time
I meet someone who decided to dropout and cannot explain why, I remember those
children yelling “a bol”, “a bol”, convinced that studying would transform
their lives positively.
So, today, this couch potato
challenges you:
She will get up on October 27th,
28th, and 29th, 2017, and she will complete 100km in the Sahara.
If you think it suitable, choose a km, whichever you like, and if she manages
to run up to it, she wins the challenge and you will give her a school package
(3 notebooks, 1 box of pencils, 1 eraser, 1 sharpener, 1 ruler, and 1
protractor). If she cannot, she will contribute with the equivalent to half a
package more, which she will deliver to a school in Saharaui (in the same area
of the race) on your behalf.
This challenge does not seek for
a study, a diagnosis, a revolution, least of all a bill, or to fix students’
conditions...no. It simply seeks to urge
you to understand and reflect on how your daily life makes an impact towards encouraging
those around you to study: can any person
of any age and educational level be inspired to/discouraged from studying by my
example? Do I externalize my idea of education as a process of
transformation/personal growth?
The chosen race is the Sahara
Race Marathon, II edition, which is organized by (http://www.sportsolidarite.com) native people from the Sahara;
the collected funds will be donated to a school or nursing home from the area
near where the race is held. In my opinion, it
is impossible to be more in synch! We
decided to take 250 school packages, and we adopted the African proverb “it takes a village to raise a child” as
our motto.
I have opened a euro savings
account—solely for this race—with Banco Nacional de Costa Rica. We
estimate that with 10 euros per km we will complete the school packages and make sure to deliver them in every school (any monetary resources
available will be converted into educational material).
3 things I believe are important
to add: if you are willing to sponsor more than one kilometer, give me the
contribution of your km, and convince other people to challenge me, thus widening
the scope of the goal of this campaign, which is personal reflection.
Second, to date I have the honor
of taking 2 school packages from young people who abandoned formal education
and promised me to, one day—when it becomes clear to them—explain why they do
not see Costa Rican education as a path to improvement. If it takes a village to raise a child, surely we, as a society, are
stuck with all those who dropped out.
Last but not least, thank you to
all those who, since October 20th, 2014, have supported me in
various way and prevented me from slowing down the pace of my training, those who
have accompanied me, given me advice, donated their glasses, sneakers, socks,
saline solutions, x-rays, physical therapy appointments, financial
contributions for registrations, medical examinations required by the
organization, and the airplane ticket… so so many flanks from which I could
have faltered/had an excuse, and in each of them I found someone telling me:
COME ON, COME ON, REBE! IF YOU
CAN ONLY TAKE 3 STEPS, TAKE THEM
Currently, there are 25 km
reserved, from which 5 have already been collected, and seconds before this
publication I was told there are 2 primary school students checking their
savings to challenge me….
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!
 |
| Update, march 29, 2017, 21:59 |
