The Moonwalk

 

The Moonwalk. 45km, 7 hours, 2200m of ascent and all of it in the dead of night.

At the start of this charity event Damian Richmond from Hope Builders told the assembled field about a young Ugandan girl. She was found collecting scrap metal on a tip. She would sell it to survive. This was her life. This is what she would do every day. When Hope Builders found her and took her in they also discovered that she had typhoid. In Uganda typhoid is basically a death sentence. If she had not been rescued from her life as it was, she would not be alive today.

Listening to Damien was a moment and a memory that will stay with me, and the 90 other walkers/runners, for a long, long time. An event like this does that. It generates memories.

The memories started several months ago when a casual chat with my boss got us on to what the year 5/6’s at our school could focus on for their fundraising efforts this year. I suggested Go The Extra Mile and got in touch with Peter Jackel from ‘GTEM’ to see what we could do. Couple of chats, couple of emails and we launched the 50km School’s Walk, to be held during the month of November, to the kids. The connection is the key. My kids listened and connected to the story of these kids in Uganda. Money started pouring in. All I did was ask the question every day. “Does anybody want to throw some change Uganda’s way?”

I kept telling them about the plight of these orphans and kept inviting them to be involved. One kid asked me one day, “Are you trying to make us feel guilty?” Good question. I wasn’t going for that emotion but it dawned on me that maybe these kids were really starting to question how it could be fair and reasonable that they have so much and that others have absolutely nothing. For some it wasn’t sitting so well.

I showed them this video.

 

The next day I looked in the money collection box and saw a one hundred dollar note. One of my kids had been throwing in a few coins from other countries as a bit of a joke so I thought the hunj must have been a fake. Nobody had made a big deal of the big note so it had to be a joke. I then actually held the note up to the window to look for what, I don’t really know. Later in the day other kids were throwing a few coins in and noticed the hundred. Still nobody had announced that he/she had given so much. The kids who saw the green made a big fuss about it and started asking the class. Kids came from all parts to see the note and still no fuss from the donor. They asked me who had put it in, I said I didn’t know.  Lots of chatter, lots of commotion. I looked up and among all of the noise one boy stood silent with a smile on his face. I said, “it was you, wasn’t it?” He just nodded, smiling. He had connected, gone home and asked his parents if he could use a hundred of his own saved money to donate.

That memory will last forever.

I learnt a lot about fundraising during this process. At times I was frustrated because I thought some people could be doing more, giving more. I didn’t verbalise this but just wondered why. I learnt that it really doesn’t matter why. All you can do is put it out there. It’s more about offering people an opportunity to help rather than simply asking for some cash.

So as some sections were not so involved, others were connecting so strongly and out of the blue. My son attends St Louis’ primary school and spends a fair bit of time in before and after care there. The leader of that program is a friend of my wife and was aware that I was doing the Moonwalk. She asked if she could get involved. Louise launched the idea to the kids in ‘Afters’ and like a fighting Marlin they latched on and they were off. Kids ranging from 5-12 years got involved in 3 big fundraising efforts. These kids who are in and out of each other’s company at the tired ends of the day came together and did something really special.

They raised more money than Afters has ever done before. Niamh (or Neve, not sure of spelling) presented me with the heavy bag of cash and said a few really nice words. It was my turn to respond. As I started I looked around the room and noticed the connection. There were kids hanging on my every word as I told them what their efforts would mean to kids, their age, in Uganda. Their eye contact didn’t shift. Mine had to though as I almost teared up. Just fantastic kids.

That memory will last forever.

In the Moonwalk event itself, I had a great time. I absolutely loved it. This claim won’t make sense as you read on but it’s the truth. Honest, really…

I had done the same event two years ago and it did a number on me back then as well. The amount of ascent on it is equivalent to going from sea level to the top of Mt Kosciousko. All within 45km. That’s nasty. However this year it was the downhills that smashed me. I haven’t done much time in the hills this year as it’s all been about training for the marathon. I went in fit but not ‘hill fit’. Into the third of the four sections I was approaching the point of being pretty much cactus. My quads were shot to ribbons and any downhill was agony. The flats weren’t much better. Running along in the last section next to my buddy, Beardy, I said that I was almost looking forward to the last four km of the course which were all very steep uphill on single track. It did give some respite to the quads but after about a minute it was all shades of ugly again.

Going up this last stretch at 3.30am, many things went through my mind.

*The girl collecting scrap metal in Uganda,

*The smiling hundred dollar donor and

*The St Louis’ Legends of After Care.

All of these thoughts helped me keep going but I was still struggling big at times. Then without warning one of my teammates put his hand right in the middle of my back and began to push. He said if it was annoying he’d stop. It wasn’t annoying, it was freakin’ beautiful. I didn’t look back at him. We just moved on, together. Connected.

That memory will last forever.

To me this moment symbolised the whole Moonwalk event. We are raising money for kids who will never see us or know us. But we simply put a hand out, connect and move with them to a better place.

The Moonwalk saves lives in Uganda. In Australia the Moonwalk may not save lives but it has definitely changed the lives of many. I am one of these.