Hello rebels,

Just the fact that you're taking the time to visit this website and reading this very blurb makes you a radical because you're curious! Curious enough to know all the noise I've been making about my November half marathon and the charity linked to it. So, first and foremost, THANK YOU for taking a peek at this! It truly is one of the first steps to brining positive change and hope to a place where these are most needed. At the end of this blurb, I hope you will be on board with this journey and we can collectively share in the vision of brining clean water, life, to Africa.

So, let’s talk about the journey a little bit. Basically, I’m running. I’m running to raise money to bring clean water to one of Africa’s poorest countries, Ethiopia. Ethiopia and its neighboring countries like Somalia, Kenya, Djibouti have been hit severely with a famine about three months ago. It has been the worst famine in the past 60 years and about 13 million people (mostly women and children) are affected pretty badly with malnutrition and lack of clean water. I read this on BBC and watched it on CNN for a good month. I felt paralyzed and wanted to turn away like the problem did not exist, but that wouldn’t be the right thing to do. So, I decided to run. Run so that I can fund a drilling rig fleet. Run so that I can help build 80 more wells per year. Run so that I can do something about Africa’s worst crisis yet.

Water is essential to us who live in America as well as those in Ethiopia. Ethiopian children and women spend an average of 3 hours walking to the nearest water source to gather water; time spent doing this prevents them from getting an education, working, or taking care of their families. Health is another issue too. Water born diseases like diarrhea, dysentery, and Cholera are easily preventable but without clean water, many infants and children face illness and death. Moreover, because clean water is so scarce, the poorest households in Africa are forced to spend up to 11% of their income to purchase water. Can you imagine paying more than $2.00 for a regular bottle of water?

With all this in mind, here’s the master plan to bring clean water to Ethiopia:

My half marathon is on Sunday, November 20th in downtown Philadelphia, PA.
A half marathon is 13.1miles.
I am asking each sponsor to donate $13.00 ($1 per mile).
I plan to find 200 sponsors.
Therefore, my end goal is going to be $2,600 ($13.00 x 200 sponsors).

100% of your money goes to Ethiopia and charity:water gives updates on the water project through Google Maps and photos so you can see how your money is spent!

So, I’m getting myself busy training for the half-marathon these days. Would you join me in running this race?

Because I believe in changing the world,

Joyce :)