The name 'marathon', comes from the legend of Pheidippides, a Greek soldier, who was sent from the town of Marathon to Athens in 490B.C. to announce that the Persians had been defeated in the Battle of Marathon. It is said that he ran the entire distance without stopping....and in 2009, I shall be attempting to recreate his journey (though perhaps a little slower, and with less important news). On November 8th, I will be running the original marathon route from Marathon to Athens and hopefully seeing the pay off from months of early morning runs and losing friends and family due to boring running anecdotes.
It will be hot. it will be hilly. and it will hurt.
However, I am doing this for two great causes - a small UK-based charity called Afrikids, and an even smaller and unknown organisation called 'Casa Ruth' based in Naples. I have personal interests in both of these organisations and I strongly believe in what they are trying to achieve. We would appreciate anything you can give.
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Afrikids:
AfriKids is a Child Rights Organisation, which works alongside indigenous communities in Ghana to improve the quality of life for rejected and vulnerable children. AfriKids specifically targets the root causes of the children's problems, by improving community support services and by providing access to basic education and primary health care.
Casa Ruth:
Casa ‘Ruth’ is a ‘house of recovery and integration’ in Naples for migrant trafficked women from Africa who have escaped enslavement in prostitution, and daily acts of physical and psychological violence. Casa Ruth guides and supports them along the way, empowering them to actively take charge of their lives rather than encouraging charity to come to them, or labelling them as ‘victims’.
Casa Ruth is a beacon of good practice, a small but respected and well-known organisation that works with local and national institutions on the issue of trafficking, and strives for justice in a country where inequality and exploitation are rife. Together they stand for the voice of the invisible and unheard, of those who are arguably the most marginalised and without rights.
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