Story
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-size: small; font-family: Calibri;">Dear everybody,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-size: small; font-family: Calibri;">Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-size: small; font-family: Calibri;">As you will have gathered, I will be one of those lucky people who will be running the London Marathon this year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or unlucky ones depending on your point of view.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, from my current perspective, I am looking forward to the challenge and the training which has been going well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So far anyway.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-size: small; font-family: Calibri;">As I see it there are two great things about the London Marathon as a participant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One is the challenge of running the race.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The other is the opportunity to be part of the world’s greatest annual fundraising event with all the people lining the streets in support and the great human spirit of the whole occasion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Attending to support a friend of mine, Naiem, as he made it round last year was the spur to commit myself to the event this time around.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-size: small; font-family: Calibri;">While I am managing the training so far with some help from my wife, Sazia (who is also running!) I will be looking for some support from all of you in fundraising for the charity I am running for which is Emerge Poverty Free.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">So who is Emerge Poverty Free?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It is a small charity which helps set up and run projects across distressed parts of the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their goal in each of these projects is to help transition a community from one that is struggling to survive into one that can support and sustain itself over time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their mission is basically to give people a chance to raise themselves out of their poverty spiral.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Within that their main focus is supporting the children as they are the most effective way to sustain long term change within a community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-size: small; font-family: Calibri;">And when I mention the charity is small, I really mean they are small.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The organisation basically consists of 8 full time staff and a team of volunteers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Last year, their projects helped over 172,000 people around the world.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-size: small; font-family: Calibri;">One of the main projects I would be looking to fundraise for is a programme supporting the street children of Gitega.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Gitega is a bustling city in the small African state of Burundi, one of the poorest countries in the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Burundi is a close neighbour to Rwanda and also has similar ethnic tensions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately, Burundi still remains mired in issues and Lonely Planet (my personal guide to how dangerous a country is) has it listed as ‘a highly volatile and dangerous destination’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Attached are some videos showcasing Emerge Poverty Free’s work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One is specifically about the Gitega street children project.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><a href="http://vimeo.com/weruk/videos"><span style="font-size: small; color: #800080; font-family: Calibri;">http://vimeo.com/weruk/videos</span></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-size: small; font-family: Calibri;">On top of running I am also writing a blog about the run up and training mainly with weekly recaps.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Partly to share and partly with capture as this may be the only marathon I ever do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you have a spare minute then have a read and if you have another spare minute or five then feel free to leave comments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Attached below is the link to the last post as I write this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is no reference to the chubby physio yet, but it is coming in week 7.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><a href="http://theartofrunningslowly.blogspot.com/2012_02_01_archive.html"><span style="font-size: small; color: #800080; font-family: Calibri;">http://theartofrunningslowly.blogspot.com/2012_02_01_archive.html</span></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-size: small; font-family: Calibri;">So please give what you can to Emerge Poverty Free.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a great cause and the closer I get to my target, the less likely my baking skills will be inflicted (and that is absolutely the right word!) on the world.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-size: small; font-family: Calibri;">Thanks for your time, money and support!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-size: small; font-family: Calibri;">Shouma</span></p>