7 March 2011

I have already been back for almost 3 weeks and struggling to meet my target, within the next two weeks. I need all the help I can get!

Thanks again for your support!

Iulia xx

 

14 Feb 2011 - back from Ethiopia

I have just returned from the adventure of my life on Saturday morning and slept for 18 hours through. I didn't even realize I was that tired. I guess I have just concentrated on getting to the top of the mountain without thinking about my body's needs. It was tough, panting for air, shivering at night in my sleeping bag, collecting dust under my fingernails, but to be completely honest nothing that I have been through even begins to compare with the hardships the locals have to put up with every single day...

This makes me even more proud of the cause I am supporting and really grateful for the life I was blessed with, for the friends I can rely on and for the opportunity of having done something so extraordinary.

Words simply can't describe the beauty of the Simien mountains and the emotional experience that this has been.

I still need your help to reach my target, so if you haven't done so yet, please do it. Every little counts!

Thank you!

Iulia

xxx

 

 

02 Feb - Groundhog Day!

 

Is this the end of winter? It certainly is for me :)

I am off on my adventure in 2 days time. I am excited to the point that I am becoming frightened... Have I done all my preparations? Yes. I have received my visa, vaccinations, malaria tablets, medical form etc etc., but in terms of training, I've fallen a bit behind with all the other preparations. I guess that now only mentally I can succeed so let's see how it goes... I must allow myself to unwind and get into that mind zone that will make the most of my adventure spriritually. So far, I am nervous and can't seem to be able to.

I am still not off the woods yet with my fundraising but thank you very much again for your support so far and keep 'em coming!

Iulia

xxx

 

 

24 Jan

 

The fundrasing party on Saturday was an immense success. I would like to thank everyone for participating and for generously contributing to my fundraising. With your help, I have raised £430 that night.

Also, a very special thank you to those who have helped me organizing it, especially to Magda and Edyta who have made it such an original and well organized event (yes, I am talking about the cupcakes and the children's drawings!).

Frankly, I was slightly scared of the amount of people that have confirmed attendance, but only half of them turned up, which made it more manageable,however, I did feel that they have missed on a great party. Oh well, there will be more as I still need to raise £1500. Now I am at 55% of my target now and really impressed both with me (remember, I didn't think I could do it!) and with you for being so supportive and generous!

 

Thank you!!!!!

 

Iulia xx

 

 

18 jan

I am absolutely overwhelmed by your generosity and if I ever had any doubts about raising the money (of course I did, just see below :) I am no longer stressing about reaching my target. I have and will continue to donate offline to cover for most of my travel costs but your help is still greatky appreciated.

Now that I have (more or less) covered my training regime (mostly going out drinking lol!), the newest stress element on the agenda is finding the proper gear, getting all my vaccinations done in time and sorting out visas, paperwork etc.

 

Since as they say, no good deed goes unpunished, trying to get my immunisation at the local GP turned out to be a disaster as they have lost my records and didn't give me any jabs yesterday. What a waste of time. However, who said saving the world was going to be easy? I am sorting all these out as we speak by going to a travel clinic in Central London! Thank God they exist :) 

Now all I need is a pair of sturdy trekking boots, a good sleeping bag (it seems that we'll be sleeping at 0 degrees brrrrr!), a cool hat and all the others nitties and gritties. So wish me luck :) And keep those donations pouring ;)

 

xx

 

9 Jan 2011

Today I went for a very long walk in Greenwich park to test my resistance and I feel a bit achy, but generally not bad. Still have to push hard for the next three weeks but making sure my mind is determined to get to the top. I think I'll be all right.

I have a tendency to get bored of the same thing, so I am trying to vary the exercise. Going for long walks, running, water workout and lots of other funky classes. So far so good! All I need now is to carry on training and achieve my target!

Thanks a lot for helping.

xx

 

 

Dec 2010

So, after the initial excitement of “Oh, my God, I am actually doing this!” I reached the inevitable “Oh, my God, how am I going to do this?...” It looks like raising money it’s far more stressful and complicated than I ever anticipated.

Firstly, I started pretty late... It wasn’t that I was half hearted about climbing mountains, but fundraising the whole amount seemed something far more complicated. But as I always do (and believe me, it’s brought me more troubles than benefits) I just decided to go for it, either way.

Yeah, it’s easy to say, I’ll do it next year, I’ll do it when the sun will shine, when I’ll have more money so I can practically pay for it myself entirely without going through the hassle of raising money etc etc. But they are all just excuses for not doing things and as cliché as this sounds, life really is short! And, since a recent epiphany, I have decided never to leave things for later. As troublesome as this may be!

So here I am struggling. I managed to schedule a fund raising fancy dress party on 22^nd of January at my flat (thanks to a few very dedicated friends) and currently trying to negotiate some deals with the local pubs for a pub quiz night or darts championship. I offered to sing karaoke all night in return for donations but they kindly asked me not to do so. They must have heard me singing before... Anyway, slowly slowly and mostly through begging or emotionally blackmailing all my friends for sponsorship, I have started to build up the necessary amount. In fact, I have reached 11% of my target, which is not too bad considering how late I have started my fundraising campaign. However, my place has been booked and half of the money (£1500) need to reach the charity by first week of January. Hmmm.... Complicated stuff, huh?...

For those of you wanting to know about how my training is going, I have disturbing news. I have been stressing so much about gathering funds, that I have actually eaten a lot of the chocolate I brought in to work to try and sweeten people up towards my case, I have been drinking a lot at the Xmas party trying to forget all about not reaching my target and when finally I took a strong direction towards they gym, I ended up with painful muscular cramps following an intense session of body pump. So apart of the regular jogging (which I must admit, is not great on ice), I am not doing a lot. Truth be told, I did a bit of surfing a couple of weeks ago which did improve my stamina but left me with a cold that doesn’t want to go away...

Anyway, just thought I’d keep you all up to date with how everything is going. In case I do get stranded trying to go home for Xmas, I promise I’ll do some working out with the shovel at the front door and maybe skip the Xmas turkey in favour or some delicious energy bars.

So, if you have not been impressed by the suffering people in Africa, I am sure that after reading this, you can’t help but wipe that tear off the corner of your eye.

Merry Christmas!!

 

Iulia xxx

 

 
Transaid is a charity working across a number of countries in Africa (Nigeria, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania, Zimbabwe etc) to help improve transport. It is not only about crisis management but about improvement and development, which can only set up an example that in these countries things can actually be better. Why transport? Because the number of deaths caused by road accidents in some African countries is higher than the ones provoked by AIDS. Women die in childbirth because they cannot access healthcare facilities in time, children go uneducated because they live too far from the nearest school, women struggle with the daily drudge of finding fuel and water and carrying food for their families, and people cannot easily get to their place of work due to the lack of available or affordable transport.
 

 

Suggested donations: minimum £10 per person (to help me reach my sponsorhip target), but any amount is welcome.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.