Story
<p>READ THIS TOO, just click read more below :) Iulia </p>
<p>Thank you for visiting my fundraising webpage! I just completed the bike ride organized by LEPRA Health in Action UK and LEPRA India and I am fundraising until the end of the year, so you can still make a contribution.</p>
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<p>The trip was amazing, I truly loved India and I miss it. It is mostly the people who are so special, warm, kind and welcoming. Even when meeting people with diseases such as leprosy, stigmatised by the society, I saw the smile and hope in their eyes and that gave meaning to this experience. </p>
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<p>We cycled about 400 km away from the tourist trail, meeting local people, visiting health centers, schools and tribal communities. We saw beautiful contryside and did as well some sightseeing and shopping.</p>
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<p>The fundraising you are supporting will bring a big change in many people's lives. LEPRA India Health in Action works to help restore health, hope and dignity, and long-term care to people living with diseases of poverty, such as leprosy, HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria. You can read more info on the organization's website, <a href="http://www.leprasociety.org">www.leprasociety.org</a>, or watch a short movie about the work the organization is doing <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eY_g-QHhvgk&amp;feature=player_embedded">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eY_g-QHhvgk&feature=player_embedded</a>, but I can give you an idea of how little money can help so much:</p>
<p>£5 are used by a cobbler to make special shoes for the insensitive feet of those affected by leprosy </p>
<p>£25 pays a health team educate the community about diseases of poverty or check children with early signs of diseases, thus ensuring they will not suffer the stigma, deformities and changes the diseases can cause if left untreated</p>
<p>£70 covers the cost of a paramedic for one month</p>
<p>£150 pays for surgery to help someone affected by leprosy use their hands again</p>
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<p>I know that the money you will donate will bring some sort of happiness for many people who don't even dream of having a small percentage of what we have and often take for granted.</p>
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<p>If you wonder how it all started, I found the link to the organization from a book my friend Merete recommended to read and I wanted to make a donation. That's when I saw the India bike ride trip and I knew it is something I want to do. I know I will appreciate from a new perspective my health and good life I have now in Norway.</p>
<p>Since July I have been making better friends with my bike. I even started loving the morning trips to work, which are not so frequent now due to weather...good that I also enjoy the SATS spinning classes! Being back from the trip, I must say all the training paid off! The roads were quite good except a few parts, but the heat and visits were quite tiresome, and the cycling did not come in as strenuous.</p>
<p>I hope you can make a small donation to help me reach my fundraising target! All the fundraised money is in the benefit of LEPRA, I paid the trip on my own.</p>
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<p>Iulia<em> </em></p>
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