The Journey
“…and they say ‘Life’s too short’ and I say ‘Live your life and forget your age.’”
Today I merged the two and made two crucial decisions:
1. I will raise much-needed funds for my amazing sister, Rita Miller, women’s health projects (Rwenzori Women for Health) in Kagando, western Uganda at the foot of the Rwenzori Mountains.
2. I will do so by qualifying for swimming in the 2023 19th FINA World Masters Swimming Championships, which will be held across the three beautiful cities of Fukuoka, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, August 2-11, 2023, on the island of Kyushu, Japan.
I did not decide to do this on the spur of the moment. Sitting in the garden on a warm, sunny afternoon sipping a cappuccino with my better half, Amanda, and daughter Myrthe, talk came round to fitness (mine especially) and the thought of competing internationally again – if ever. COVID had, so far, frustrated my efforts in this respect. My mojo was a yoyo. Ten years ago, I turned sixty and grumpy and had a post-mid-life crisis: unfit, overweight and a busy consultancy business. So then I decided to do something about it and also raise funds for Rita’s projects, which she had started in Uganda Fast-forward ten years and a second hip surgery (the left one this time) later, and… it’s back to the future. So…I decided to do something about it by getting back to some serious swimming. Why? – you may well ask.
Rita is a nurse practitioner. Most of the time she’s to be found in a little village called Kagando at the base of the Rwenzori mountains in western Uganda, helping the people there and in the surrounding villages. This region is one of the poorest and frequently blighted by either floods or droughts. Recently, funding for the projects she had started some 10 years ago has dried up. So, as then, my goal now would be to raise as much funds as possible for Rita’s work over in Kagando, by taking on a significant challenge.
My initial thought was to swim in the FINA World Masters Championships in Budapest next year; but hang on…looking up the when and where, surprise, surprise, FINA had changed the where to halfway round the world… so that was that. The challenge would be expensive and time-consuming; but both Amanda and Myrthe insisted that I should go for it. I have loads of KLM Air Miles and Hyatt points – immediately things were looking up and I was getting excited. This could happen! Amanda is my biggest supporter and she kept saying what an achievement that would be and, in any case, it’s good for my health and most of all Rita would be able to continue her great work in Africa! I can’t argue with that.
This time, I thought, I will also open the challenge up to my swim friends who may want to join me in this journey (metaphorically speaking) and help in fundraising. Ten years ago it was myself and my swim buddy and now trainer extraordinaire Jackie Barbour-Tuin. We raised around $1500, which was less than the target of $5000; but Rita made good use of it and it did go a long way in Kagando. This time, I hope that, with the help of friends, I will be able to achieve that original target of $5000, or hopefully even double it!
So now it’s for REAL. I just hope that I’ll be able to keep training and remain in good health, no COVID interruptions or other world cataclysmic event. I need to have a good reason to relieve most of you of your hard-earned cash. But, hey, as they say – it’s for a great cause!
If you want to join me on this journey, this is how the sponsorship works:
I’ll be training and swimming competitively to make qualifying times for at least five events – one of which is the 400m Individual Medley (100m of each stroke – butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle), also known as the Black Widow! So people can sponsor the number of qualifiers I manage. A second way would be to sponsor setting Personal Best (PB) times. Or both!
Every little bit helps. I hope to post updates to this blog frequently. I will also be posting updates on my GoFundMe page and on the Rwenzori Health Swim Challenge (formerly the Kagando Care Swim Challenge) on FaceBook. All swimmers of all levels are welcome to join me on this journey. The people of the Rwenzori will be forever thankful.
Of course you can always donate any amount at any time in the coming months! All donations will go directly to the various projects. None of the donations will be allocated to my travel to, and accommodation in, Japan. These are self-funded.