Armrunning in memory of Mom Campaign

Arm running 80 km in memory of my Mom, to raise funds for the UWC Fairy Godmother

My Mom died in November. We are heartbroken. Grief is a horrible thing, I need something to channel it into. My Mom would’ve turned 80 on 11 February, 2024. 

She was an incredible woman: kind, welcoming, funny and clever. She believed strongly in the power of education. And planting trees. And cake. To celebrate her life and loveliness, to push my grief to something useful, I’m going to ‘arm-run’ 80 km before her birthday, to raise funds for the UWC Fairy Godmother.

Yip, you read that right. Arm. Running. I know, it's a terrible name, but I couldn't think of a better one.

Let me explain from the beginning. Not to take anything from those who chase X number of steps a day on their fruity little watches and phones, but I discovered a while ago - to my great amusement - that (even) I have been doing some steps each day.

Why the amusement, why the (even), you ask? Well, because I’m quadriplegic and have been in a wheelchair since I had a car accident when I was 21. In other words, the last time I took any steps using my actual legs was on the 1st of December, 1996. Thus my amusement at the miracle of my taking steps (entirely unbeknownst to me), according to my phone. Admittedly just 10 or 20 a day, but still.

The discovery resulted in my experimenting a bit: making ‘walking’ movements with my arms. It works! I found myself doing over 500 ‘steps’ the other day. Even better, it got my heart rate up, my cheeks flushed and I was even a little out of breath. All while watching Schitt’s Creek on Netflix (it’s like my security blanket, that show). In my bed.

The UWC Fairy Godmother is a wonderful woman who receives requests from students at UWC who are struggling. They are extremely humble requests: R200 for groceries, R50 for data so that they can study, R300 for an outfit to go for an interview, R500 for rent. These small amounts make a huge difference to students who are, far too often, trying to study on an empty tummy. See https://www.facebook.com/UWC-Fairy-Godmother-312332205897168/

Everything you donate will go directly to the UWC Fairy Godmother and then on to bright young South Africans trying their very best to get an education under extremely hard circumstances. 

My Mom believed that the only way to make things better is through education, and so do I, so I’m going to use my arms to do the walking and I hope you’ll help me help the UWC Fairy Godmother do her amazing things by letting your wallets do the talking.

Please sponsor my hare-brained little scheme. I’ll post updates about how far I’ve got, in steps and kilometres, thanks to my clever little phone so you know how far I’ve got.

For my lovely Mom, here we go.