Please sponsor me.
I'm running to keep
Africa Alive!
Sponsor Kwadwo Adjei-Barwuah
Most of you who’ve known me for a while know that the old Kwadwo wouldn’t run unless he had somewhere to run to. I did not condone running without purpose or destination. That all changed about a year ago.
I arrived in Bangalore, India, at dawn in June, 2007 and was met with the sight of virtually the entire city going for a walk. Saris met sneakers each morning for no reason other than to be healthy. This was pretty much an alien concept, but it grew on me. A couple of weeks later I was waking up an hour early to run with the masses (well, they walked, I ran). And just like that, I became a runner.
I’ve decided to graduate to marathon runner for another reason. And that reason is the number 58. The Ghanaian life expectancy is 12 years less than the three score and ten the bible gives us. It means that, with the retirement age at a modest 60, the average pensioner doesn’t live long enough to retire and spend any of their contributions.
Modern medicine is not going to solve everything. Proper exercise and healthy
diet are essential if these dismal numbers are to change. We need a wake up call!
Two years after losing a 40-year old colleague to a stroke, most people at my
workplace still don’t regard exercise or healthy eating as entirely necessary.
So I’m running. Twenty-six miles to support The Longevity Project. I ask that each of you back my physical effort with a donation. I’m asking for at least $30/Gh¢30 from each of you but please give whatever you can. It’s about a dollar or cedi a mile, plus a little extra for my trouble.
And don’t forget (Kwadwo steps off his soap box and tucks it away): I’m running 26 miles to help keep hope, and Africa, ALIVE!
Kwadwo Adjei-Barwuah