Poverty

Vietnam, originally uploaded by www.alastairhumphreys.com.

Today's Blog Action Day is devoted to the issue of poverty. The day encourages bloggers to do whatever they see fit to remind people about global poverty. One billion people still have to exist on just a dollar a day. Over one million children across Europe still live in state institutions. The charity I have supported on my recent projects are doing superb work with poor, vulnerable children worldwide and you can learn more about their work here. Thank you.

Project Harar Ethiopia

Today I had a very inspiring lunch with Jonathan Crown, founder of Project Harar Ethiopia. He was passionate, ambitious and determined to make an impact in the lives of young people with severe facial disfigurements in the poorest areas of Ethiopia.
Here are the key points of their work:
• We treat patients with a facial disfigurement no matter what the cause of their illness, injury or disability.
• We go to the people in need. We save our patients the ordeal and expense of travelling to a big city, where they may not even be suitable for treatment.
• We support a guardian to accompany our young patients and give moral encouragement to the children.
• We work in partnership with Ethiopian and European medics to ensure our work leaves a lasting positive impact on the capacity of the Ethiopian healthcare system.
• We give long-term after-care, ensure that secondary procedures are carried out and that our young patients thrive at home.
To learn more about their work please do visit their website.

The London Gladiator rides again...

salar-1.jpg, originally uploaded by www.alastairhumphreys.com.

Well, he was the only cyclist in the race, but hey, a win is still a win!

On Monday 25th August 2008, after setting off from Tooting Bec almost exactly 3 weeks earlier on his bike and after pedalling almost exactly 2000 kilometres, my good friend Tootus Maximus finally arrived in Monaco to become the winner of the first ever Gladiatour de France.

I caught up with Tootus on a beach in Nice. Whilst eating an ice cream, an exhausted and emotional Tootus said: 'I've been in a few great battles in my time, but that was tough, really tough. The first 1000 kilometres to Lake Geneva weren't too bad as it was all pretty flat, but after that, it became pretty tough in the Alps. Some of the mountains were so high that it took almost an hour and half of non-stop pedalling uphill to get to the top.

What amazing views you get from the top of those mountains though! What amazing people I met on the way too! The French and all the other cyclists I met along the way were incredibly kind. I can't wait to organise next year's Gladiatour de France for other people to take part in as it's a really original and exciting challenge to complete.'

Two further things Tootus asked me to remind you about:

1) He rode in his gladiator suit for 3 weeks from Tooting Bec to Monaco for charity. If you would like to donate, just go to www.wcrf-uk.org/gladiator Thank you to everyone who has donated so far.

2) Every now and then Tootus would like to show you a photograph or two (like the ones attached) to keep you up to gladidate with what he is up to (his next challenge will be running the Great North Run with 25 other gladiators in October). Please go to Tootus Maximus' space on Facebook and add him as a friend http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=727647672
so he can keep you fully informed with what he's up to.

Best wishes and keep it gladiatoreal,

Will Hodson (on behalf of Tootus Maximus)