Paraguay 300km “Running with Hope”

           

            Imagine growing up in a squatter zone beside the sewage line, on the city limits of Asuncion, Paraguay. Broken families, poverty, and gangs are the norm. As a child, your options are few and you quickly start to mix with the wrong crowd.

            One day, you hear of a place where you can go to be fed, cared for and even play sports – something you’ve never done before. You’re cautious because, in the world you come from, nothing is free. But after your first visit your life is changed. You receive love from complete strangers who quickly become your friends and dependable role models. You are fed, and for the first time in your life, you discover a passion for sport that is awakened in you – you will never be the same.

One of SportAid’s current projects is assisting the local Paraguay agency, Transformando Juntas Paraguay with the care of 20,000 children in 300+ nutrition centres. Along with food, loving care, and children’s programs, 60 of these centres now feature a sports component thanks to SportAid.

            To assist these life-changing nutrition centres, SportAid and Albert Martens, from Steinbach Manitoba, are hosting the 300km ‘Running with Hope’ ultra-marathon through Paraguay. Albert and a 7- person team of runners from Canada as well as several runners from Paraguay will cross Paraguay to raise awareness for the plight of these children and to assist the country’s 300 existing centres in their mission for hope, and to help raise funds for 200 more centres. The run is hosted in partnership with the Asuncion marathon association, Paraguay Ministry of Sport, Transformando Juntas Paraguay, the city of Encarnacion, and corporate as well as individual sponsorships.

            Runners from around the world will gather for the run which will start in Encarnacion for the launch on May 10^th with a music festival, celebration of hope and anticipation of incredible success. For the next 15 days, the ‘Running with Hope’ ultra-marathon will travel throughout the country side enroute to Asuncion, Paraguay’s capital city, arriving Sunday May 25^th. Along the route various community events are planned to promote running, the nutrition centre model for community development and transformation, and to further engage the Paraguay people in caring for the least, the lost and the lonely.

     Please pray for me as I will prepare myself mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually and financially for this extensive ministry run in Paraguay.  You may help us personally-financially as Edna will also come out towards the end of the running trip.   We would like to stay a week after the run-in to visit some our friends in Paraguay.  If you would wish to assist us in the Paraguay expenses, make donations payable to Athletes in Action and mail it to Albert Martens, 408-2^nd Street, Steinbach, MB. R5G 0V5.  Tax receipts will be issued.  You may also support the Paraguay cause – see website www.runparaguay.myevent.com