Easterine Kire
In an age when news reports on Afghanistan makes everyone feel their combined helplessness, charity climbs and charity runs are trying their best to lift up the human spirit that is crushed by the terror of life.
Nagaland has its own citizens preparing to climb Mount Everest base camp for charity. What a wonderful initiative. May their tribe increase.
On the 20th August, 2021, British runner Rosie Swale Pope (MBE) resumes her run, ‘UK to Kathmandu’ which was begun in 2018, but had to be postponed due to the pandemic in 2020. After reaching Northern Turkey, she had to return to the UK and ‘rethink her route.’
Her new route will take her from Sussex in the UK to Bergen in southern Norway to Russia, and Tibet and finally Nepal.
Rosie Swale Pope is 74 years old and began running for charity at the age of 57. She will run to Kathmandu to raise money to support PHASE worldwide which is working for health, education and livelihood prospects in remote mountain areas of Nepal.
When she began running in 2003, Pope did a solo run travelling 20,000 miles to ‘raise awareness for the early diagnosis of cancer, and to raise funds for an orphanage in Kitezh, Russia.’ Her website adds that Pope is ‘the only person in the world to have completed this solo challenge unsupported, carrying all her belongings in her cart behind her.’
It is a very unusual way to live out the latter days of one’s life. But Rosie Swale Pope is an unusual person. Running for charity is a demanding life. She has to depend on support from individuals to take care of practical things, such as making sure there will be a new pair of running shoes available at her next stop, at a time when her present pair would have been completely ‘run’out. Fortunately, there are life-long sponsors who ensure that she will get a fresh pair of running shoes when she needs it. The shoes are usually delivered to the next destination on her trip.
Running for charity may seem common enough in some parts of the world. But not really in other areas. Pope has run several marathons, often in very challenging terrain and she has ‘trekked across Chile on horseback’ and sailed ‘across the globe in a small boat.’
However, it has not always been rosy. Pope travels with a cart tied to her waist. It is called an ice kart. In the night, she can park it in any area that she considers safe, crawl into it, and sleep and recuperate. On some routes, that means she gets off the motor road and camps in the outdoors. Not everyone appreciates her noble calling. She was once attacked by a man wielding an axe, and all she could do was run for her life. On another occasion, a man took out his gun and shot at her! She escaped unharmed.
In spite of personal dangers like these, she has continued her running. Her manager confirms that her usual running speed is about 15-20 kilometres per day with the odd day off. At that average, the run to Kathmandu could take years to complete. The new route is simpler and reduced to Norway, Russia and China. It is now renamed as ‘Rosie runs to Kathmandu Reborn.’ But what a goal to strive for. One cannot help admiring the selflessness of people who do this for charity. It’s a beautiful way to raise funds; not only does it not impinge on other people, but it creates awareness in an inspiring way. If anyone wants to donate, they do not have to be coerced into doing so. Remember 99-year-old Captain Tom Moore who raised 23 million Pounds for the NHS, the National Health Services, UK? He had hoped to raise a thousand pounds before his 100th birthday and ended up raising the astronomical figure that poured in from people he had inspired.
There is a quiet nobility about this kind of fund raising. It should be encouraged, and lauded. As the first two Nagas prepare to climb the 5600 meters base camp at Mount Everest, our best wishes, thoughts and prayers are with them. They are joining those who are pioneering a new unselfish path for others to follow.
