Injuries, International Women's Day and Daniel Craig in drag...

Not a great week for training. An old injury has meant that I've only been able to run once and subsequently spent the rest of the week hobbling around feeling a bit sorry for myself. I'm hoping that having this problem so early in my training will be mean that I'll be able to get it sorted quickly and well in advance of the race! I have an appointment with a physio on Tuesday so fingers crossed

In other news, Oxfam has been celebrating International Women's Day. The work Oxfam does in this area is so diverse it's impossible do justice to it in one post, however providing educational opportunities and access to good health care are fundamental to empowering women in every aspect of their lives.

Take, for example, the following facts

Over two-thirds of the world’s 776 million illiterates are women and despite improvements, more than 55 percent of the 75 million out of school primary age children are girls. (UNESCO)

Every year over 536,000 women die of pregnancy-related complications, and between 8 million and 20 million a year suffer serious injury or disability from the same causes. (WHO)

Women are half the 31 million people living with HIV worldwide. More than three in four (77%) of adult women (15 years and older) with HIV globally live in Sub-Saharan Africa – that’s an estimated 12 million out of the 15.5 million women infected with HIV worldwide. (UN)

Oxfam's work seeks to redress this imbalance. The following video demonstrates how education and health are so inextricably linked:

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In Malawi, Oxfam UK aid money is being used to help train more nurses and increase salaries so that more health staff can be persuaded to stay. But funding from other rich countries is desperately needed. Oxfam is campaigning for better support for the healthcare system. Oxfam trains and supports home based carers – local volunteers who support sick, elderly, and orphaned people in their communities. Carers also offer counselling and help with household chores.

This is where your sponsorship can really help! By ensuring that women (and men!) are healthy and educated, people in developing countries are in a position to move beyond poverty and have a real impact on the lives of future generations.
The following link demonstrates what women can achieve even in the most desperate conditions. By sponsoring me you could be helping them to do even more

On a final note, this video has been all over the internet this week but, if you haven't seen it, definitely worth a look. I certainly have a whole new respect for Daniel Craig as a result!

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Food for thought?

06 March 2011

As is probably fairly obvious from the design of this page, I have decided to write a blog as a means of chronicling my training for the Great North Run. I will be running in aid of Oxfam, a charity whose work tackles poverty and suffering across the globe.

My goal is to raise at least £400 to support Oxfam in their work and this blog will enable me to show those who (hopefully!) choose to sponsor me how their money will be used. It will also be a motivational aid for me - reading about how women in Africa battle against the odds to feed and educate their families is something of an inspiration and makes going for a run feel that bit less onerous...

I will aim to document my training each week and use each post to highlight a different aspect of Oxfam's work and the kind of causes they support. Those who feel moved to sponsor me can find a link to my Just Giving page on this site - even the smallest amount would be very much appreciated!