.... if this in General can be made so early. Why did I run this Muskathlon? Because of sports? No, this was just a means to an and. I was about the children living in Africa and other parts of the world.

Through the Muskathlon in Uganda found 1288 children a sponsor and additional 650.00 Euro were donated! WOW!

Also you contributed to that! I thank you from the bottom of my heart!

All participants came to the same conclusion. It was worth to do extreme dedication against extreme poverty. We were able with your help, to release those children from extreme poverty. With that, we gave them, their families and their surroundings hope. All Muskathlets will continue their activities to help children in poverty. We saw and learned, that the helps receive the needed and we have experienced, how it change the live of those children. But there are still so many children in need. Let’s do it, according to the slogan of Compassion: One child after the other.

Greetings from Africa

Andreas

Hello all,

after a good and save trip, with a long stopover in Istanbul, we arrived Germany. All luggage were there, but the packages and luggage of the bikes were damaged during the transportation back to Germany. But at least none of the bikes were seriously damaged.

With our red shirts with the “4” we were attracted attention everywhere and many people asked us about our team.

Ciao

Andreas

Hello all,

today is our last day in Uganda. Inspire of the exhausting day yesterday, we had to get up very early today. 7:30  was breakfast and at 8:45, we had to load the trucks with our luggage.  After a church service of all participants and local staff, we had  some time to discuss our experiences and impressions of the race and the week, within our team.

After lunch with the view on the lake Bunyonyi we started our trip home. Our flight back was from the capital of Ruanda Kigali, as its airport is much closer than the airport of Kampala. So we had to pass the boarder to Ruanda, which is a challenge for itself.  It’s a border with still a real barrier and with a lot of bureaucracy. 

hello all,

today was the race. WOW, what an experience.

First of all, the whole plan need to be changed. The start of the walker was postponed from 0:00 to 2:00am and the start of the runners from 6:00 to7:00.

The government didn’t let start the walkers alone, but escorted them the first round, until the sun is risen. This would have meant for me, to do the first round with a much slower walking speed, then I normally does. Because of that, I decided to start with the runners, but with the issue to have only 8h until the finish is closed, as the officials kept the schedule for the end of the run at 3:00 pm. 8h only for 63km under such tough conditions, but I wanted at least to try it.

The run allow was a big celebration, which started in the evening before. Beside participants from Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands, UK, Norway, Poland, US and even Australia, 900 local runners participated as well. And they celebrated the event with loud local music and dances.

Hi all,

the very first day to relax. The last days where very hectically. We had a full agenda, maybe too full. Especially to drive bus all the time is annoying and time consuming. We were today able/allowed to have breakfast until 10:00!!!!! the other days so far only until 7:00 or even earlier. After the breakfast we continued with a small church service.

The voluntary boat trip I skipped and so I’ve some time to sit in front of my tent. You read right, the lodge has beside the cottages also some tents with view onto the lake Bunyonyi. The lake is very big and goes through several valleys. On the shore on the other side, I see some terraced fields and cottages. On the lake the locals transport goods like tea and eucalyptus leafs on their dugouts.

Hello all,

today is Tuesday May 24th. We celebrated today the “Kids Day”. We met 400 childrens from different Compassion Child Development Centers and maybe the most important piece of the whole trip, I met our sponsored child Abel. Let me tell it, one after the other.

Again we had a long ride again with our beloved bus, which is a real challenge. Those are not buses like the once we know, they are small (for around 20 persons) and uncomfortable. As the roads are bad, the travel speed isn’t more than 40km in an hour.

On a big sport field the kids waited already for us. All of them got red Compassion T-Shirts and it was a great view to see those 400 deep black kids in their red T-shirts. After a Kids-run, we offered them several stops, where they could play several games with their teams. The kids never participated on such an event and they were exhausted. They were never be celebrated in such way before and today even from Muzungus (whites).

Today is Sunday and we got up very early as we had a long bus ride in front of us. We were driven from Kampalla to Kampale (407 km and 9h drive). We stopped at a Child Development Center and visited the Sunday service of the church at the center. An African Sunday service of a Pentecostal Church is a real event. Not comparable at all with our services in Germany.

After that we drove further and passed the Equator. And of course we stopped, to make the obligatory picture with one leg in the north and the other in the south hemisphere. The next stop was another Child Development Center. Also there many adults and kids expected us. Visitors from Europe as something very special for them. Special for this center is their orchard, where they teach the children. They had mangos, citron, oranges, avocados, jackfruit,  passion fruit and much more. The last part of the drive we did in the darkness, where we learned, that the last part of the road is part of the race.

Already the first day was full with activity. After a only 2h sleep and short breakfast, there was a welcome of all participants, followed by a trip to the slums of Kampala (capital of Uganda). There we visited in a group of 10 some of the Compassion Child Development Centers. The Kids welcomed us with some dances, songs and games for the Mzungus (African term for the whites). After that we visited one kid “at home” in the Slum. “The home”, if it can be called like that, was a wood made cottage of 3x2.5m, where they lived with 5 persons. A woman and 4 boys. 2 of the boys were sons of the woman and the two others were sons of the sister of the woman. Together with the woman we sit in front of her cottage (rented for 15$/month) and talked with her about her challenges in live.

Below you get some pictures of the day.

As preparation for the Muskathlon I run many, many kilometers. At home in Ehningen, at the Black Forest, at the Swabian Alb and at the Taunus mountain range. Speed run, 20km, 40km, 60km and always the question. Does it work with the calves? Yes, it did! THANKS A LOT!

extreme dedication against extreme poverty

It's not about sports, it's not about me, but it's about the children. The muskathlets want to help the children and we want to call attention on their actual situation. 

Many of you supported me during the last weeks, through prayers, by thinking of us and also through financial support. 

Thanks a lot to all of you!