HYDERABAD: While most of us are ticking off what we can and cannot do on our new year resolution list, four ladies from Hyderabad have been planning to do something for a cause, much in advance. They call themselves SHE Cares, all of them forty-somethings, who will be walking a 100-km stretch in 48 hours for Oxfam Trailwalker. Great way to start the new year right?
An initiative of Oxfam India, a branch of the not-for-profit Oxfam International that works primarily towards poverty eradication, disaster relief, advocacy and policy research, the Oxfam Trailwalker is scheduled for January 22.
“We all want to contribute for the betterment of the world. But anything we do collectively is far more impactful than what we do as individuals. That’s the reason we wanted to take up this challenge,” says
42-year-old Anjali Joshi, one of the four members of SHE Cares. SHE, stands for Safety, Health and Equality.
Anuradha Raju, a homemaker, Pushpita Mukherjee, a teacher at Indus School, and Archana Bhist, who runs her own pre school -- Sunbeam that is located near Olive Hospital, Langar Houz, form the rest of the team. They will be trailing through villages on the outskirts of Bengaluru starting from Satnoor in Karnataka.
They are residents of PBEL City in Madhapur. Apart from staying in the same apartment complex, fitness is what brought them together. They are part of PBEL City Runners, a running club.
“We run and walk together regularly. When we heard about Oxfam Trailwalker we decided to take part as a team because it is challenging and also because we will be raising funds,” explains Anjali who works with Future Generali. The team plans to raise an amount ` 5 lakh and they already have ` 1 lakh in their account.
“Our corporate friends helped us with generous contributions. Besides that, there have been two remarkable gestures by kids in our locality,” beams Anjali.
While 10-year-old Jason Moses, who started running with them recently raised `10,000 by making and selling greeting cards in their complex, Anuradha’s children, Varun and Rashmi and Pushpita’s daughter Anaga made jams and baked cakes. They sold them at the runners’ annual meet and raised close to Rs 7,000.
Apart from raising funds, the team has been training hard to finish the challenge. “We do an interval training once a week. We also do hill walks and short walks. We do long walks of 30 km on the weekends. We decide on a route and start walking,”shares Anjali.
They have a strategy in place, where they will take a break after every 10 km. “Our estimation is that we will complete the 100 km in 30 hours, unless something unexpected comes up,” she adds.
They also have a support team -- Rachna Gujral who will walk with them and a vehicle that will follow them with all the essentials they need. “We need that support. The vehicle is also being sponsored by a friend. Walking 100 km is a task. After a while it is a mental game and we are all mentally strong,” signs off Anjali.