Amazing Sahara Journey Ends Today!

Feb 20th, 2007 6:00 PM UTC
By Virginia Simmons

Today, around 9 AM EST, three incredible runners finished a 4,000-mile marathon across the entire length of the Sahara Desert – from St. Louis, Senegal to Cairo, Egypt – to raise awareness for clean water and poverty in Africa.

The three men, Charlie Engle (USA), Ray Zahab (Canada), and Kevin Lin (Taiwan), started the race on November 1. A documentary camera crew followed the runners for the past three and a half months and the footage and will become part of a Live Planet film release called “Running The Sahara” narrated by ONE supporter, Matt Damon! We’ll keep you posted on the film’s release.

Right after he finished the 4,000-mile run, Charlie Engle wrote this note for ONE members:

“The thing that strikes me most now that I’m finished is that it was, absolutely without a doubt, the most difficult obstacle and mental challenge that I’ve ever completed. What’s funny is I somehow didn’t think it was going to be that difficult at first. What I really thought about so much on the run was there are so many people, especially in Mali and Niger, whose lives are a thousand times more difficult than mine. My suffering was voluntary, I chose to do it—many of these people have difficult lives, they didn’t volunteer, their lives could be much better with simple access to water.

My success in completing this expedition had a huge amount to do with water—there is no replacement for it, it is life for a runner. What I’ll take away from this experience is people in Africa are, generally speaking, tremendously happy, family oriented people— I was never once disappointed and always amazed by their incredible generosity towards me.

To the ONE members, the fact is I was very lucky to see firsthand the results the ONE Campaign and what the voices of ONE members actually have helped create: wells, irrigation, water projects that truly are creating a better life for hundreds of thousands of people. Don’t feel like your funding and efforts are going for nothing. Sometimes you feel like it’s going in a big pit and can’t figure out exactly where it’s going – I can assure you it’s going to the right place and saving lives.

What I hope is the legacy of this expedition is a real campaign for clean water, one that can save potentially hundreds of thousands of lives and give people the opportunity at a better life for themselves and their families.”

TAGS: The ONE Blog