The Antarctica Marathon for Girls in Uganda

Thank you so much for taking a look at my fundraising website. I am thrilled about the opportunity to run this marathon in order to raise money for a groundbreaking program to help adolescent girls in Uganda. I'll describe to you my challenge and my cause, and hopefully convey to you why I am infinitely passionate about this project. 

The Challenge

On March 10th, 2009 I will be running a full-length, 26-mile, marathon in Antarctica - the driest, coldest, windiest, and highest continent on earth. In this marathon I will face temperatures of around -5 degrees Fahrenheit, two kilometer-long 17% incline hills, and conditions that will vary from 40 mph winds to hip-deep snow and ankle deep mud. This event is described as ‘the ultimate challenge for marathon runners’, which I must say is just a little bit daunting given that I have never run a marathon…

The Cause

What is motivating me to take on this challenge is my heartfelt dedication to the ELA program that the non-governmental organization BRAC is launching for adolescent girls in Uganda. I had the fortune of spending two months last summer working on BRAC development projects across Bangladesh, and I was inspired beyond words by the organization's relentless commitment to empower the poor.

The ELA program is a revolutionary approach to development in Uganda, as it gives girls the power to change the very fabric of their societies. ELA will set up 500 adolescent development clubs across Uganda to provide a safe space in which 12.500  girls will receive the education and the tools they need to face the social and financial challenges that define their lives. Most of these girls have never had access to any formal education, they have been confined to their homes, and they have been seen as a significant financial burden on the family, as they couldn't earn money and have to be married off for enormous sums of dowry.

ELA helps redefine the way that communities conceive of the place of girls in society. For the first time in their lives, adolescents across Uganda will be given the opportunity to benefit from life-skill training and educational scholarships, and will have the opportunity to socialize with other adolescent girls. Most importantly, however, these girls will receive small "microfinance" loans of between $45-$295, and the training and guidance they need to start and sustain a personal business.

As these girls start their own businesses and bring hope and stability to the lives of their families, they will start to believe in themselves and their families will start to believe in them. The unprecedented self-confidence adolescent girls in this program develop will empower them to combat the prevalent inequalities that girls in Uganda face. As financially and socially literate young women, ELA girls will be able to take charge of their lives to rise above a culture of subordination, early marriage, adolescent pregnancy, divorce, and domestic violence.

So the big question for you is where would your money go? This is what is really exciting about your contribution to this program, because it is so much more than a traditional single-impact donation. BRAC has already secured funding to set up the ELA centers, which means that every single dollar you donate will go directly to a ‘revolving loan fund’ within an ELA center. What this means is that girls will borrow your money from this fund, and as they repay these loans, your donated money will “revolve” and be reinvested to provide additional loans to more girls, impacting the lives of girls and their communities well into the future.

So if, for example, you donate $100 dollars now, you will really be donating $100 dollars every year for the rest of your life. In the same vein, if you help me reach my $10,000 target, we will help over one thousand girls start businesses and turn their families' lives around within the next ten years.

If you’ve got a second, I'd really like to ask you to watch the short video that I have attached to this site, I think it's absolutely inspiring, I think about it every time I run.

Please don’t hesitate to email me at robertsslehman@gmail.com if you have any questions at all about the marathon, the ELA program, or tracking the effect of your donation.

Your support will have such an impact on the way that girls in Uganda conceive of their freedoms and potential in life. If I could, I would also like to ask you to forward this page to anyone who you think might want to donate to this cause – I really can’t thank you enough.

Gratefully yours,

Robert Lehman