Maggie Cooper

Maggie's Iran Desert Trek - WOAM IRAN TEAM NOV 2016

Fundraising for Women for Women International UK
SGD 13,095
raised of SGD 17,000 target
Donations cannot currently be made to this page
WOAM Iran Team 2016, 15 November 2016
Participants: We are 13 Women on a Mission from all over the world

Story

I have joined Women on a Mission a non-profit
organisation on the first ever female expedition to cross the Lut Desert in Iran.   This is a 200km trek across a
variety of terrain in which was once recorded as reaching temperatures of 70.7degrees (the hottest temperature ever recorded on the planet).

Hot, dry and sandy is how the terrain has been described, which will be hard to prepare for considering I live in a hot, humid country and sit in a nice air conditioned office 60 hours a week.  There will be no toilets or showers for 6 days whist embarking in this very interesting part of Iran and all for a wonderful charity. 

We will be guided by a professional team, just in case you think I have seriously gone mad and was going to use my Iphone for GPS Navigation.  

Marco Polo crossed the desert in 1271 on camel but the challenge is to do this on foot, which we are being warned will result in blister after blister and quite some discomfort.  However this is nothing compared to the scars that some of the women have to carry for the rest of their lives living in conflict zones.  There are millions of women and girls living in dire circumstances, in conflict (where it is more dangerous to be a women than a soldier), in terrible poverty, and in areas of no medical care resulting in high maternal morbidity rates and awful untreated internal fissures. 

This challenge will take me to the brink of mental and physical exhaustion but its short pain to feel over six days considering what these young girls go thorough in their lifetime. So i ask my dearest friends to please dig in and donate and support me and this wonderful Charity Women for Women International.

National Geographic have recently written
about this expedition calling it Iran: “Mission Impassible” which I have to be honest does terrify me.  Please read the link below.

http://www.natgeotraveller.co.uk/destinations/middle-east/iran/iran-mission-impassable/

I’ve been inspired by a very interesting group of amazing women living here in Singapore.  Valerie Boffy and Christine Amour-Levar who are the founding members of Women on a mission.   

(see www.facebook.com/WOAMsingapore).

But equally by my wonderful neighbour Jenny Laing – a Scottish, warm-hearted lass who has equally little clue as to what we have just signed up for. 

Valerie Boffy, being a mum at the same school as my kids recently climbed Everest and adopted a child and set up a charity. 

Christine Amour-Levar a mother of four and won awards of Filipina Women’s Network Leadership Summit and features a book the Balanced Project and an is a compassionate and inspirational Women.  

The donations will go towards Women for Women International (WfWI) which is a 20 year old UK Organisation doing incredible work for women in conflict zones.  WfWI provides women survivors of war, civil strife and other conflicts with the tools and resources to move from crisis and poverty to stability and self-sufficiency, thereby promoting viable civil societies.  Their aim is to build communities of supporters and to change the world one woman at a time.

Please watch this video about them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iarxgcit0gU 

I feel passionate and lucky to live a privileged life and strongly believe that with such good fortune, comes great responsibility.

Leading by example and hoping my children will grow up not only learning to have respect for others, but developing an equal passion to make a difference in the world by doing something out of their comfort zone.

So please dear lovely friend and family dig in to donate to support me and Women for Women International. 

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

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About the charity

Women for Women International supports women who live in some of the world’s most dangerous places. Women enrol on the charity’s year-long training programme, where they learn how to earn and save money, improve their family’s health and make their voices heard at home and in their community.

Donation summary

Total raised
SGD 13,094.79
+ SGD 503.55 Gift Aid
Online donations
SGD 13,094.79
Offline donations
SGD 0.00

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