Now May 15th!

What am I doing?

I am running what promises to be an insanely difficult 26 miles that are largely uphill for my first ever marathon in the heat of Greek early-summer!

It is also worth noting that I am nearly 100kg of flesh - no mean cargo to haul over hot mountains.

Following the original marathon route from the town of Marathon all the way back to Athens.

Why am I doing that??

For the past 8 months, I've been working with Chamomile housing project, which provides holistic and supportive accommodation for previously homeless displaced people with mental health challenges, here in Athens, Greece. Having done other work in this context, I know that all too often the support that is offered to people of this demographic, who constitute some of the most vulnerable, is either non-existent, unsuitable, ineffective, or, at best, very short-term.

Where they do exist, accommodation programs are usually temporary, quick fixes that do nothing to address underlying psychosocial obstacles that can prevent people from achieving independence. Chamomile is different, and its goal is long-term autonomy. Participants are housed in safe yet independent apartments throughout the city, as the first crucial step in the journey towards psychological wellness. Then, through a programme that works in tandem with psychologists, Chamomile provides weekly psychosocial support sessions and accommodation integration meetings, so that participants in the programme are provided the security and tools to build an independent and sustainable life for themselves in the social context of Athens.

I've seen how this kind of person-centred support can give people the space to work through trauma, to find a sense of themselves again, and to begin laying the foundations for an autonomous future. It's very powerful stuff - and we need more of it!!

So THAT is why I'm running this horrible marathon. 

In order to keep going, Chamomile needs to raise money to pay for the rent and bills of its apartments, so if you are interested in directly supporting the project, please consider donating any amount of money to Chamomile via this page, by clicking 'Give Now' above! 

I will also be running with some other friends of Chamomile as well as some of the wonderful people from Mazí housing project, and you can enjoy a livestream of us all being totally annihilated by brute physical effort on May 15th, if that's what floats your boat!

Thank you very much for your support :) 

Benny