‘I thought I saw a problem, I found a disaster’: Filled with emotion and testimonies from victims of the water crisis around the world, Australia’s Mina Guli came on Wednesday at the conclusion of her 200 marathons in a year to ‘Speak Out’ of the affected communities.
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From the Australian desert to the glaciers of Tajikistan, from the Amazon to the banks of dry rivers in Africa, the one who “doesn’t like to run” has covered 8440 km in 32 countries and finished her race throwing herself in his arms Mother, outside the United Nations headquarters, which is hosting a summit on water through Friday.
A crazy bet? “I think I’m crazy too,” she laughed during her 198th marathon earlier this week in New York’s Central Park.
But “I want to raise awareness about the global water crisis,” she told AFP, the 52-year-old former lawyer.
“I’m not a runner by nature, I didn’t grow up running, I don’t really like running.”
“But I’m running because I want to bring the voices of those on the front lines of this crisis to places of power and inspire politicians and business leaders to act,” said the Thirst Foundation founder, before expressing his emotion-filled journey tells called “Run Blue”.
“I thought I saw a problem and found a disaster”, “Women and girls who walk for hours every day and risk their lives to fetch water”.
Photo Leonardo Munoz / AFP
A sad sight
She walked in now-dry lakes “next to boat carcasses stuck in the sand” or in Tajikistan’s high glaciers, which are melting under the influence of global warming.
“What I saw broke my heart. The surface (of the glaciers) pockmarked with blue puddles”.
“It’s heartbreaking to see this crisis, it’s terrible. It’s one thing to read numbers in a black and white newspaper, but when you go there you witness, you feel the raw emotion, the pain of these people,” she continues, tears streaming down his face.
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“So it’s time for our leaders to act right this week, listen to those voices, hear them and tell them, ‘We will do everything we can to resolve this crisis,'” Mina Guli urged, “a little sad » that this adventure ends.
In 2018, the Australian had already embarked on a project of running 100 marathons in 100 days before breaking her leg in the 62nd. “I thought I could mobilize and bring about change immediately, but the truth is that change takes time.”