Swimming to Thailand

I am swimming to Thailand.

Well not really! It's too far and there's sharks and stuff. But this morning I did begin something brand new.

Between Tuesday, September 1st and Friday, October 16th I will attempt to swim a total of 30 kms. That's 23 laps, there and back, across the width of the Waterloo Swimplex shallow end, once each day for 30 days. I'll be swimming Monday to Friday, not counting stat holidays.

I'm doing it to buy a truck. A covered pick up, to be more precise. It's a new vehicle for the children who live at Hot Springs, so they can get to school without getting rained on or baked in the sun.

If you know me or have been following this blog or attend Highview Community Church, or any or all of the above, you already know about the 15 amazing kids Highview has adopted in sponsorship through an organization called Asia's Hope.

Countless children are orphaned and abandoned in South East Asia every day. AIDs and poverty and a weak-at-best social infrastructure, leave so many innocent victims just barely trying to survive. Without help, there's no hope.

Asia's Hope is grass-roots, non-denominational and indigenous. There is no huge budget for fundraising and advertising. Churches, businesses, Christian organizations and individuals are desperately needed to actively partner with Asia's Hope to provide a consistent level of financial support.

Highview connected with this amazing organization in the winter of 2008 when we were first introduced to Suradet and Yupa, a young pastor and his wife who had voluntarily taken in 13 children into their family. Eighteen months and three trips later, I am more passionate than ever about what is happening in a very small village in northern Thailand, and the 15 children, and their caregivers, who live at Hot Springs.

So I'm swimming to Thailand.

I've ridden in the back of the truck that is currently used to transport the children back and forth to school and any other outings. It was kind of fun for me. Novel, intense, feeling the hot wind whipping around me and the other sweaty little persons squished together back there. But it wasn't raining. It wasn't rainy season when it rains all the time. And I just did it once.

I've been in the front of the truck, in the passenger seat on the left, and heard the grinding of the gears and felt the strain of the engine climbing the hill up the lane to the house. They live in the foothills of the Himalayas and, well, it's hilly. Puts a huge strain on any vehicle. This one is wearing out.

So I'm swimming to Thailand.

If you swim 23 times back and forth across the shallow end of the Waterloo Swimplex pool, you've swum just a tad over a kilometer. So, I'm going to do that 30 times between now and September 16.

And I'm asking for sponsors. You don't have to put on a bathing suit. You don't have to get wet. You can just do some simple math, put a dollar amount beside the number 30, and multiply it. All the money will go through Highview Community Church and directed to Asia's Hope for the purchase of a new truck for Hot Springs. Any donations over $10 can be receipted for income tax purposes.

To sweeten the pot and make it that much more of a challenge for me, I am giving up ice caps for the duration. Yes. You heard me right. The money I normally spend on ice caps, I'm putting in the pot. If I take a simple approach and calculate 30 x 3.51 I get $105.30 (Well actually, that's what Paula just hollered out to me when I asked her to do it on the calculator).

But wait..there's more! I am also willing to contribute what it is costing me each time to swim. At the per swim rate (I have a pass, but we won't worry with that), it's 30 x $5.00 which comes to $150.00 (I did that in my head).

So, on top of doing the actual swim, I'm giving up ice caps AND contributing $255.30 of my own.

That's only to show how serious I am. And really, its such a small thing to do.

Last night my Mom called and asked me about my swim. She wants to sponsor me. My first sponsor. I love that about my Mom. She believes in me no matter what crazy things I try.

As I watched the sky get pink with dawn this morning, swimming back and forth beside the immense floor to ceiling windows, for my first of 30 swims, I realized just how lovely it was for me. Clean, warm water. A clean change and shower facility. A parking lot that was well cared for in a community that even has a swimming complex like this. I ate breakfast later and it wasn't rice. I didn't see one child alone and begging on the street as I drove in to work. What a different life I lead than my beautiful friends on the other side of the world.

So if you want to join me in the swim, I would gladly accept your sponsorship. You can contact me through the comments option on this blog. You can e-mail me a rabreithaupt@buildingbiggerhearts.ca. Or you can simply mail a cheque, payable to Highview Community Church per Swimming to Thailand to Highview Community Church 295 Highview Drive, Kitchener Ontario Canada N2N 2K7.

And thank you.

I'll let you know how it's going as the time goes by.