Very proud

Very proud of my sister Lisa and her boyfriend Eric who assisted in a rescue at the end of a hike in Arches National Park a few days ago. 

Susan Komen Walk

Congratulations to my sister Michelle on her successful completion of the 60 mile, 3 day, Susan Komen Walk for the Cure in San Francisco.

Happy Summer!

We found snow on the summer solstice!  Waiting out a thunderstorm then heading out to enjoy the rest of the longest day of the year. (Shortest night too!). Sunday marks the largest full moon of 2013! 

Wishing everyone a wonderful start to official summer, clear skies, and a feliz dia de Saint Joan to those celebrating in Spain this weekend!

Summer Solstice is on its way...

“Do you ever wait for the longest day of the year and then miss it? I always wait for the longest day of the year and then miss it!”
― F. Scott Fitzgerald

We aren't going to miss it!

How do you plan to spend the longest day of the year?  We plan to make the most of it...we will run 30 minutes before and after the sunset.  Would you like to join us in spirit?  Wherever your are head out and enjoy your mid summer night...however it may be.

If you end up on a walk or run soaking in the longest day of the year, log it in charity miles for an added bonus!  (And let us know how you plan to celebrate!)

Mulhacen

Successful cold day in the Sierra Nevada, Spain!  Phone was dead, camera forgotten!  No photos-happily heading back to Barcelona. 

Adventure #5

And we're off tomorrow morning!  Wish us luck.  As we drove in we could see snow on the top with weather conditions higher up predicted to be COLD!  Luckily we packed warm gear just in case and Pepi has his fur coat as always.  

Mulhacén (Spanish pronunciation: [mulaˈθen]) is the highest mountain in continental Spain and in the Iberian Peninsula. It is part of the Sierra Nevada range in the Cordillera Penibética. It is named after Abu l-Hasan Ali, or Muley Hacén as he is known in Spanish, the penultimate Muslim King of Granada in the 15th century who, according to legend, was buried on the summit of the mountain.

Mulhacén is the highest peak in Europe^[4] outside the Caucasus Mountains and the Alps. It is also the third mosttopographically prominent peak in Western Europe, after Mont Blanc and Mount Etna, and is ranked 64th in the world by prominence.^[2] The peak is not exceptionally dramatic in terms of steepness or local relief. The south flank of the mountain is gentle and presents no technical challenge, as is the case for the long west ridge. The shorter, somewhat steeper north east ridge is slightly more technical. The north face of the mountain, however, is much steeper, and offers several routes involving moderately steep climbing on snow and ice (up to French grade AD) in the winter.^[3]

Mulhacén can be climbed in a single day from the villages of either Capileira or Trevélez, but it is more common to spend a night at the mountain refuge at Poqueira, or in the bare shelter at Caldera to the west. Those making the ascent from Trevelez can also bivouac at the tarns to the northeast of the peak.

(From Wikipedia)

Off to the next adventure soon!

Happy Monday. While in Portugal we did quite a bit of hiking including heading up the highest mountain in the Algarve region. Now were back in Spain and heading off for another adventure in a few days. Any guesses?

Happy Fathers Day

"My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could, he believed in me."

-Jim Valvano

Although this is a blog dedicated to helping raise awareness for women, I would like to wish the wonderful fathers our there a Happy Fathers Day. Thank you Dad for raising 4 happy, successful, and independent daughters while introducing us to the world of athletics. (And teaching me to ride a bike!) 

Saturdays Book

Happy Saturday!

Looking for reading this summer?  Coming to the page is book club Saturday.  I've researched and read books from the areas in which WFWI works.  I would love suggestions and input from your end too!

This Saturdays book is Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryll Wudunn.

“More girls were killed in the last 50 years, precisely because they were girls, than men killed in all the wars in the 20th century. More girls are killed in this routine gendercide in any one decade than people were slaughtered in all the genocides of the 20th century.

The equivalent of 5 jumbo jets worth of women die in labor each day... life time risk of maternal death is 1,000x higher in a poor country than in the west. That should be an international scandal.”
― Nicholas D. Kristof, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide

Check it out from your local library, book store, or follow the link to amazon to get it for your e-reader or a new or used book.

I would love to hear what you think.

Click here to visit Amazon.com

Friday quote

Tenderness and kindness are not forms of weakness and despair, but manifestations of strength and resolution. -Khalil Gibran 

Rumi

"Out beyond the world of right doing and wrong

Doing

There is a field. 

I will meet you there. 

When the soul meets in that grass,

The world is too full to talk about. 

Ideas, language, even the phrase each other no 

Longer makes any sense."

-
Rumi

Oppurtunity in Rwanda (From WFWI Blog)

New Opportunity in Rwanda

by Karen Sherman

“This is an achievement of women and it will last forever,” asserts normally soft spoken Angelique Mukankubana, head of the women’s brick making cooperative in Kayonza, Eastern Province, site of the new Women’s Opportunity Center. She has every reason to be proud. A 2009 graduate of our 12-month training and education program, Angelique was a widow with no hope for the future, and now runs a successful cooperative that produced over 450,000 handcrafted clay bricks used in building the Center, the first of its kind in Rwanda.

“I have gained the great power of decision making,” beams Angelique.

Since 1997, WfWI has supported more than 56,000 Rwandan women with our program aimed at transforming women’s lives. These investments have produced measurable results — greater economic opportunity for graduates like Angelique, enhanced health and wellness for women and their children and decreases in domestic and sexual violence. While many women gain the knowledge, skills and confidence to achieve self-reliance in just 12 months, others require additional support to overcome the legacy of war, poverty and exclusion and lead change in families and communities.

That’s why Women for Women International is opening the Women’s Opportunity Center this June, a venue for women to learn and grow together.

Contributing to the Rwandan government’s Vision 2020 and Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy, the Women’s Opportunity Center (WOC) will integrate economic transformation, rural development and productivity as a space of learning and renewal for thousands of program graduates, participants and community members in the Kayonza area.

Formally opening on the 28th of June, the Center will function as a training and service hub for women’s entrepreneurship, innovation and agency. Services will include business mentoring, access to financial services and markets, cooperative and agri-business support. Health and nutrition counseling, early childhood development and men’s leadership programs will also be available.

Graduate Focus Group in Training Pod

Through WfWI and its partners, the WOC will offer a range of courses expressly linked to women’s circumstances. In focus group discussions, women voiced a strong need for tangible skills they can use immediately for income generation, especially at the WOC’s roadside market stores and stalls. Training courses deemed most beneficial include tailoring and sewing, vegetable, farming and agro-processing instruction, livestock husbandry, hair dressing and handcraft production.

Claudine Niyitegeka, President of Abajeneza Cooperative, is interested in composting to increase agricultural yields. Abajeneza is one of the more successful cooperatives in Kayonza, recognized by the Ministry of Labor in 2012 for its high quality maize — sold to the UN’s World Food Program — market orientation and environmental protection. A current partner of the Rwanda Agricultural Board’s seed multiplication program, the coop recently received a 1.5 million Rwandan franc loan for land preparation from Vision 2020′s Umurenge Program and a gift of two irrigation pumps from Kayonza District.

Another likely user is Khadidja Nibabyare, voted top entrepreneur from Kayonza in last year’s Global Entrepreneurship Week competition sponsored by WfWI. Open to individual entrepreneurs and group enterprises formed by program graduates, women competed on levels of business creativity, impact and innovation.

Selling bananas by the side of the road, Khadidja used to earn about 5,000 Rwandan francs – less than $10 – a day. She invested the program’s monthly training stipend in a business making banana pancakes. The business has grown substantially; Khadidja now has five employees and sells her popular pancakes in three communities. She makes the equivalent of $100 a day on weekdays and almost double that amount on weekends. Like most aspiring entrepreneurs, Khadidja works nearly non-stop and is frustrated by persistent sourcing and distribution challenges. She plans to take advantage of business mentoring offered through the WOC and links to credit needed to grow her business.

While some women like Khadidja are looking to expand their small businesses, others like Clementine still need a helping hand. A 2011 program graduate, Clementine was part of a 100 women pineapple growing cooperative that gradually failed due to lack of interest and people stealing the pineapples. She sells banana beer now just to survive but has a new baby girl to think of and aspirations for them both. Clementine would like access to business training classes and loan funds to start a new enterprise.

WfWI aims for the WOC to be financially independent within five years. This will be achieved through offering rental space for training sessions and a gathering space for events, a market and retail space for local small businesses, storage and workspace for lease, a demonstration farm, and lodging and restaurant services for campus visitors, tourists, and others. The dual focus on providing training and income opportunities for women and becoming self-sustaining are symbiotic. Graduates trained in agriculture may work on the Center’s farm; others may operate small businesses in the market and retail areas; women trained in hospitality may be employed or become suppliers to the lodging, events and restaurant facilities.

Sharon Davis Design Studio, a New York City-based architectural firm, provided pro-bono support to design and build the WOC with environmentally sustainable features. The eco-friendly facility relies on locally appropriate technologies, including solar power generation, rainwater harvesting, biogas fuel for cooking, and composting toilets. The ecologically integrated nature of the Center allows for unique, hands-on farm-to-table learning that advances key development outcomes. For example, composting toilets will provide fertilizer for the demonstration farm and kitchen gardens. Organic vegetables will be used for healthy cooking demonstrations and in the on-site restaurant to prepare nutritious meals for trainees, tourists and other visitors.

An innovative center dedicated to the enrichment, fulfillment and progress of women and the communities in which they live, the WOC has the potential to take women’s social and economic empowerment to an entirely new level, where formerly excluded women inspire their still aspiring sisters to not only advance themselves but their families, communities and nation, brick by brick.

Conquering the Rio Mondego!

The Rio Mondego (Portuguese pronunciation: [mõˈdegu]; English language: Mondego River) is the longest river located exclusively inPortuguese territory.^[1] It has its source in Serra da Estrela, the highest mountain range in mainland Portugal (i.e. except the Portuguese islands). It runs 234 km from the Gouveia municipality (at 1425 metres) in Serra da Estrela, to its mouth in the Atlantic Ocean next to the city of Figueira da Foz. It flows through the districts of Guarda, Viseu and Coimbra, all in Centro Region. It flows near the towns ofCelorico da Beira, Fornos de Algodres, Nelas, Tabua, Carregal do Sal, Mortagua, Montemor-o-Velho and cities of Seia, Gouveia, Guarda,Mangualde, Santa Comba Dao, before crossing the town of Penacova, is narrow, then widens by the city of Coimbra (with the University and the major urban area in Baixo Mondego), and the Montemor-o-Velho municipality (known for its castle and rice fields), before reaching the Atlantic at the city of Figueira da Foz.

One of its tributaries is the Rio Dão, which gives its name to the Dão DOC wine region.

Information from Wikipedia

Yesterday I took on the adventure of kayaking 18km of the Rio Mondego beginning in Penacova ending in Torres do Mondego.  This was a different kind of adventure from my past 3, as all the others orgranized by race committees.  We went with the kayak group O Pionero Do Mondego.  (To anyone finds themselves in the Coimbra region of Portugal I highly suggest this trip!)



As I posted previously, we are in Portugal making our way to meet my parents on Saturday to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary with them.  Go Mom and Dad!!!  I had read about kayaking on the Rio Mondego and was keen to try it.  I have not done a lot of kayaking though when I have I've really enjoyed it.

I called the company from Santiago de Compostela to see if the group could leave a little later to accommodate our 3 hour drive to get there.  Monday night I had was told that if I didn't hear from them, be at the river meeting point at 12 on Tuesday.  

Waiting at the meeting point.  

Pepi ready for his first adventure and happy for the support of LifeIce!  

We met our group around 12, gathered our life vests, had a quick briefing and were off.  Due to higher rain levels this year the river was flowing faster making for a quicker trip for us though this left us with a few rapids to navigate. 

Rapids towards the end of our trip.  

The first two kilometers our guide suggested we stay near by as there was a tricky section and was unsure of the conditions.  We arrived and made it down by kayak though some had to walk around.

  

Onwards we went, down the river, enjoying the views, scenery and exercise!  (I write this with sore arms today)  We spotted multiple hawks, an eagle, and even a water snack slither across ahead of us.  

As we neared the end we arrived at a cafe on the river.  We waited for our group here while enjoying a coffee and the strong Portuguese sunshine!  

Enjoying a coffee break in the sun!  

A refreshing dip in the river for Pepi!  

Refreshed we hopped back in our kayaks and headed towards the beach where our journey would end.  

This was a super fun adventure.  In a physical sense it was less challenging than the 3 Peaks, a 1/2 IronMan and a marathon, but I really enjoy the accessibility of this adventure.  It is a great day, challenging, but it requires a basic fitness instead of massive training.  18km in a kayak is a long way but a wonderful way to spend the day!  

Awaiting our group.  

  I still have a few adventures to make up-later this month in Spain I will be setting off on another.

Two constant supporters!  Walid and Pepi!  THANK YOU!   

Success!

Kayak success!  Photos to follow when we reach wifi. Excellent adventure!!

Rip Mondego here we come!

As we've not had any word of cancellation were up and heading to Penacova, Portugal to kayak 18km of the Rio Mondego. Pepis first adventure with us!

Preparing for our adventure...

Exciting news!  We are preparing for our next adventure!! Unless we have a call that the adventure is cancelled we're off in a few hours for our next adventure-an 18km kayak trip!  Stay tuned and wish us luck!

Happy Monday

What are you doing this Sunday?

Are you heading out for training?  Creating your own personal adventure?  Or maybe you are like I am and just stuck in rain!

Whenever you have the time I would suggest reading Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryll WuDunn.  You can also check out the documentary,  If you are facebook user you can even contribute by playing the Half the Sky game!

I wish you a happy Sunday.