(2008-07-15) Mila Miguel is half way.

Her journey began two weeks ago, when she set out, walking 28 kilometres, going up a total of 1200 metres in elevation, through cold clouds in northern Spain.

She has made many friends along the way — from her first walking partners, a Quebecois, a German and a Pole, to a 70-year-old German man, a few university students and a Spaniard with a cure for blisters.

She made it into Pamplona to listen to the Euro Cup final on the radio, she weathered blistered toes and heels burning with heat. She has woken up before sunrise, walking into the dawn, her most recent town still sleeping behind her, breathing in the stars and fresh air.

Mila is an Athlete for Africa. The University of Toronto varsity volleyball player has been on the move for the past two weeks in an attempt to walk 870 km in 31 days, with the hopes of raising $10 for every kilometre walked. The journey is halfway over – help her reach her fundraising goal that will provide education and opportunities for youth in Africa.

Visit her campaign page or read her blog as she walks on...

(2008-07-14) With only three weeks before the start of two-time WNBA All-Star Tammy Sutton-Brown’s basketball camp, spots are filling up. Tammy’s 1^st Annual Girls Basketball camp runs Tuesday, August 5, to Friday, August 8, at Middlefield Collegiate Institute in Markham, Ont. Tammy, a former Olympian (representing Canada in the 2000 Oympics) and current member of the Indiana Fever, will lead on-court sessions, alongside some of Toronto’s top coaches. Guest speakers will also present sessions on nutrition, self-esteem, education and global citizenship. Net proceeds raised from the event will go to Athletes for Africa. The camp is open to all female basketball players, aged 8 to 18 – but it is filling up fast!

Download the camp registration form

(2008-07-10) As athletes around the world prepare for next month’s Olympic Games in Beijing, two young Canadians continue to run their own 4,200-kilometre marathon – running at least 35 kilometres, six days a week – in support of children’s education in Namibia, Zambia and Tanzania.  

Erin van Wiltenburg, 21, and Reuben Jentink, 19, both from Victoria, B.C., are more than halfway through their journey, dubbed SEE-THEM-RUN, and are now in northern Zambia. For companions they have had waves of smiling children, dusty transport trucks, angry elephants and, as always, the defiant Mother Nature.  

Over the past two months, though the world is largely unaware of their efforts and they vie not for awards but for awareness, they have been testing the limits of their physical abilities.  

“[There is] a fine balance between pushing to get through and pushing your body too hard, and I guess I haven’t really found that balance yet,” Erin says, after recently giving her support team a scare when she collapsed on the side of the road. (Click here to see and hear what happened.)

 Still, the duo pushes on to demonstrate that Africa is an accessible, inviting place where real people live and where, if you want to go for a 4,200km jog, you are more than welcomed to.Their objective: to fundraise and support sustainable educational projects in Namibia, Zambia, and Tanzania — the three countries their 100-day journey covers.  

Click here to follow their journey...