Team Love4Gambia 2011 had a number of dreams. Our summer together was all about accomplishing big dreams over the course of many kilometers of road; many litres of Gatorade; a lot of hard work and perseverance; and care, support and love for each other.
Our biggest dreams included:
- Reaching the Atlantic Ocean in Banjul, hand-in-hand, 424km from where we began in farm field in Koina at the Senegalese border, hand-in-hand
- Meeting Akon
- Having babies post-Love4Gambia run
- Having the Love4Gambia legacy continue.
- Reuniting several years in the future to run from Banjul to somewhere else (Accra, Lagos, Cape Town…)
We reached the ocean together, hand-in-hand.
We haven’t meet Akon (yet).
My husband and I are expecting our first baby in April.
Because of Andrea Moritz, the Love4Gambia legacy will continue in the summer of 2012.
I’m thrilled to introduce you to Andrea who will be traveling to The Gambia in June to join Pa Modou, Kebba and Spider to run our historic 424km route across the country. You can read more about Andrea here. Andrea will be taking over most of the blogging on www.love4gambia.com. Watch for her first post in the coming days.
I know that Andrea’s journey will inspire many in both Canada and The Gambia. Through the money that she raises for the Nova Scotia-Gambia Association, her journey will saves the lives of many in The Gambia.
I think that this June, when Andrea takes her first steps from that broken cinder block in Koina with my Gambian brothers, I will feel envious. I know that this emotion will be fleeting. I’ll be holding the newborn baby that I dreamed about every day of my run across The Gambia.
My husband and I planned this baby for my return from Africa and we are incredibly blessed that our plan came to fruition very quickly (150km weeks are good for fertility). Ashley, Pa Modou, Kebba, Spider and I talked about this baby almost every day. “Inshallah, a baby will come,” they would say. Kebba prayed for us everyday.
Baby Poirier and I will be cheering for Team Love4Gambia 2012 everyday this summer as they make their push to Banjul. I hope that you’ll join and support Andrea, Pa Modou, Kebba and Spider on this new journey too.
For those of who have been following my writing, I’ll begin to do most of it on my new blog here. If you subscribed to my writing via email, please subscribe to this site too!
I’ll leave you now with this video. It was recorded as my team and I walked out of the water on the shores of the Atlantic in Banjul, after our victory swim. I am hugging Ashley and I’m crying.
You can’t see my Fula sister Ashley’s face or hear what she is saying to me so let me tell you what she was saying:
”I can’t wait to tell your baby about what you did and what you accomplished here in The Gambia.”
