|
‘We have no time to waste,’ water activist Mina Guli urges urgent action to preserve water resources
By Fredrick Mugira
|
|
|
|
Mina Guli, founder and CEO of Thirst Foundation, running marathon no. 60 of 200 in the Makadikadi Basin, Botswana. Photo by Xavier Briel
|
|
|
Water advocate, ultra-marathon runner, and businesswoman Mina Guli has been running in various African countries since mid-June as part of the African leg of the RUN BLUE Campaign, which will see her completing 200 marathons around the world by March next year.
Australian-born Guli is the CEO of Thirst Foundation, a non-profit organisation delivering ground-breaking action to protect the world’s freshwater resources.
|
|
|
|
Mina Guli in the Okavango Delta, Botswana. Photo by Xavier Briel
|
|
|
The RUN BLUE campaign aims to raise awareness, demonstrate the urgency of the water problem we are facing, and drive commitments to concrete action on the water by governments, companies, and organisations worldwide in advance of the UN-Water Conference in March 2023.
|
|
|
The campaign started on March 22, 2022 (World Water Day) in Australia, and Guli has completed the Central Asia stage, where she ran 14 marathons in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
For three months, Guli has run marathons across several countries in Africa. The Africa leg of the RUN BLUE campaign ended in Cape Town in August before moving on to Turkey, Europe, Latin America, Asia, and the United States, where it will finish on the steps of the United Nations in New York at the opening of the UN Summit on Water.
Along her routes, she is joined by thousands of people and meets government officials and water experts.
|
|
|
|
Mina Guli, running marathon number 48 with local Samburu warriors at Namunyak Wildlife Conservancy, Samburu County, Kenya. Photo by Xavier Briel
|
|
She runs through communities and areas most affected by the water crisis. She meets people, companies, water experts, and government officials, sharing their stories and lifting their voices, putting water onto the global agenda, and driving commitments to concrete action by companies and governments in Africa and around the world.
Mina shared her thoughts with Fredrick Mugira about how the Africa leg of the RUN BLUE campaign has been so far.
|
|
|
|
Mina Guli visiting a Maji Kiosk in Mwingi, Kenya
|
|
|
|
Mina Guli, running marathon number 49 in Samburu County, Kenya. Photo by Xavier Briel
|
|
|
|
Natural foam on the shores of Lake Elementaita, a soda lake in the Great Rift Valley about 120km northwest of Nairobi Kenya. Photo by Xavier Briel
|
|
|
|
Mina Guli, running marathon number 50 in Kaptagat, Uasin Gishu County, in the southwestern part of Kenya. Photo by Xavier Briel
|
|
|
|
Small and large-scale farming on the banks of the Malewa River. The Malewa River rises in the western slopes of the Aberdare Range in Kenya and flows south and west into Lake Naivasha in the Great Rift Valley. Photo by Xavier Briel
|
|
|
|
Mina Guli, in the Okavango Delta, Botswana. This photo was taken in Maun, Botswana.by Xavier Briel
|
|
According to Mina, we can’t underestimate the significance of water challenges, the urgency of the action that needs to be taken, and the importance of organizations like the United Nations and countries and leaders in companies stepping up and saying water needs to be a priority for action.
We need to act now, and we need to get the world to Run Blue!
|
|
|
|
|
