My Achievements
Updated Profile
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Half Way To Target
10 Donations
Reached Target
My Updates
Thank you
Monday 4th MarYou did it!
Your generous donations & encouragement to keep going have raised over double my initial goal of $2500 for Medecins sans Frontiers.
That’s right, you have donated $5160 to ensure that people just like us, caught in circumstances that we would never want to experience, can receive the medical assistance upon which their lives & well-being depend.
Thank you for showing vulnerable people in need of medical care that you want it for them too.
Special thanks to you Sal, Jared, Fiona, Erica, Merren, Brett, Kimber, Dan, Michelle (twice!), Kathryn, Monica, Melonie, Felicity, James, Sue, Hannah, Sally B, Jacqui, Tanya, Kirsty, Alex W, Julia, Rob, Karen, Jo, Katya, Sebastien, Charles, Helen, Brenda, Judi, Sally L, Lachlan, Ava & Sharnie, Aunty Rosemary, Tania, Alex H, Jackie A, Frank, Nicola, Laurent, John, Penelope & Rob, Ursula, Carla, Sonya, Rosemary, Jan, Di, Mum Anne & Dad, Richard, Cam & Jenny, Caroline & Augie, Paul, Marc, Amy C, Liza & all those “anonymice” who donated to MSF.
☺️🙏🏻
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Day 50
Thursday 29th Feb Swimming 102kms in 50 days has taught me a lot:*I can handle a physical challenge, even thought I was never “a sporty kid” & have suffered ailments that can make sport difficult;
*I can commit to doing something outside my comfort zone, something inconvenient & hard, & I can keep that commitment;
*When I told people about my challenge, all kinds of people supported me - not just in words, but in actions. Thank you for your generous encouragement & donations to Medecins sans Frontiers;
*Swimming a lot & regularly really does wonders for my back & makes a unique mindfulness activity: a moving meditation & workout rolled into one;
*Medecins sans Frontiers is not only an incredible organisation, but an essential one in the unequal, changing & hazardous world we live in. Geopolitical forces & natural disasters may seem or be beyond our control but MSF provides practical, critical & noble medical assistance to real people who are dealing with the effects;
*An ordinary person in an ordinary suburb with a job to do & bills to pay & relationships to maintain & housework to attend to can choose a simple challenge & raise a few useful dollars to say to ordinary people who are suffering in extraordinary circumstances:
I want better for you!
This was something I could do to support the people who can help.
You can still sponsor my swim after the fact for the next 5 days. Please consider donating to MSF who do truly important work to save, preserve & improve the lives of vulnerable people in trying times.
Day 49
Wednesday 28th Feb I swam for Mr. C tonight.Those who grew up swimming at Manilla Memorial Pool Will remember him. He would stride around the pool grounds in his navy shorts, a white short-sleeve collared shirt & navy cap, keeping the place immaculate & bellowing at the kids who ran where they should walk.
But, above all, he taught children to swim & coached us to swim our best. Every morning throughout the warmer months Mr. C would apply his serious ex-navy discipline to the swimming potential of what must have added up to hundreds of kids.
I have often thought of Mr. C during my adult life & more often still over the past 49 days of swimming to 100kms. I think of how he’d note the vast improvement in my stroke & yell at me to “PUSH” harder through the water… but mostly I think of his service: to Australia, as a member of our navy,; to the small community of Manilla, as the manager of our pool; & to us children, as our swimming coach.
There was no glamour to his work, no big dollars or great incentives to undertake the responsibilities that he did. But there was a sense of service that I believe motivated Mr. C’s choices & that I value to this day.
I think Mr. C would find friends amongst the staff of Medecins sans Frontiers, who work in unglamorous, often uncomfortable circumstances, for modest salaries, to bring medical assistance to people in need. Staff of Medecins sans Frontiers are also in service, of both those who need help & those of us who want that help to reach them, in the name of kindness & of humanity.
I think that service is worth supporting.
Please consider sponsoring me swimming 102kms in 50 days by making a donation to MSF.
Donations can still be made for a few days after tomorrow, when I will finally finish my last daily swim & reach my promised goal.
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Day 47
Monday 26th Feb I pumped out 2.4kms tonight.I like a round number & I reckon it will be easier to say that I swam 102kms in 50 days than to say I swam 101.6!
Anyway, the pool was smooth, clear & reasonably quiet this evening so slicing through a few more laps was easy & free.
How lucky am I to live in a place where I can do this? There are no bombs, there is no famine, no life-threatening medical condition preventing me from just going for an extended swim in my lovely local pool.
If only every human being could be so lucky…
Please consider sponsoring my 102km swim in 50 days by donating to support the heroic staff of Medecins sans Frontiers in their work to bring medical help to the world’s most vulnerable people.
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Day 46
Sunday 25th Feb Yesterday was the second anniversary of the escalation of Russia’s war in Ukraine, following the invasion & occupation of the Crimean peninsula in 2014.Since February 2022, Medecins sans Frontiers has been operating mobile clinics near the frontline of the conflict. Although 10 million people are displaced inside the Ukraine, many people are unable or unwilling to be evacuated from their communities near the fighting. MSF runs clinics in 100 different towns & villages in the Donetsk, Kharkiv & Kherson regions, near the frontline of the war. The medical infrastructure has been completely destroyed in some of these communities.
MSF mainly treats women who are over 60 years old, many of whom suffer chronic diseases in these regions, providing the support of a doctor, social worker, psychologist & therapist in each clinic. They support people suffering from PTSD, wounds & destroyed limbs, chronic conditions for which there is no local source of medicine, & conditions that require medical evacuation to receive treatment.
It’s a massive job.
Please consider sponsoring my 100km swim by making a donation to fund this important work to ensure the people living on the frontline the war in Ukraine can receive vital medical care.
Day 44
Friday 23rd Feb
Day 43
Thursday 22nd Feb My swim this evening: HARD, HARD, HARD, HARD, HARD, HARD, HARD, HARD, HARD.But not as hard as working at the Indonesian Hospital in Rafah, Gaza.
You can read what Australian & seasoned MSF logisticien, Lindsay Croghan, is seeing there in today’s Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/22/australian-working-in-rafah-hospital-gaza-palestine-israel-hamas-war?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Please consider sponsoring my swim to support MSF’s provision of critical medical aid in desperate circumstances.
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Day 42
Thursday 22nd Feb I try not to think about contaminants of the pool on busy days, the inevitable secretions of kids that have passed through the water in their school swimming carnival races earlier in the day or those of the people churning through laps during the early morning or evening. Not that the pool I swim in isn’t crystal clear & clean. Just that, well, there’s a reason for the chlorine!The transmission of bodily fluids through the air, however, is frequently dangerous & much less preventable. We know a little about that following the COVID-19 pandemic, but there are many other diseases that spread through the air to devastating effect.
Tuberculosis, or TB, is one of the worst. A bacterial infection of the lungs, TB is transmitted through the air between people when someone coughs, sneezes or spits.
At the start of the century, TB was the leading cause of death for Australian women & the second greatest cause of death for Australian men. These days only around 1500 Australians are diagnosed with TB.
The disease is easily treated with antibiotics.
Yet the World Health Organisation calculates that around a quarter of the world’s population is currently infected with TB, 30,000 people fall ill with TB & 4500 die from TB every single day.
In Papua New Guinea, TB is a major public health emergency, & the fourth largest cause of death in hospital admissions. TB is also the primary cause of death for sufferers of HIV/AIDS. Papua New Guinea is suffering terribly to a disease that we have all but eradicated right next door in Australia.
Médecins sans Frontiers has been collaborating with Papua New Guinea’s national government to provide a national TB program, scaling up the nation’s capacity to screen, diagnosis, initiate treatment & provide follow up care in Port Moresby’s Getehu hospital. Meanwhile, mobile MSF teams work in the community to improve the low numbers of patients adhering to treatment, which is largely due to difficulty accessing remote areas & ineffective follow-up treatment.
Please consider sponsoring my swim to support MSF’s provisions of medical treatment to our neighbours suffering rampant TB in Papua New Guinea.
Day 41
Tuesday 20th Feb It was dark when I started my daily 2km swim this evening. I was conscious of the lights at the pool & conscious of the difference they make to swimming.Swimming in the dark is not always a choice & we know that this happens to thousand of migrants & refugees who try to cross the Mediterranean Sea. If they can swim.
Since 2014, over 26,000 people have been confirmed dead or missing from known shipwrecks that have occurred during attempts to cross this sea. The people who have lost their lives in unreported shipwrecks would take that figure much higher.
Most boats become distressed between Libya, Malta & Italy, many miles from shore. They carry people from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Eritrea, Gambia, Ivory Coast, Sudan, Syria & many other places, who may refugees under international law; survivors of torture, sexual violence or human trafficking; unaccompanied children; pregnant women; people with disabilities; & people with severe medical illnesses.
Médecins sans Frontiers operates its own ship, the Geo Barents, with 21 MSF staff & 15 crew, to rescue people in distress at sea & to provide them with emergency medical care.
MSF staff on the Géo Barents regularly treat fuel burns suffered by those they rescue at sea, respiratory tract infections, skin diseases, sea sickness & pain. A MSF midwife assists rescued women who are pregnant. All MSF staff on the Géo Barents are trained to provide psychological first aid to those rescued, who are often suffering trauma from arbitrary detention, sexual violence, physical violence & torture from people traffickers, the Libyan government, criminal gangs or their own home country.
MSF provides care & dignity to people, irrespective of their background or choices. And no one who gets onto one of those boats is doing so because they choose to swim in the dark in the middle of the sea…
Please sponsor my swim so that MSF can continue to extend help & dignity to distressed & desperate people in dark waters & dark times.
Day 40
Monday 19th Feb After swimming 80kms over the past 40 days, I now have 10 days and 20kms to go to smash my goal of swimming 100kms in 50 days.More important than achieving this goal is the sponsorship so generously offered for my efforts. Sponsorship donations to Medecins sans Frontiers have exceeded my initial target total donations but I’d love to raise more to support MSF’s work providing medical care to vulnerable people all over the world.
Please consider sponsoring my big swim & donating to support the incredible work of these heroes.
Day 39
Sunday 18th Feb I don’t know if it’s because there has been warm weather here lately, but there have been a lot of kids in the pool over the last few days.They splash about, thrash their way down the lanes, hang off the lane ropes & loiter giggling under the diving blocks until I’ve touched, turned & pushed off for another length.
I could find it annoying. I certainly don’t love copping a mouthful of water in their wake or swimming through a suspiciously warm patch…
…but lately I just feel terribly grateful for them & for their safety, their ability to just be kids jumping in the pool without a care in the world.
But children continue to be disproportionately affected by war-related violence & abuses, according to United Nations Secretary General’s latest report on children & conflict, & war-related violence & abuses against children are on the rise.
It is easy to feel helpless to make a difference to those who suffer from their leaders’ choices to wage war. We can’t influence aggressive foreign leaders. We can’t stop the bombs from falling.
But MSF doesn’t take the easy response. They offer tangible, meaningful help to the people suffering from the decisions of their leaders, they tend to the wounded & traumatised, the uprooted & disoriented. They tend to the children who should be able to spend their afternoons jumping in the pool, not shivering in an overcrowded emergency ward, wondering where their parents are or whether they will be able to see again, as the streets outside ring with gunfire.
Please consider sponsoring my swim to fund MSF’s meaningful medical support for children in war zones.
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Day 36
Thursday 15th Feb
Day 35
Wednesday 14th Feb Almost every day an Australian news story about the mental health benefits of exercise is published or broadcast.One thing I expected from maintaining my commitment to swimming 2kms per day over the past 35 days, & for another 15 days as well, is to enjoy the mental clarity & feel-good endorphins & self confidence that regular physical exercise & increased fitness bring. I haven’t been disappointed.
In many countries, however, much less is known about the causes & manifestations of mental illness, & even less is known about or invested in best practice responses. Mental health problems are taboo in many cultures, remain undiscussed or are treated as spiritual perversions.
According to the World Health Organisation, some 450 million people worldwide suffer from mental health disorders. In many countries, the government has no will or ability to respond to their citizens who are amongst these 450 million people.
That’s when Medecins sans Frontiers gets involved.
Aussie psychologist, Greg Keane worked with MSF to address the huge demand for mental health support in Mosul, Iraq, after the terrible conflict that took place there in 2017.
He recalls one day in Mosul “…in a 45 degree tent, everyone literally dripping with sweat. Person after person clamouring for mental health support for them of their families. That day I diagnosed a young man with his first presentation of a psychotic illness, convincing his devastated mum & dad that he wasn’t possessed by a genie - that medication might help - and that things could be ok for them.”
MSF provides information & support that Australians take for granted. While our medical system isn’t perfect, we are nevertheless lucky to have such great science, information & support available to us. MSF helps people where there is none, often in catastrophic circumstances (war, natural disasters) that mean people really need it.
Please consider sponsoring my swim & supporting MSF’s great work.
Day 34
Tuesday 13th Feb During a brief pause at the end of my lane today, a fellow swimmer & I were remarking how lovely it was to be in the water.But sometimes water is treacherous. When a tsunami surged through Indonesia’s Sunda Strait in 2018, many homes were destroyed, many people were injured & lives were plunged into turmoil.
Fortunately, MSF had been operating adolescent health projects in the parts of Java that were most affected by the tsunami. Hours after the tsunami hit, MSF’s emergency medical team visited & immediately provided support to the existing health centres in the most affected areas.
MSF also set up a mobile clinics to reach evacuation centres & host communities, as most of the people staying in those areas were not able to access medical services. The many injuries from the tsunami remained untreated until MSF turned up to provide medical care.
14 years before, MSF’s efforts were also critical to the survival of the many people affected by the tsunami of 26 December 2004, which devastated communities on the coasts of Western Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Thailand & India.
Days after the tsunami hit, MSF teams began working alongside national efforts to provide shelter, water, food & medical services to survivors. Over 200 MSF volunteers went to work to support hard-hit communities in Sri Lanka & Indonesia, with smaller scale activities in Thailand, Malaysia & India, supplementing national emergency efforts by identifying & addressing the many needs that were being overlooked by mainstream efforts.
But by far the greatest focus of MSF activities were in Aceh, Indonesia, where many of the province’s key health workers were killed by the tsunami & medical infrastructure was completely destroyed. Where do you seek help for your infected gash when the clinic & the doctor have been washed out to sea? MSF.
MSF’s rapid deployment of assistance saved has saved many lives in the aftermath of tsunamis.
Please consider sponsoring my swim to support their continued care of people for whom the water is anything but lovely.
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Day 33
Monday 12th Feb I often see pregnant woman swimming laps as I’m chugging through my daily 2kms towards 100km, & I think it is how great that they can head down to a pool to keep fit & take a moment for themselves. The relief of floating & taking weight of their swelling joints is visible on their faces.Meanwhile, Medecins sans Frontiers workers in Gaza report that pregnant Palestinian women are contending with the constant stress of bombings, displacement and deplorable living conditions in the middle of winter. Some women are giving birth in plastic tents & going months without a medical check-up.
In Rafah, MSF teams are supporting the Emirati Hospital with postpartum care to reduce the risk of morbidity & mortality among mothers & babies, & to allow more patients to receive proper monitoring post delivery.
This has been only possible because of donations like yours.
Please consider donating to support MSF’s work with pregnant woman, women in labour & mothers & their newborns trying to survive the war.
Day 32
Sunday 11th Feb After yesterday’s swim, I was a little stiff & sore. Getting warmed up & into my daily 2km swim today was a tiring & a bit tough.But I find the feeling that I can’t help people in need much harder than swinging a couple of aching arms overhead for 2000 metres every day over 50 days.
I may have no influence over the decisions of political leaders who wage merciless wars, the natural disasters that wreak destruction on bodies & communities, the many factors that perpetuate poverty, but I don’t need to have that kind of power to support an organisation that sees the ordinary people afflicted by these events & offers them medical help & dignity in their darkest moments.
Swimming a couple of ks with a stiff & sore body is a small price to pay to make a big difference to people in need. I think it’s worth every ache.
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Day 31
Saturday 10th Feb
Day 30
Friday 9th FebA beautiful Friday afternoon to smash out 2kms of pool time today, all the while thinking how lucky I am to have all limbs & digits intacts to pull me through the water… when so many others right now are coming to terms with the loss of theirs to illness, war & lack of access to
medical help.
If I haven’t persuaded anyone to make up the outstanding $108 by the morning, I’ve decided to honour those who chipped in over the past couple of days anyway & will swim the equivalent kms per dollar donated - another 1.5-6kms on top of my daily 2km.
See you tomorrow!
Day 29
Thursday 8th Feb Well, a little sadism seems to be motivating!I’ve raised $293.72 extra buckaroos to support the lifesaving work of Medecins dans Frontiers just by offering to make my daily swim/goal/life harder!
If I raise another $206.28 (from others similarly eager to see me punish myself) before Saturday morning, I will swim 4kms instead of 2kms.
This is no small feat for me. A month ago, I’d only swum 2kms at a stretch on two occasions in my life (one time being when I was a teenager & the other being 3 days before I began this challenge). So swimming 4kms will be, well… a new adventure to discover what other parts of my body will ache with repetitive use & what peak water wrinkle is on my fingers.
Will I find out?
That depends on whether we raise another $206.28 for MSF before Saturday morning…
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Day 28
Wednesday 7th Feb I’m getting the sense that any of my friends & acquaintances who are motivated to donate to Medecins dans Frontiers by altruism have donated.But I’m not ready to settle just yet.
So if altruism doesn’t move you, how about sadism?
Yes, you might not donate to support MSF to ease suffering, but would you donate to see me suffer? I mean, just a little bit?
If I can raise another $500 in donations by Saturday morning, I will swim double the distance on Saturday. That’s right, for another $500, I will swim 4kms, making a total swim of 102kms over 50 days.
I’m willing to suffer (a little) to raise more to support MSF to ease the suffering of vulnerable people right now.
Keen?
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Day 27
Tuesday 6th Feb I’ve swim 54 kilometres over the past 27 days, no matter I have felt. Jumping into the Stromlo Leisure Centre pool, drenching my hair & face, pulling down my goggles & nestling them over my eyes, then pushing off for that first fresh, fast lap is now a daily ritual (although the time of day it I practice varies wildly).I often do a lot of thinking as I’m churning up & down the lane. I suppose the rhythmic nature of bilateral breathing, the repetition of physical
movements, the precise pattern of 3 x 50m freestyle & 1 x 50m breastroke repeated, is not so unlike a meditation based on paying attention to my breath or repeating a mantra. Thoughts pass through that matter between my ears as I move, thoughts pragmatic or philosophical, & often those that involve the staff & work of Medecins sans Frontiers, for which I’m swimming to raise funds.
This meditative state doesn’t make the swimming easier. It doesn’t mean I can ignore the water I swallow sharing the lane with a splashy kicker or that my arms & back don’t ache. But there is something wonderfully purposeful & inspiring in the repeated action of driving a part of your body forward & pulling the rest of you with it. The act of reaching, of striving, of pulling oneself forward through a massive volume of water that resists, confuses, even chokes at times.
Perhaps this is a practice of pulling myself towards a goal, rather than pushing myself. Progressively, I will drive that water, those metres & kilometres behind me, as I swim towards 100kms &, hopefully, a solid donation to support the ever striving staff of MSF.
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Day 25
Sunday 4th Feb
Day 24
Saturday 3rd Feb Swimming my daily 2kms yesterday & today was really hard. My body felt like a leaden weight in the water, the tips of my fingers to my neck a tangle of high tensile wires stretched to snapping point. Lugging my elbows out of the water & throwing them forward was a constant effort.Someone said “You’ve been putting in a lot of effort everyday, Sall: it’s no wonder you’re feeling tired!”
That just made me think of those MSF doctors & nurses in emergency zones, where day upon day, hour upon hour, they carefully attend to the complex injuries & needs of people who urgently need them.
A MSF surgeon in a war zone can’t just sit down & say “Yeah nah, might have a breather for a few days” after hours of putting broken bodies back together, trying to save children’s limbs, trying to save whole families, when another mortally wounded patient is rushed into theatre. People continue to depend on that surgeon’s work to survive, to have any hope of using their remaining hand or recovering some of their sight.
And that surgeon depends on people like me who raise funds for MSF. Because the only way that MSF can do this important work for people in emergencies is if we donate.
So even though I was tired & sore & stiff these past two swims, I kept swimming until I’d finished my daily 2kms of the 100km I promised to swim over 50 days. Because MSF depends on me doing this & MSF depends on our funds to keep working.
Day 22
Thursday 1st Feb
Day 21
Wednesday 31st Jan Today I swam my 2kms of 100km in 50 days quickly. I knocked a few minutes off my usual time without noticing how fast I had been swimming. On other days I feel like I’m swimming through wet cement.People have good days & bad days, & generally we get by. For vulnerable people with little means, support or choice, a bad day can be catastrophic & a catastrophic day can mean the end of their life or their family… unless they have access to free, quality medical assistance.
Earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis, floods & fire can create mortal danger for people who survive the initial event. Wounds & cuts need treating to prevent life-threatening infections, crush injuries require treatment to prevent kidney failure, fractures need proper setting before they get worse, people who need daily medication may die horribly without it, premature infants need neonatal care & pregnant women suffering the increased risk of obstetric complications at these times, need extra support during labor.
Because MSF already has a presence in 70 countries, & has experience responding to natural disasters, they are able to quickly respond to the effects of natural disasters on vulnerable people.
Please consider sponsoring my swim to support MSF’s work with the victims of natural disasters who have no one else to turn to. Help MSF prevent very bad days from becoming completely catastrophic.
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Day 20
Tuesday 30th Jan Do you take regular medication to manage a chronic health condition? Many people do.Now just imagine what would happen if your circumstances was dramatically altered so that accessing that medication was suddenly difficult, even impossible? How would you get them? What would you do? What would happen to you without them?
Ensuring people who need medication can access it is one of the critical roles that MSF plays throughout the world. When conflict, natural disasters or poverty make it impossible for diabetics or organ transplant patients to obtain the medicines they need to stay alive, Medecins sans Frontiers clinic provide free supplies.
Read about Dr. Al Youssef, a Syrian doctor who helped MSF set up a service to support kidney transplant patients who couldn’t access life-sustaining medicines during the Syrian war: https://msf.org.au/article/stories-patients-staff/beyond-trauma-injuries-one-syria’s-neglected-health-needs
This is why I swam 2km today, & why I will keep swimming 2km every day until I have swum 100kms. Please consider sponsoring my swim & helping out people who can’t access critical medication as readily as you & I can.
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Day 19
Monday 29th Jan
Day 18
Sunday 28th Jan Well what a bunch of champions!I’m only 36 kilometres into swimming 100km in 50 days and so many of you have already chipped in with sponsorship! Thank you, thank you!
It’s enough to make me cross the channel again. In fact, I will.
Let’s see how much I can raise over the next 32 kms to support the independent, tireless & much-needed work of Medecins Sans Frontiers.
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Day 17
Saturday 27th Jan I’ve just swum the English Channel(over 17 days, swimming 2kms a day)!!!!
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On day 17 of my 50-day swim, I’m feeling a little sore, a little tired, but a great deal motivated to raise a meaningful sum to support the meaningful work of Medecins sans Frontiers.
MSF works independently of governments to provide critical medical care to people affected by poverty, natural disasters, war, epidemics & displacement from their homes.
Nobody chooses to fall ill from fetid drinking water, be crushed under fallen buildings, catch a stray bullet, Ebola or hypothermia in a makeshift shelter. So it’s right & good that we can help these people receive the care of MSF’s doctors, nurses, midwives, psychologists, allied health professionals & logisticiens.
Please consider sponsoring my swim & donating to MSF, whose care is needed more than ever.
Day 16
Friday 26th Jan
Day 15
Thursday 25th Jan I am a bit lazy in the legs department when I’m swimming my daily 2kms towards 100kms in 50 days. I don’t kick a lot.When I do, it makes a remarkable difference to how quickly I can slice through the water. I’m lucky to have my legs and - definitely - my arms.
Many people caught in war zones suffer terrible injuries to their limbs and many lose them. Learning to move and live without a limb requires training and equipment (for example, a prosthetic limb).
MSF’s occupational therapists take an innovative approach to helping patients adjust to their new lives without limbs. They help patients to learn to dress themselves, manage chronic pain, hold a broom or toothbrush, & regain motor skills so they can re-enter the workforce.
Please consider donating so that MSF can help victims of conflict to regain their mobility & agency after suffering injuries of war.
Day 14
Wednesday 24th Jan When you swim laps in most public pools, you have to take a side, swim to the left & do your laps clockwise up and down the lane to avoid crashing into another swimmer head on.Unlike me when I’m swimming my daily 2kms to make up 100kms in 50 days, Medicines sans Frontiers doesn’t take sides.
MSF provides medical care based on needs alone and works hard to reach the people who need help the most. If warring parties saw MSF as being on one side of a conflict, MSF workers would be less likely to access those in need and more at risk of attack themselves.
One of the ways that MSF can demonstrate its independence & impartiality is to ensure that all MSF’s funding for work in conflicts comes from private individuals like you and me - not government grants.
This means it’s up to us to help MSF to provide medical care to people caught in war & conflict. Please consider donating.
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Day 13
Tuesday 23rd Jan
Day 12
Monday 22nd Jan I forgot my towel tonight so exiting the pool complex into a chilly, windy Canberra evening without being able to dry myself off & wrap myself up was hard.It made me think of all of those people who are spending their winter in tents &
makeshift shelters: they aren’t just without a towel but without a home.
MSF provides medical care to people who have been forced to flee their homes or who have lost them to catastrophe. Most refugee camps don’t offer the support of a public health system, hospitals & GP clinics. Without MSF providing medical care, these people with nothing, living with only plastic or cardboard between them & the icy air outside, may have no one to help them when they succumb to the many illnesses of which they‘re at risk.
Please sponsor my 100km swim over these 50 days to support MSF’s great work helping the many vulnerable people suffering this winter. You can learn more about MSF’s work with refugees, internally displaced people and undocumented immigrants here:
Day 11
Sunday 21st Jan It was a hard slog swimming my daily 2kms today after a late night and troubled sleep……but that wasn’t a double shift treating traumatic injuries in a precarious emergency ward after a sleep interrupted by the noise of bombs falling nearby.
If MSF medicos can front up to perform skilled and stressful work after a poor sleep, I can definitely swim 2kms.
Please consider donating so that MSF can keep treating their needy patients.
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Day 8
Thursday 18th Jan
Day 7
Wednesday 17th Jan So I tend to break it down into numbers. I’ve done 1 of just over 7 weeks, 7 of 50 days, 10 sets of 200 metres, 3 x 50s of freestyle and then a 50 of breaststroke. That’s how I convince myself that there isn’t much further to go, that I won’t be churning up and down the length of the pool interminably. Each swim I start by telling myself that it’s just a matter of knocking off 10 sets, counting the sets of 200 down as I go.“Only 7 more.”
“Only 5 more.”
“Only 2 more (so I’ve done 1600 yay!)”.
These are some of the numbers that get me through my daily 2km swims towards a total of 100km over this 50-day period.
Some of the other numbers that get me through my swims are as follows:
* Over 90% of MSF’s funding comes from individual private donors like you and me. It’s this funding that enables MSF to operate independently of political, religious or economic interests.
* MSF provides medical assistance in around 70 countries.
* MSF’s work is carried out by thousands of health professionals, and logistical and administrative staff, the vast majority of whom come from the countries in which MSF provides assistance.
* Over 67,000 MSF staff are working to provide medical assistance to people caught in crises around the world.
* More than 120 Australians and New Zealanders were amongst them in 2022.
Please consider boosting my fundraising numbers to support MSF.
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Day 6
Tuesday 16th Jan My lap swimming was hampered by a sore arm and general aches this evening. I had a COVID-19 vaccination yesterday and today my body was responding, stiffening my muscles and swelling my glands as the vaccine provoked my immune system to recognise and fight to the virus itself.I did get through the 2km swim, all the while thinking of the efforts that MSF went to during the COVID-19 pandemic…
As the pandemic spread throughout the world, MSF staff stepped up to develop and deliver training on infection prevention and control; provide public health campaigns on avoiding and responding to the virus; conduct COVID-19 testing; set up isolation and intensive care wards; offer free vaccinations; and provide healthcare for people affected by the virus in many countries that were struggling to cope and to marginalised people in many others (without homes or in refugee camps).
Many of the MSF staff undertaking this essential work struggled with critical shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE), were far from their loved ones, became ill themselves, and could not isolate in the relative safety or comfort of their own homes and home countries.
A sore arm for a swim isn’t much to complain about in comparison.
Please help me support the essential work that MSF steps up to do when crises like COVID-19 sweep the world. Both MSF and the world’s most vulnerable really need it.
Day 5
Monday 15th Jan So far, and likely for the rest of this 50-day stretch, I am doing every 2km swim without tumbleturns. The tumbleturn at the end of each length is just not in my kit of swimming skills so I have to get through this 100km swimathon by stopping and starting again at each end.I know this is the slow way to do it. I know they could make my lap-swimming easier and much more efficient. But tumbleturns are off the table so I’m going to have to make do without them. As slow, difficult and inefficient as it is.
Spare a thought for the medical staff of MSF who are trying to save lives, repair trauma wounds, deliver babies and show the fundamental human kindness of medical care when their supplies of medicines, equipment, electricity and even water are limited or cut. And yet they keep on doing what they can with what they can get, often in the most extraordinarily trying circumstances.
Much more trying than a swimming pool.
Help me help them out.
Day 4
Sunday 14th Jan
Day 3
Sunday 14th Jan As a lap swimmer, I find that I need to pick a strategic time to get my laps in at most public pools.Jump into the pool at the wrong time and I can be choking on the wake of a crowd of swimmers, squashed into the few lanes not dominated by classes of learners or training squads, or at risk of being the collateral damage of enthusiastic kids doing bombs off the side.
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But even if I do choose the wrong time, and have to deal with frustrations or risks, I’m not choking to breathe through the dust of battle, squashed into a stranger’s home or tent because mine is no more, or at risk of being the collateral damage of an actual, live bomb.
MSF offers medical care, humanity and dignity to the people who live these experiences.
Swallowing a bit of chlorinated water is a small price to pay for supporting MSF and the people who deserve their efforts.
Day 2
Friday 12th Jan Let’s be clear here: swimming 2kms is no walk in the park.I have never been a fast or strong swimmer & anyone who went to school or swimming lessons with me will attest that my Australian crawl is more the latter than the former - that is, my style of tortured bilateral breathing twists look anything but “free”. Some amazons among us may be able to pump out a cool 2km for a spot of exercise or to warm down from their Wednesday cross-fit class. Not me. I look more like a rolling potato bobbing down the lane than a supercharged shark after prey.
So setting myself the goal of swimming 2kms day for 50 days straight is indeed a challenge for me… but one I want to conquer. Because it’s certainly small compared to the challenges that confront the amazing folks of MSF every single day.. And as insurmountable as those challenges may seem, they keep working away at them.
So, to be clear, swimming 2kms a day means swimming 40 lengths of a 50 metre pool or 80 lengths of a 25 metre pool. That’s not calmly suturing the face of an hysterical, injured child in a building surrounded by gunfire, nor hunting around for a dehydrated cholera victim’s vein to take IV fluids in a tropical tent hospital.
Your donation is not to support me doing a bit of swimming (ok, a LOT of swimming for me): it’s to support the amazing people who work with MSF to keep doing what they do.
Day 1
Thursday 11th Jan In dark times. It is often said that we should look for the helpers.There are always helpers and over this past year (and more), there have indeed been dark times.
Helpers that I see again and again are the doctors, nurses and support staff of Medicines Sans Frontiers, who bring medical relief to people in need, whoever and wherever they are.
I donate to MSF every year but this year I want to do more because they are doing more than ever.
That’s why from today, I am have started swimming 100kms in 50 days, to raise money to support MSF’s tireless work. There’ll be no flippers, no hand paddles, no buoyancy suit, not even a cap! Just me in my swimmers and goggles (and a hair tie to prevent strangulation) in the pool every day for the next 50 days.
Please help me support the heroes of MSF to keep doing what so many of us could never imagine doing: risking their lives to exercise enormous skill and care for people caught in difficult, dangerous, even hopeless circumstances.
Let’s help out the helpers.
Thank you to my Sponsors
$527.50
Anonymous
$500
Denis & Anne Forrest
$250
Sally Bolton
Way to go Sall!
$211
Penny Milson
Congratulations cousin Sall . A sterling effort ! Pen & Rob xx
$211
Brett
Great work!
$200
Anonymous
Very inspiring Sal, such a worthy cause.
$105.50
Hannah K
Good on you Sall!
$105.50
Julia
Amazing effort Sall, keep it up!
$105.50
Brenda
Good on ya Sally!
$105.50
Arthur And Imogen
$105.50
Michelle Bakhos
Amazing effort Sall. So proud of you and for such a worthy cause/organisation.
$105.50
Rosemary Vass
$105.50
Cameron Henderson
Sally Happy to support your wonderful achievement Jenny & Cam
$105.50
Anonymous
Happy to support a great organisation. Go girl!
$105.50
Amy Cuneo
Love you
$105.50
Fi Kelly
Well done Sal, a big undertaking. MSF are amazing. Truly probably the only impartial humanitarian aid organisation doing work in the hardest of places, often with great personal risk. It's a privilege to support your cause.
$105.50
Erica
$105.50
Merren
Wonderful cause, great initiative, go Sal!
$100
Seb Sabogal
Great stuff mate!
$100
Michelle Bakhos
Wonderful cause Sall. So proud of you.
$93.90
Anonymous
Last few days - keep it up Sall!
$88.62
Tania Collins
Better late than never! Thankyou for your hard work
$84
Charles Walker
$52.75
Anonymous
Amazing woman. Incredible cause. You’ve got this Sall 🏊♀️💕
$52.75
Rob Stallard
Go Sal. Thanks and you are going great!
$52.75
Judy May
$52.75
Sally Leigo
Keep up the great swimming Sally and my apologies for the delay in supporting this most deserving cause.
$52.75
Jackie Antoun
Good luck Sall!!
$52.75
Caroline + Augie Mcloughlin
$52.75
Sal W
Go Sallllllll!
$52.75
Kathy
Brilliant work Sal, and for such a worthy cause. Much love xx
$52.75
Monica
This is a tough challenge Sall. Thanks for giving it a go and reminding us of the importance of your cause.
$50
Rosemary Milson
$50
Jan Bryan
$50
Paul Campbell
Congrats on your amazing achievement Sall! So impressive 🤩 Lots of love from Paul, Ann-Maree, and Cadence.
$44.31
Jo Thurman
Go Sal!
$44.31
Katya Thomas
💖
$44.31
Jared Van Duinen
Nice one, Sall!
$44.31
Kimber Stowe
Love to see you using that amazing swimming talent for good ♥️
$42
Melonie Morris
Thank you, lovely lady for doing this. Keep swimming x
$42
Anonymous
Hey, fabulous inspirational woman! Sending you strength, stamina and adoration.
$42
Kirsty Wissing
Go Sall!
$31.65
Jacqui D
Go Sall! MSF a champion NGO for a champion swimmer
$31.65
Alex Wright
Big effort Ms Manytrees! Worthy cause
$31.65
Louise Mcdermott
Well done you bloody legend!
$31.65
Anonymous
$31.65
Laurent Bidot
Bravo Sall ! Tu es la meilleure. Bisous de France
$31.65
Sonya W
I see lots of fundraisers on social media, but for some reason this one stuck in my mind. Congratulations on your efforts, your dedication to this cause is admirable xx
$31.65
Richard Sneesby
$31.65
Marc
$31.65
Liza Robertson
Amazing effort Sall, for an amazing organisation. Well done woman!
$30
James Mitchell
🏊🏼♀️🏊🏼♀️🏊🏼♀️🏊🏼♀️🏊🏼♀️🏊🏼♀️🏊🏼♀️🏊🏼♀️
$30
Pip Toohey
$26.38
Frank Hupke
😘
$25
Karen Jackson
Just keep swimming, just keep swimming
$21.10
Sue Phoo
$21.10
Tanya
$21.10
Helen Abbott
$21.10
Lachlan, Ava And Sharnie
Well Done Sall. Love Ava, Lachlan and Sharnie xxx
$21.10
Nicola Mcclelland
$21.10
John Calokerinos
Great cause, go for it!
$21.10
Ursula C
You’re amazing Sall!
$21.10
Carla
Well done Sall! Massive achievement for a great cause
$21.10
Di Hill
$20
Alex Hoskison
Go Sall!
$10.55
Felicity
Good luck, Sall x
$10
Anonymous
$5.28
Well of course I will support both this great cause and my dear friend. Good on ya mate!