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200km for doctors without borders

By Roshni Govindaraj Join Me

Please Support Medecins Sans Frontieres' work

Raised

$3,235

My Goal

$3,000

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My Updates

314km around Everest complete!

Tuesday 15th Nov
I hiked 314km over three weeks in the Khumbu region and it has exceeded all my expectations. Despite the throngs of people hiking to EBC (it's Nepal's most popular route after all), and the yak/mule/ox caravans jamming the paths, the views were stunning, and once you get past EBC the crowds really thinned out and there were large parts of the day where I was hiking completely alone. 

No surprise there as only ~10% of EBC tourists tackle the three passes (which were the highlight of the trek along with Gokyo for me) or any of the side routes to various summits and (non-Everest) base camps, so it was certainly possible to escape the crowds and enjoy the solitude of the mountains.

I started the hike with a friend (no porter or guide, except for one pass where I was ill), and completed an itinerary which included 3 passes, 3 base camps, and 3 summits. We spent a week sleeping at ~5000m and followed the advice of "climb high, sleep low" to acclimatise which worked really well as I luckily didn't need any altitude tablets or experience symptoms of AMS. 

There was a terrifying day were we got lost on the Kongma La pass (5550m), but made it out safely after 10 hours of boulder bashing (in the dark by headlamp by the end of the day). I saw heli-rescues daily, and am so thankful to have avoided that situation! 

Over three weeks, I hiked to/over:
- Kongma la pass
- Cho la pass
- Renjo la pass
- Everest base camp
- Ama Dablam base camp
- Imje Tse base camp
- Chukkung Ri summit
- Kala Patthar summit
- Gokyo Ri summit

It was a gruelling trek, with temperatures dipping to -19c (frozen water is not fun to drink), high altitude, a heavy backpack (14kg is a lot, for me anyway), cold/flu making an appearance, and long kms each day.  

I feel quite strong at the end of it, and now have a hankering to climb a 6000m mountain next (with ropes, ice pick etc, not just a trek!).

I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to do this and push my boundaries, and hope that the photos below will inspire some of you to explore this beautiful country. And of course, hopefully make a donation to support the amazing work of MSF.  Thanks for reading!

Hike 200km around Everest for MSF

Wednesday 19th Oct

Today, I'm flying to Nepal to hike 200km and raise $1000 for Doctors Without Borders (MSF).

Some of you will know that I trekked the Annapurna ranges in April. It was such a spectacular country with the most beautiful people that I felt compelled to return and take up a new challenge for MSF.

I'll be hiking in the Everest region ("Sagarmatha" for the locals), covering base camp, three passes, and Gokyo lakes. It's a more difficult trek with higher altitudes and I've been training hard so that I can complete the circuit and return home in one piece... 

I'm aiming to raise another $1000 for MSF (bringing the total to $3000). They're a highly effective, independent (and non-religious) charity that delivers emergency relief where it is needed most.

[Why the same charity?]

Because I follow the "effective altruism" movement which uses evidence to argue that some ways of doing good are vastly better than others. The best charities can be 100x more effective than the average charity in their field. So rather than spreading limited funds over several causes/organisations, I'm choosing to direct them to one that I know has delivered real impact, time and again. 

As people smarter than me have surmised: "The world has a lot of problems but we can’t work on them all at once. We need to prioritise in order to maximise our impact & find ways to help others as much as possible with our limited time, energy, and resources".

Thanks for reading, I hope you'll consider donating and sharing this fundraiser. Wish me luck!

Ps. For the Aussies in the group, donations are tax deductible and it is a new tax year :)

241km completed!

Thursday 28th Apr

This morning at 10.45am we crossed the Thorong La Pass (5416m). It then took another 6 hours to reach Muktinath, the town where we'd spend the night. It has been the longest day of the trek so far, having started at 5.15am and finished at 4.45pm, ascending ~1000m from our previous stop and racking up 19km.

The pass is the crowning peak of the Annapurna circuit and essentially marks the end of the circuit for us (much of the remaining circuit has now been converted to a jeep track and is not as interesting or challenging as hiking through dedicated trekking trails).

I set out to walk 230km to raise much-needed funds for MSF. I've hiked 241km since starting this trek on April 14 (safe to say that my back & feet are tender..).

Coming back from 4 days without WiFi, I was excited to see that my fundraising goal has been achieved. Thank you so much to everyone who donated. The fundraising page will remain open for another ~2 weeks as I continue onto other treks while I have the time in this beautiful country, so please feel free to share the campaign.

Thanks again for your generous donations!

Why.

Sunday 10th Apr
Next week, I'll start my 230km hike to complete the Annapurna circuit in Nepal. I'm grateful to be able to travel overseas again after a two year hiatus. While I was excitedly planning for this hike, the number of terrible events unfolding, or simply worsening, around the world seem to have exploded. So while I'm pumped to experience the raw beauty of the Annapurna massif, see rhododendron forests in their glorious full bloom, and undertake a challenge I've had on my bucket list for years, I'm acutely aware of the privilege and dumb luck involved in being able to make this happen. 

I'm simply lucky not to have been born into a family or society where education was denied on the basis of sex, to not have to cower in bomb shelters in the midst of a war, to experience hunger and poverty, be denied medical treatment, access to clean water, experience violence due to my race, or any of the millions of other reasons that are causing people pain around the world right now.

My sister has seen first hand the amazing work that MSF (Medecins San Frontieres aka Doctors Without Borders) do around the world, so I've chosen MSF as the recipient of the funds from this campaign. 

MSF are independent and neutral, and work in 70+ countries. They're usually the first to respond after a natural disaster or when conflict hits, delivering frontline and emergency medical care to those who need it the most. They don't discriminate on the basis of gender/religion/race/sexual orientation and because of their neutral status, are able to access dire areas that government organisations and other agencies sometimes can't access, meaning they deliver care at the hour of need. Amazingly, these doctors put themselves on the line to help others, and many are hurt/killed in action.

I'm aiming to raise $1000 in 5 weeks to donate to this worthy cause. I hope you'll help me - every tenner helps. Thanks for reading.

Thank you to my Sponsors

$105.50

Swapna

All the best Rosh :)

$105.50

Nathan Wright

All the best for your adventure!

$105.50

Yiken Yang

Well done Rosh, great cause

$105.50

Olly

Go Roshface!

$105.50

Sap, Jamie & Aliya

Kick ass on that trek Akka! So proud of you!

$105.50

Malisha Vidyananda

Amazing work !! So proud of you guys !!

$100

Crowdcast

🙌🏽🙌🏽

$100

Deepa Subramanian

Awesome effort, congrats on completing the trek! Great you see you smashing the fundraising goals for a worthy cause.

$100

Shreenal Ruparelia

You’re an inspiration my lovely Rosh Keep soaring in this journey - I wish I was there with you but I am donating to a worthwhile cause and towards the ambition of an amazing person / human and friend :) Love you

$88.62

Arum Sugiono

Good luck Rosh! What an amazing undertaking and a great cause, looking forward to hearing about the journey!

$84

Sapna, Jamie & Aliya

Whooooo!! So proud of you!

$52.75

Peter Muscat

STAY SAFE or I will demand a refund from these doctors

$52.75

Jenny H

Great Job Rosh!! Well done!!

$52.75

Rosh

Kicking this off :)

$52.75

Jeremy C

Have a great adventure Rosh.

$52.75

Jesalle Bhana

Wishing you all the very best on what will be an incredible journey!

$52.75

Christopher Crosbie

$52.75

Babu Govindaraj

So proud of you our princess. Never stop to amaze. Love you keep safe.

$52.75

Lorraine Mcgee

Hi Rosh This is a wonderful thing you are doing and such a good cause❤️ Lorraine x

$52.75

Tri Yeo

$52.75

Katie Lanigan

Great stuff Rosh. An amazing adventure and a great cause

$52.75

Bryan Summers

Get your sweat on gurrrll!

$52.75

Tri Y

$52.75

Lídia

Great initiative and cause! Love your ambition and thrive! Keep it up :) xx

$52.75

Natalie Newey

Well done Rosh!

$52.75

Christine Spence

$50

Dina Benos

Awesome feat Rosh!

$50

Rachel Hutchinson

Good luck- an incredible experience for a very important cause! Can’t wait to hear more when you’re back.

$50

Hameto Benkreira

Continually inspired by you. Wishing you a safe and exciting journey.

$50

Deesha Karve

Amazing work Rosh, I can’t wait to hear all about it. Jono and I very much support MSF and their vision and it’s wonderful to read about your support and efforts. All the very best with the hike - you will do great and hope to see you soon!

$50

Simone Anthony

Get it my little Roshni💛

$50

Kyle & Sauvage

Yeowwwww!!!

$50

Cat Chow

Hope you have an amazing adventure Rosh, great cause!

$50

Jeremy Mercado

We’ll done Rosh!

$44.31

Arum Sugiono

Amazing effort, all the best Rosh!

$44.31

Dejan Cecar

Great thing you're doing Rosh!

$44.31

Felicita

Go Rosh!!

$44.31

Alex Oo

Not even Covid can stop you!!!

$42.20

Emma Epifano

Well done Rosh, safe travels xx

$42.20

Radhika Ruwanpathirana

Well done Rosh- thanks for supporting such a an amazing cause xx

$42.20

Nat, Luke And Echo

I can't wait to hear about this incredible experience!

$42

Emilia, Ben And Mireille

Go get it!

$41

Dheeraj Mehta

Great effort for an incredible goal!

$31.65

Landy (yolande)

Best wishes, Rosh! Truly inspirational stuff

$31.65

Sarah Le

What an awesome adventure and worthy cause! Great job Rosh :)

$31.65

Farah

Amazing effort Rosh :)

$31.65

Faz

Good luck Rosh!

$31.65

Charan

Great work Rosh! Keep it up

$31.65

Maddi Moore

$31.65

Kate Camerlengo

Amazing effort, good luck :)

$30

Shishir Pandit

Good stuff Rosh, all the best with it!

$30

Suz

Terrific results! Well done

$28

Ken Yu

Good luck and stay safe out there

$22.16

Shankar Shrivats

$21.10

Kim Ryan

Fabulous effort! Good luck!

$21.10

Leanna Levy

What an awesome achievement!

$21.10

Susan Stevens

Good luck Rosh, an amazing organisation to raise funds for & an awesome goal to set for yourself. All the best!

$20

Stephen Green

Amazing Rosh!!

$20

Anonymous

$10.55

Janessa

Congratulations!!