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Not eating for 50 hours, running 50 laps of a football pitch, hugging strangers – just a small taste of the craziness that has filled our Intern Sam’s last 50 days. Teamed up with former African Impact staff member Martin, the dynamic duo have become the talk of Livingstone with their outrageous fundraising antics.
Leading up to Zambia’s 50 years of independence celebrations, Sam put out the call for past African Impact volunteers and friends of the Happy Africa Foundation to run their own fundraising event in support of our Zambezi Sawmills School renovation project. Driving the 50 Day Global Fundraiser the boys wanted to do something big. Big is exactly what they did as they undertook 50 different challenges, suggested by the general public, in 50 days.
Kicking off on September 5th by eating chicken feet, intestines, brains, and eyes, Sam and Martin dove into the challenges head first displaying excellent humour and often putting their health at risk all in the name of the Happy Africa Foundation. Public support and enthusiasm gained momentum during the conjoined twins challenge both on the ground in Livingstone and worldwide. The challenge saw the boys walk around Livingstone tied together and in the same t-shirt for 24 hours where they also found time for a hit of golf.
“The street vendor challenge was my favourite as I made a killing by selling my clothes and also made my bags lighter for later travels. Either the 50 extremely spicy croc bites or the 50 hours of staying awake were by far the toughest. My body was rejecting the croc bites by the second plate and the effects went well into the following day. Staying awake for 50 hours was made tougher by having to hang around with Sam who seemed to gain more energy the more sleep deprived he got”, said Martin.
Sam took a different route by stating, “I loved any challenge that involved free food. On the other hand the 50 hour famine was by far the worst thing I’ve done in my life. I was carrying some kind of illness at the same time which made my body reject any food I tried to put into it for the 10 hours following the challenge”.
Wrapping up in conjunction with Zambia’s 50 years of independence celebrations, support for this epic fundraiser was garnered worldwide with donations totally over £600 received from 11 different countries with more donations promised to come in the next week.
Why not check out all the action from the last 50 days by viewing all the photos and videos on Sam and Martin’s official blog. The fundraising page is going to stay open for a few weeks so keep the donations coming. The boys had the initial goal of raising £2000 so help them towards their goal and make a difference to the lives of the children of Zambezi Sawmills School.