Building a women’s hostel
No one has ever become poor from giving
In 2011, Toby Tanser completed his “Sea to the Stars” run traveling from the Indian Ocean to the top of Kilimanjaro to raise money for the construction of the first public children’s hospital in East Africa, which opened its doors in 2015. At the time, Tanser lived in New York City where he served on the board of directors for the NYC Marathon.
Now, Toby's charity Shoe 4 Africa aims to begin construction of a Women’s Hostel for the mothers of patients in early 2025, ten years after opening the hospital. To raise money for this hostel, I will attempt retrace Toby's footsteps running to Kilimanjaro, and then continue another 600km on foot to Eldoret, Kenya where Toby runs the Shoe 4 Africa hospital today. My personal motivation to follow in Toby's footsteps comes from understanding how he carried the weight of such a grand mission to the top of Kilimanjaro and what drove him to leave behind New York City— the place I was born.
The cost of the Women’s Hostel is expected to be $600,000, the first hundred of which has already been raised. I am hoping to contribute $100,000, and I am seeking donations of up to $1000. If just 100 people give as much as I’m asking, we will hit the goal. “No one has ever become poor from giving” — Anne Frank. Donate here.
(NOTE: I have learned some people do all of their giving through a centralized platform like Schwab. If this is you, you can give to the Shoe 4 Africa charity through your own channels and then email me so I can manually update the fundraiser with your contribution.)
You might remember my original plan was to raise money for Shoe 4 Africa’s new Children’s Cancer Hospital, but after further discussions with Toby, I’ve decided to change the focus of the fundraiser. So, why build a women’s hostel?
As I’m learning, the Shoe 4 Africa Hospital is not a hospital. It is a melting pot with a catchment area of over 30 million, serving patients from Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia, Southern Sudan, Tanzania, and even one child from the DRC. It is a Children’s Health Village where kids play soccer and basketball and enjoy the playground. The Shoe 4 Africa hospital is also a teaching hospital for the next generation of East Africa’s medics, as medical students from Kenya’s second largest public university come to train each week. The hospital is a “credible demonstration of the commitment of African leaders to place the rights of children at the forefront,” as Nelson Mandela stated when he called for a public children’s hospital in 2005. The hospital is a keystone of East Africa’s medical infrastructure, providing equipment, specialized care, and hundreds of jobs for the region. Last but not least, the Shoe 4 Africa hospital is a Super-hospital treating over 430 children per day with 229 in-patients (St Jude’s has 70 beds for comparison).
The Shoe 4 Africa hospital plays so many different roles because it serves a region of the world with high levels of hunger and poverty. 26 percent of Kenyan kids under the age of five and 32 percent of Tanzanian kids and are stunted from under-nutrition. 36 percent of Kenyans and 47 percent of Tanzanians live in poverty. One significant consequence of poverty is treatment abandonment (TA) due to costs to parents of travel and accommodation, with childhood cancer studies reporting TA rates of 50-54 percent in Kenya. Treatment abandonments are a major factor in treatment failure in children with cancer and help explain why the 5-year survival rate of childhood cancer can be as low as 10 percent in some East African countries while it’s higher than 80 percent in high income countries. Consequently, it’s only natural that the Shoe 4 Africa Hospital takes on yet another role: to house the parents of patients who make the pilgrimage to the hospital from far away.
Shoe 4 Africa completed a case study in its cancer ward in 2022, which found that 18 of 30 parents had to loan the bus fare to bring the child for initial diagnosis, and 27 of 30 parents could not afford a week’s hostel costs (approx $20/night). 30 of 30 of the mothers stated they would use the Women’s Hostel if offered. The Women’s Hostel will copy the model of Ronald MacDonald houses with a bed capacity to support over one hundred mothers within walking distance of the hospital. Shoe 4 Africa expects this women’s hostel to significantly reduce TA.
Thank You!
Even though I haven’t started running, I already owe many thanks for helping create the vision for this adventure.
Thank you to my family. Mom and Pops for selflessly for going above and beyond in their enthusiasm and support for my endeavors, despite the toll it takes on you. Geega and Pop Pop for teaching me caution and that home is the place where “they have to take you in.”
Thank you to the people who have worked on developing the mission. Toby Tanser for being in contact with me and offering support as I plan the run and launch the fundraiser. Tamarack Song for encouraging me to focus on the vision. Karen Scourby D’Arc for providing invaluable feedback on my writing that has helped me find my voice. Greg Barrett for teaching me how fundraising works. Zane Acord for coming up with the idea to run to Toby Tanser. Olivia Von Hesse for directing the video to promote the Africa fundraiser (which will be released in the upcoming weeks). Brandon Hyun for giving his unfettered enthusiasm to the adventure and almost joining along. Danny Mitchell for giving me his Tanzania soccer jersey. Harry McBride for sharing his experiences and contacts from Tanzania with me. Simon Mtuy for being in communication with me as I plan the route. Bonnie Crellin for helping me navigate my own uncertainty and offering bodywork to me. An-Li Bogan for giving me advice on the creative path. The band The Thing for inspiring me with their art and fearlessly powering ahead as they transition to the next level. Vaughn Acord for making me look good.
Thank you to the people who are helping me carry out the mission: Lukas Steinbock for agreeing to post the blog while I’m in Africa. Mike Cassidy for agreeing to be my emergency contact for round 2 after doing so on the Canada adventure. Michael Kanner for believing in me and becoming the first paying subscriber of this blog. My coach Alyssa Clark for getting me back up to speed after a quick turnaround from the Canada adventure. Alex Beal and Amundsen for gifting me the adventure clothes. Norda for gifting me the adventure running shoes.
I’m sure there are more Thank You’s, there will be more opportunities.
Introducing Lukas!
Lukas Steinbock, one of my best friends, will take on the role of posting blogs during the Africa adventure. This is especially fitting because before I became friends with Lukas, I started reading his Substack, The Takeoff. In fact, I had never even heard of Substack until signing up for The Takeoff.
Two of Lukas’s great passions in life are bouldering and the US healthcare system. He currently lives in Denver, Colorado where he works for Strive Health, a company that provides value-based care to kidney patients. The two of us belong to a best friend trio, the third member being Daniel Sosebee.
Since becoming friends in college, I have rock climbed with Lukas in seven states (New York, Massachusetts, Missouri, Illinois, Arkansas, Colorado, and New Mexico) and lived together in two of those (New York and Colorado).
Lukas is a role model to me in his courage to be emotionally vulnerable, his self-confidence, and his maturity. I literally ask myself “what would Lukas do” when navigating social situations that are uncomfortable to me. I’m grateful just to know Lukas, and our friendship has been one of the great gifts of my life.
“Big Dumb Adventure” Name
My friend Karen raised a good argument to change the name of “Big Dumb Adventure,” because it could reflect poorly when I tell people I’ve come to their country to do a big dumb adventure. I thought this was excellent advice. If you’ve read this far, please let me know your ideas for a new blog and website title. I’m open to anything.