|
Roger's House Charity Fitness Challenge
I am Rob Carpenter and I am a Canadian Military Engineer, more specifically a Geomatics Technician (Military Mapper) from the Mapping and Charting Establishment (MCE), based out of Ottawa Ontario. My fellow mappers and I are deployed on a Department of National Defence (DND) mission for 7 months to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The mission, peacekeeping in nature, is called "OPERATION (OP) AUGURAL" and supports the AFRICAN UNION (AU) Mission In Sudan, a.k.a. AMIS.
The AU is an organization of African State governments who promote African economic development, peace, stability and regional security within Africa. Due to hostilities and regional chaos, the AU authorized and is now providing a peacekeeping, security and stabilization force in the province of Darfur, Sudan. The phrase often heard is "Africans helping Africans". The AU, still in its infancy, lacks certain necessary skill sets that we in western nations can offer. The AU called on NATO and a host of different nations, to assist in critical funding and support in the areas were they lacked the expertise.
Canada was one of the countries to answer the call for support. Canada's support included funding, surplus military equipment such as Armored Personnel Carriers (APCs), helmets, flak vests and military specialists in the fields of Logistics, Infomatics and Geomatics. There are a total of 16 soldiers currently deployed, 12 of whom are deployed in Ethiopia and the remaining 4, in the Sudan.
To keep the mind and body healthy, a soldier must stay in relatively good physical condition. Most of us in Canada House have turned to our make shift gym as an outlet, which both facilitates this requirement and helps to pass the long nights away. The conditions outside Canada House make it difficult to run or otherwise train, due to the poor driving habits of many locals, inadequate exercise paths and only made worse by the high level of pollution. After two months of working out, running countless Km's on our nearly worn out tread mill and having more than ample time to think, an idea came to me. We're over here helping African children and their families, why can't we help our fellow Canadians at the same time, in a unique way. Putting my free time to good use, I organized a fitness challenge, which would raise much-needed funds for a worthwhile Canadian charity. Being a loyal and long time Sens fan (ask any of my Leafs fan friends and they'll tell you), I was aware of the "Roger's House" charity and it's efforts to raise funds for children's palliative care and family hospice at CHEO.
I asked my fellow house mates (who by the way are Leafs and Canadiens fans) if they wanted to participate in a fitness challenge, to see how far they can travel in 90 days while raising funds for a local Ottawa charity called "Roger's House". After explaining to them what ROGER'S HOUSE was all about, they all agreed without hesitation. Of the 12 twelve soldiers, four are from Ottawa. The other soldiers come from Canadian Forces Bases in Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec or Nova Scotia.
I decided on the following guidelines, for the fitness challenge:
For every 1 KM that you walk or run = 1 Ethiopian Birr (15 cents Cdn),
For every 5 Km that you Bike = 1 Ethiopian Birr,
For every 250 calories burned = 1 Ethiopian Birr and/or,
For every 5000 lbs of Weight Lifted = 1 Ethiopian Birr.
Everyone agreed that these rules would be simple and easy enough to follow and thus, on Nov 12, the 1st OP Augural ROGER'S HOUSE Personal Fitness Challenge was born. We also decided to ask for donations on behalf of Roger's House and to challenge our sponsors to aid us in our cause to raise funds. The following is a list of the Canadian soldiers who are participating in the ROGER'S HOUSE Personal Fitness Challenge:
Major Tancrede Berube from LFQA, Montreal, Quebec,
Warrant Officer Hal Pugh from 3 Int Company, Halifax, Nova Scotia,
Sergeant Tom McDonald from 1 CAD, Winnipeg, Manitoba,
Sergeant Jim Spence from MCE, Ottawa, Ontario,
Master Corporal Rob Carpenter from MCE, Ottawa, Ontario,
Master Corporal Chris Deas from CFJIC, Ottawa, Ontario,
Master Corporal Jason Ritchie from MCE, Ottawa, Ontario and,
Corporal Charles Bailey from 14 Wing, Greenwood, Nova Scotia.
Sgt Jim Spence has created a website showing family, friends and anyone interested pictures of Ethiopia and what we are doing over here in Addis Ababa. ROGER'S HOUSE is also being promoted on the site. The Website is http://spaces.msn.com/members/jimsaddisadventure/ , for those interested.
I hope that this has made clearer, some of the questions that you may have had concerning our mission here in Addis and our tireless commitment to help all those, less fortunate than ourselves.
Best Regards,
Rob Carpenter
Master Corporal
DITF HQ IAC
Geomatics Analyst
"CHIMO"
GO SENS GO
|
