The Oxfam Trailwalker Challenge, Japan. Jessie Bryant, Jeff Jennens, Ken Akiha and Rae Morey. The walk begins at Odawara and finishes at Lake Yamanaka. Starts at 9am on May 22, 2008. We have 48 hours to complete the walk. As we go about our daily lives, dragging ourselves out of bed to work from 9-5, cooking dinner and watching TV, it's easy to forget that people in other parts of the world are suffering. In Darfur and eastern Chad in Africa, the humanitarian crisis has been ongoing since 2003. Many have seen their family killed, abducted or sexually assaulted and their villages burned. As the violence goes on, people have been forced to flee their homes. More than 2.5 million people are living in difficult and dangerous conditions in overcrowded camps. In South Africa, 5.3 million people, or more than 1 in 5 adults, are living with HIV and AIDS. The average life expectancy is just 50-years-old. In other parts of the world, such as Cambodia, people suffer from hunger waiting for the rice harvesting season, while in the Philippines ongoing conflicts and poorly maintained school buildings make it difficult for children to complete their primary education. The four of us have joined the Oxfam Trailwalker Challenge to do what we can to raise money to help Oxfam carry out much-needed work in poverty stricken and war-torn areas. It would be easy to spend the individual ¥15,000 Trailwalker entrance fee on a night out in Tokyo or a new pair of jeans, but it's not so easy to justify it. Please help us reach our target of ¥300,000. We're not walking 100km just for the fun of it. We have a chance to really make a difference. Held in only nine places around the world, the Trailwalker Challenge is taking place right in our backyard in Japan's Hakone area, not far from Shizuoka Prefecture. While it may by close, the walk near Mt Fuji is considered the toughest of all nine Trailwalker Challenge trails. The trail starts from Odawara-city and finishes at Lake Yamanaka: Jessie teaches English at an upper-level high school in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. A Canadian fish out of icy water, she builds her expat identity by learning Japanese, bonding with her students over the ‘chicken dance’, reading voluminously, and playing soccer. Jessie graduated university in Fine Arts and English Literature, and she will complete three years in Japan before continuing her travels and studies. Her interests include hiking, poverty issues, Asia, and proper grammar. If you would like to know more about the semicolon or how to tie your hiking boots, please email Jessie.Jeff is a Canadian ALT living in Fujieda city and working at a high school for students gifted in the genki, Fujieda kita. Since coming to Japan, he has spent more time on a granny bike than on a hiking trail, but he will take the Oxfam Trailwalk as an opportunity to break this bad habit. His hobbies include guitar, soccer, shorenji kenpo (a Japanese-style martial art), reading and making substandard tuna sandwiches. These days, Jeff spends most of his waking hours dreaming of the day he will pass the Oxfam finish line ahead of his teammate, Ken, but is also looking forward to doing something for a good cause to help people who truly need help. Yoroshiku onegai itashimasu. Trailbiters UNITE! Ken is a half Japanese, just out of college, 22-year-old distance runner. Hailing from California, Ken is the lone American of the Trailbiters. Ken is teaching at Oigawa High School until August, after which he is traveling the globe with his girlfriend, Ali. At some point down the road, Ken plans to go back to school to study biology and save the world one experiment at a time. The last member to join the Trailbiters, and the official tuna sandwich chef of the team, Rae is from Australia. She works as an ALT at Yaizu Chuo High School in Shizuoka. Rae is half-way through a 12-month stint in Japan before she heads home to marry her sweetheart, Ted. Before joining the JET program, Rae was a journalist and continues to write freelance travel articles. She is also a keen photographer and plans to take out this year's Oxfam Trailwalker Japan Photo Contest. If you want to know more about the website please email Rae.

Labels: about, team