Hi, I'm Kim Kirsten and I'm about to embark on an epic adventure of A Lifetime. I'll shortly be cycling with several other ladies from the awesome Business Chicks network, to raise funds and awareness for human trafficking and sexual exploitation. We wilt cycling 415kms across Cambodia in feb over 12 days, in a professionally organised cycle tour by Raw Travel, with fundraising all organised through Project Futures. I'm setting up this blog now to start documenting my thoughts, feelings before I leave, I promise to keep you updated along the way, And share this amazing experience with you all.
a bit about me, if you don't already know me, I grew up in Zimbabwe! went to university in Cape Town South Africa. I married a South African chap Andrew, and have 2 boys dylan and cameron aged 9 and 6. We moved to canberra Australia in dec 2011 and have settled into life in Australia pretty well! all things considered. I work in the financial services superannuation industry, in a senior HR executive role, although my work background is iargely organisational development, people management and change management.
I plan to update this blog daily, and provide photos and updates and will link it to my linked in and Facebook social media profiles.
for me, this will be a personal challenge send adventure! having come from quite a privileged and fortunate background most of us don't have a clue what goes on in the real world (myself included) though we can't change and fix everything we can make a difference in small ways around us, if everyone did a little bit of something it would be a better place. Ghandi once said "be the change you want to see" I apply this in my corporate work space and in my personal life. It starts with us, it starts with me.
now, today, as at 14 January 2014 my fundraising has been going particularly well. I have exceeded my target(yesterday,) and have moved my own personal target from $7k to $10k now. i will do it!!! It's gone Far better than I ever imagined, I knows it's because I have put a lot of effort and erergy into planning and setting this thing thing up, since I registered for the cycle in August 2013. Nothing comes easily, you have to plan, plan, plan. 90% planning, then the rest can happen. So I set up the fundraising site, asked for donations from friends. Family, professional contacts, here and around the world, I have organised various fundraisers in my own community, bootcamp sessions, Zumba session, cooking demo, babysitting, movie night event, I have tapped into my global network shamelessly, I have learnt if you don't ask, you don't get- saw ith everything in life!!!! If only my training was as spectacular!!!! But I am fit from bootcamp, I have been cycling, but I need to ramp it up a gear, with 3 weeks to go. I will cycle more frequently, every 2nd day now, and attempt a 50km plus ride.
What im excited about- seeing Cambodia on the ground! as real as it can be. Having loved Thailand and Bali! this will be like no other! not from a luxe resort with cocktails in hand, but on the road, in the villages, with families. I'm also excited about meeting the other cyclists, we will all meet for the first time at the airport as we are all over Australia.
What I'm nervous about - cycling 100kms on some days. its not quite the 415 km over 10 days = 40 kms a day like I initially assumed. Some days we won't be cycling at all, other days it's 100 kms. Shoo!!!! Fortunately there is a support vehicle for those times when you have dead legs and can't move any more, Im also very nervous about the emotions guaranteed to be experienced when we meet the women and children at the rehab centres we will be visiting and who will be receiving the funds from our fundraising directly. Also really nervous about tummy bugs and the like as that will not be fun.
Lastly, apologies in advance for any grammatical errors in this and future blog posts, it's not going to be perfect but I will try make it readable, enjoyable, and REAL. So hope you follow me along my travels!!!! Xxxx
