Who: My friend Kate and I. We are a two-person team that will run the whole duration together.
What: 120 miles, 20,000 feet of climbing in six days
Where: From Buena Vista to Beaver Creek, CO
Why: This needs some unpacking.
Reason #1: I love a challenge.
Reason #2: I love Colorado and the mountains.
Reason #3: It's a lot of fun to do it with a friend and strive for the same goal.
Reason #4: I could encourage others to try things that seem out of our reach, regardless of the result.
Reason #5: To fund-raise for a worthy cause.
Yes, this page is mostly about Reason #5.
In October, 2011, I joined eMi (engineering Ministries international) in a community development project in the mountains for Western Ethiopia. 6,500 feet above sea level, we master-planned a 750+ acres site for Abana coffee farm, completed with housing communities and public amenities.
On this new site, coffee will become the livelihood of many and a means to a better living standard. The vision of this project is beyond coffee production but to provide a safe place for its workers and their family to work, live, and have a community. When we visited the site last year, our surveyors walked and recorded its boundary but over half the site is still heavily forested. Hence, Phase 1 of the project is planned around areas where planting of coffee plants and seedling have already begun. It's our hope that we'll be able to provide enough housing units and basic amenities for the 2012 season.
According to our calculations, about 12 permanent worker housing units (four families in each unit) and 6 seasonal worker units (eight in each unit) are needed for the 2012 workforce. That's a lot of construction and it's not even taking into account the administration building, guest house, and the coffee processing facility and storage. Here's a breakdown of some of the construction cost:
Permanent Housing Unit - $17,625 / unit
Temporary Housing Unit (includes kitchen) - $24,125 / unit
Permanent/Temporary Bathrooms (9 units total) - $16,080 / unit·
Manager’s House - $24,350
Administrative Building - $26,870
Phase 1 Master Plan (Click image to enlarge)
Would you consider joining my effort by supporting the project financially and to change the lives of these Ethiopians? I'm currently working on setting up a donation page/account, so all the donations will go directly to the cause instead of going through me. Meanwhile, I'd be happy to hear from you if you have any questions / comments.
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