NeilCraigan.Com

Two Ways to Sponsor a Child

1. Let me know you'd like to and I will send you a sponsor packet.
2. Use this link SPONSOR. If you use the link please send me a copy of your confirmation email so I can track the sponsorships that are coming in.

Rwanda this Tuesday

On Tuesday I'll be on my way to Rwanda. In 1994 Rwanda was decimated by genocide during which some 10% of the population was murdered over a period of 90 days. In terms of the numbers of dead it would be the equivalent of killing the entire population of Dallas between now and August.

If we took the % of population killed and brought that into the United States it would be the euivalent of losing the entire populations of New York, Lost Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Antonio, San Diego, Dallas, San Jose, Jacksonville, Indianapolis, San Fransisco, Austin, Fort Worth and Charlotte.

I don't know about you but I find this very troubling.

World Vision has been working in Rwanda since 1976 and I am thrilled to be travelling with and involved in their work. While on the ground in Rwanda I will have to privilege to meet Vincent, one of the six children our family sponsors in Africa. Vincent is 8 years old and I pray that his future and the future of his country would be one of peace and prosperity.

Would you consider sponsoring a child like Vincent and help change the face of extreme poverty in our world today?

I have plenty of sponsor packets available for kids in the communities I will be visiting in Rwanda. Contact me if you'd like to sponsor a child.

What do I say?

Two weeks from today I'll be in Rwanda and then South Africa. We'll be visiting communities full of sponsored kids but there will be hundreds of other kid still waiting, hoping and praying for a sponsor.

What should I tell these kids about my wealthy American friends? I'd love to be able to say that everyone I know sponsors at least one child in the developing world. 

Trail Mix 50k

This past Saturday I ran the Trail Mix 50k. It was a cloudy, 45 degree day at the start and it stayed that way through the end. As I meandered my way to the start I wondered why I allowed myself to run races of this sort of distance and then I had to remind myself that this was merely a training run for Comrades which is now just over five weeks away. 

I had two goals for the race, one was to monitor my pacing in kilometers to prepare for Comrades and the other was to make sure I felt good when I finished.

I thought I'd probably run about a 6:20 min/km as this would be my goal pace for Comrades. However I quickly found myself set in a 6:00 min/km pace. After I completed the first loop at this pace I thought I should slow for the second loop, however the 25k race was underway and the top runners kept passing me, at the same time they pulled me along at the 6:00 min/km pace and loop 2 was completed in the same time as loop 1. 

As the third loop started I was determined to slow my pace to preserve my legs for the next days run. The problem was the 50k team relay where all four members of the team raced one loop of the course. This race started about 5 minutes after I began my third loop and, needless to say, they dragged me round faster than I had planned. Another loop at 6:00 min/km.

As the final loop began I felt very strong and ready to run so I decided to see if I could continue to be consistent in my pace. It helped me push for the finish when the rain started with about two miles to go. I finished in 4:59:25. Four loops of almost exactly 1:15 each. That's the kind of consistency I really needed.

Lessons reinforced:
Walk early- walk often
Get the right nutrition and stick with your plan
Don't run when walking uphill is just as fast
Listen to your body
Have fun! 

Please sponsor a kid and change their life forever

I'm still asking friends to help me reach my goal of 100 kids sponsored by the time I run Comrades on June 3. I still need to find sponsors for 41 kids. Are you willing to change a kids life for $35 a month?

I asked a friend who I hadn't seen in a while if he would sponsor a kid, I love his response.

"World Vision's sponsorship programs are such an "easy" way for us to help around the world.  We just picked up a new sponsor child from Zimbabwe a few months ago. Our [son], now 7, selected him and is helping pay the monthly cost."

Let me know if you'd be willing to sponsor a kid and help me reach my goal of changing the world for 100 kids, their families and communities. 

Child Sponsorship - a friend's experience

What one friend says about a child sponsorship drive we held at my previous church about eight years ago...

"I waited until everybody was gone and found one packet for a skinny 11 year old Indian boy named Ashu.  In his photo he looked like a tadpole.  No body but two huge white eyes, accented by his olivine complexion.  He is finished with high school now, going to college (majoring in computer science, naturally).  His 19th birthday is next month and I have committed to supporting him through college.  He is still skinny but he has a mustache.  It has been an absolute joy watching him grow ----- both grow up and grow into a young man of God.  He will never know this side of Heaven how much he has done for me."

Sponsorship changes kids lives and can reshape our own lives. If you'd like to sponsor a kid to support my trip to Rwanda and South Africa please contact me and I'll tell you how you can change a life.

 

Run Rwanda then Run South Africa for the kids

On May 27th I am planning to join Team World Vision at the International Peace Marathon in Kigali, Rwanda. The next Sunday I will  running the 56 mile Comrades Marathon in South Africa. 

In between the races our team will be visiting area development projects within Rwanda, meeting sponsored children and observing the work World Vision has accomplished in these communities.

I have been blessed with the opportunity to once again visit Africa and see the work World Vision is doing in developing nations. It is a great privilege and not one that I take lightly. That I am able to take my love for running and my passion to see the end of "stupid poverty" and combine the two is very special.

My goal for this trip is to continue to find people to sponsor kids in both Rwanda and South Africa. Over the last year I have found sponsors for 52 kids but would love to blow past the 100 mark before the end of May. There will be more information on how you can help with this coming soon. In the meantime I ask that you would begin to pray for our team and the kids whose lives will be forever changed because of sponsorship. 

Romney, when did $360,000 become "not very much"

In last night's debate Mitt Romney stated, “my income comes overwhelmingly from investments made in the past rather than ordinary income or rather than earned annual income. I got a little bit of income from my book, but I gave that all away. And then I get speaker’s fees from time to time, but not very much.”

What interests me is his statement on the speaker's fees he receives. If I was to ask you how much "not very much" would equate to what number would you come up with? Well according to Mitt Romney's disclosures "not very much" is $360,000. 

Depending on the source of information the average salary in the US appears to be somewhere between $40,000 and $48,000. I wonder what planet Romney is living on if he really thinks $360,000 is "not very much"!

Perhaps we should ask what planet Romney is planning to be the god of. But that's a theological discussion on the differences between Mormons and Christians so we'll save that one for another day.

Why I Run

 

 

Just a man longing for summer