• Keep your spirits up these winter months and join an online community of friends
• Get motivated to take exercise in these wintry months Feb – March – April
• The distance you go here at home is converted to a virtual walk which we all do together
• Not just walking, cycling etc, but gardening, dance, yoga and Pilates count too!
• An eventful trek across Africa, then to India and to Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh
• That makes 20,000 km to do in 3 months but with plenty of people we will manage it
• Post your photos, hear from fellow walkers in the special Facebook group
• Get started – buy your ticket by pressing the green “Sign up” button at https://zentoevent.com/the-oxfam-community-winter-challenge/
• Support the walkers with donations on Justgiving: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Oxfam-St-Albans

The objective is to virtually walk (or run, cycle, swim etc.) to Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh (20,000 km although we get a “free” ride across the Indian Ocean!) where Oxfam is providing water and sanitation to the Rohingya refugees. Along the way we visit Oxfam projects in North Africa, India and Bangladesh as well as climbing Mount Kilimanjaro (just for a treat!).

We achieve our 20,000 km by the individual members of our “Super-team” logging their activity on a special website which plots our combined progress on a map of the journey. Not only walking, but gardening, Pilates, dancing and more can all be converted to distance travelled! Along the way a set of “Milestones” give information about the Oxfam projects in that country.

Although 20,000km sounds a long way, we have 3 months from 1^st February to complete it. If we get 100 participants, the average distance each needs to travel is only about 13km (8miles) a week. Some will do more, others less. Whatever distance you can cover is welcome!

Any physical activity that involves movement can be included. If you have a device that records your mileage, like Strava, the website can log your input automatically. If not you can add your mileage manually, as often as is convenient. The event will go live on 1^st February, ie we track our miles from then on.

First get an entry ticket costing £10 per adult, which you buy this at the event page : https://zentoevent.com/the-oxfam-community-winter-challenge/ A reply will explain how to register with “MyVirtualMission” which takes your distances and shows where the team have got to as the days pass by. Only adults (over 18s) can buy tickets, but at the registration step, you can include one minor up to age of 18; you simply add their name to yours.

Along the way chances to donate to Oxfam via Justgiving will appear, these are optional, people can donate as appropriate, or share to friends who might donate. The page for Oxfam St Albans supporters to donate on is https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Oxfam-St-Albans

Oxfam desperately needs our support at this time in its efforts to help the vulnerable and those in poverty. The Covid pandemic and climate change are hitting the neediest people hard and many of the traditional means of raising funds, like the Oxfam shops and street collections are closed at the moment. So, please join in, have some fun and do a lot of good!

Dear Oxfam friends, we hope this finds you well.

• Thanks – big thanks – to everybody who made September, October and November their “Walking for Oxfam” months.
• Continued donations by our trusty supporters meant by Christmas time we had raised an amazing total of £5,068 for Oxfam Walk for Water 2020.
• Thank you so much to all who have joined in.
• Oxfam Walk for Water went onto a flexible footing as we could not bring walkers together on a set date.
• You could still walk your favourite route and donate via our Walk for Water Justgiving site to help Oxfam’s Water Projects. You can walk anywhere – no need to be in St Albans!
• Send your photos and messages of support to oxfamstalbans1@gmail.com – and follow Oxfam St Albans on Facebook.
• Go the Routes 2020 page to download the traditional Oxfam routes near St Albans and see new suggestions
• Our classic 3, 5, 8 and 15 mile Oxfam routes have been checked and written so they can be followed without the usual Oxfam waymarks, are still available on the Routes 2020 page, either to print or save on your phone.

Oxfam needs our help more than ever as it tries to bring clean water and handwashing to those in need. The new Oxfam Handwashing Station can be a real lifesaver in situations such as refugee camps. Each one costs £45 to make – that means we could have sponsored 112 of them so far!