No sea is too rough and no desert is too hot for Haike de Vlieger, child psychiatrist, mother of 3 children and a real power woman from Flandern, Belgium. Water without Waste founder Marja met Haike in 2009 on the Canary Islands just before they both crossed the Atlantic Ocean on a sailboat.
Last summer both women did a little swim together in the river Amstel in Amsterdam. 2 km in a 14 degree fresh Amstel, for Marja this seemed already quite an achievement. Haike’s hair didn’t even get wet, so to speak. In her 50th year of life, she swam already 51 km across the channel from England to Belgium for almost 15 hours so let’s say she trained a bit… belgian-woman-successfully-swims-from-england-to-france
Well, you might think that Haike made her point after this swimming challenge, but then you don’t know Haike. She committed herself to a new challenge on the horizon, a hot sandy horizon this time. To be achieved in April 2024 by walking 250 km during 7 days with luggage through the desert of southern Morocco, Le Marathon des Sables. With this she will be raising money for less privileged children in Africa (sport and educational projects), Born in Africa.
During the Marathon des Sables each participant receives a restricted quantity of drinking water every day, and, to prevent pollution all water containers need to be handed in at the daily finish, if not the participants receive a penalty, to prevent pollution. Well in case we weren’t already convinced that Haike’s initiative deserves our support, we are now. Water without Waste is a proud sponsor of Haike de Vlieger’s Marathon des Sables. In case you are also keen on supporting Haike for the sake of children in Africa, you can do so by doing your donation directly to the account of Born in Africa IBAN BE38 3632 2998 0572 , mention ‘haikelooptmds’ (you can receive a tax certificate from donations of €40 and up).
If you want to follow the running/walking adventure of Haike, you can do so on Marathon des Sables (number 838, registration number 22987). If you want to make some steps to reduce your plastic footprint by choosing healthy and sustainable drinking water, drop us a line at Water without Waste
