Eddy's Good News: Running the length of Africa and saving water where it really matters

Virgin Radio

9 Apr 2024, 17:04

Every day during his show on Virgin Radio Anthems, Eddy Temple-Morris brings you Good News stories from around the world, to help inject a bit of positivity into your day!

Be sure to listen each day between 2pm and 6pm (Monday - Friday) to hear Eddy's Good News stories (amongst the finest music of course), but if you miss any of them you can catch up on the transcripts of Eddy's most recent stories below:

Wednesday 10th April 2024

Say hello to Ross ‘Hardest Geezer’ Cook, the first person ever to run across the entire length of Africa.

He ran an astonishing 385 marathons in 352 days; a total of over 10,000 miles and in doing so raised over £650,000, for a selection of charities. His route crossed 16 countries, deserts, rainforests, and mountains, and saw him get entangled in visa issues, muggings, sandstorms, injuries, sickness, and snowstorms. He started in South Africa in April last year and ended in Tunisia last week. In between he was robbed at gunpoint in Angola of his phone, money and passports. But in heartwarming contrast, in Mauritania loads of people stopped to offer food and water. 

He had to deal with Saharan sandstorms and get help from the foreign office to get him to Tunisia in one piece, with a passport and able to enjoy the last 44 kilometres with inspired runners who had flown out to run the last miles with him. You can follow his journey @hardestgeezer

Via: goodnewsnetwork.org

There are some parts of the world where saving water really can mean the difference between health and ill health or even life and death. 

The huge Indian city of  Bengaluru is a furnace in the summer months and one man’s efforts to educate students in the management of this valuable resource has saved millions of gallons of water this year alone.

Environmentalist Dr. Hariharan Chandrashekhar started a program to teach primary and secondary school kids to ensure that they understand how to avoid wasting water from an early age and to sustain the habit as they got older. 

The focus is on the collection and storage of rainwater, using gauges to monitor and budget rainfall, treating and reusing wastewater for non-hygienic purposes like irrigation and toilet flushing; the program has so far saved over 9 million gallons of water.

We take water access for granted but in India over 79 million households have only recently been given access to running water and even after that only 56% of the population have running water in their home. With every tap comes potential waste so this program represents a wonderful effort and result.

Via: goodnewsnetwork.org