In August 2026 a flood on the Nepal Tibet border tore through villages we have known for eighteen years. Some of the kids we helped raise, now grown, and friends we have worked beside for a long time lost family members and the homes they grew up in.

We are not builders and we are not an aid agency. What we have is a long relationship with those villages and a lot of friends, clients and family who have trusted us before. So we are doing the thing we can do: cover a long way on foot, as fast as the sand allows, and ask you to sponsor the distance.

The race

From October 11 to 18 we are in the Sahara for the MDS Trek Morocco, the trekking edition of the Marathon des Sables. The long course is 120 kilometers each, in five stages over six days, with a rest day in the middle and one night out under the stars. We sleep in a shared tent in the bivouac. It is a run and a walk. Some people run the entire course. Almost everyone runs a fifth of it or more, depending on how much soft sand each stage throws at you, and Aaron is running every stretch he can. Every runner carries a GPS beacon, so you can see exactly where we are and how far we have come on the live tracker.

The math

A dollar a kilometer is $120 for one of us or $240 for both. Five dollars a kilometer is $600 or $1,200. You can give any amount you like. The presets on the donate page are just the arithmetic.

Where the money goes

All of it goes to the rebuild. We pay for the trek, the flights, the hotels and every other overhead cost ourselves. The Center for Global Change is a US 501(c)(3) nonprofit, so your gift is tax deductible to the extent the law allows, and PayPal sends you a receipt with our EIN on it.

What gets built

From March 12 to April 4, 2027 we go back to Nepal with volunteers and build one multi-level home for several families, about $30,000 in materials and local labor. Some people will come for a week, some for the whole stay. No experience needed. If you want to come, leave your name and you will hear first.

We will post a stage report here every evening we have signal, and the photos from Nepal in March.