MDS Trek Morocco 2026 · October 13 to 18
We run 120 km each across the Sahara in October. In March we take the money to Nepal and build.
Aaron and Debbie run 120 km each in the MDS Trek Morocco, October 13 to 18. In March we take every dollar raised to Nepal and build a home for families who lost theirs in the August flood. We pay our own costs, so 100 percent of your gift goes to Nepal.
Live tracking, October 13 to 18
Follow us across the desert, checkpoint by checkpoint.
Pick the stage at the top of the map, then look for bibs 387 and 388. Until Stage 1 the timing site lists everyone under the 70 km course; we move to the 120 km list after the first long stage. Stages finish early afternoon in Morocco, the small hours in Utah.
Kilometers covered
0 / 240
120 km each for Aaron and Debbie. The first stage starts Tuesday, October 13. The counter moves every evening from the official timing.
How we count: the official stage distance for each of us, the evening the stage is done, and only what each of us actually covers. Most people in the MDS races run a fifth of the distance or more; Aaron is running every stretch he can. Bibs 387 and 388, tent 238.
- ChecksMon Oct 12
- Stage 1Tue Oct 13
- Stage 2Wed Oct 14
- Stage 3, day 1, Star NightThu Oct 15
- Stage 3, day 2Fri Oct 16
- Rest daySat Oct 17
- Final stageSun Oct 18
Where the money goes
March 12 to April 4, 2027: we go back to Nepal and build.
In August 2026 a flood on the Nepal Tibet border took homes from families we have known for years. In March we go back with volunteers and build one multi-level home for several families, about $30,000 in materials and local labor. Every dollar raised here goes into it. Anything over builds for the next family in the same valley.
- The home
- $30,000
- A thirtieth of it
- $1,000
- A dollar a km, both
- $240
You can give once, sponsor the kilometers we run in October, or come to Nepal with us and carry the bricks yourself. Most people do one of the first two. A few will do the third, and it will be the best month of their year.
Come with us
No experience needed. Come for a week or the whole month.
Volunteers join us any time from March 12 to April 4. Some come for a week, some stay the month. Everyone works, everyone sees the country, and nobody needs a skill beyond showing up. No cap on numbers, no age limit, families welcome.
Build days
Walls, floors, roof. Carrying, mixing, painting. Nepali builders run the site and show you what to do. If you can hold a shovel or pass a brick, you are qualified. The home goes up in the hills north of Kathmandu, in the same valley where we ran medical camps in 2011.
The children's homes
A day with the Unatti Foundation and the other homes we have funded since 2009. The kids we met back then are adults now, and some of them will be on the build with us.
Pokhara
Sunrise over the Annapurna range from Sarangkot, a boat on Phewa Lake, paragliding off the ridge if you want it, the World Peace Pagoda above the water.
Kathmandu and Bhaktapur
Boudhanath and Swayambhunath stupas, Pashupatinath on the river, the old Durbar Squares. Bhaktapur is where our kids grew up, and we know the back streets.
Chitwan
Jeep safari in Chitwan National Park: one-horned rhino, crocodiles, with luck a tiger. Chitwan is where C4GC put its first tin roofs on in 2009.
Everest
If you stay the month, the Everest Base Camp trek is on the table: roughly two weeks from Lukla. Everyone else gets the one hour mountain flight along the whole Himalayan wall.
What you pay
Your flights to Kathmandu, plus a trip fee that covers your transport, lodging and food while you are with us. The fee is being set; the list below hears it first. Donations never pay for anyone's trip, ours included.
Where you sleep
A hotel in Kathmandu on the city days, and a guesthouse or tents near the build site on the build days.
Dates
March 12 to April 4, 2027, give or take a day or two at each end. Arrive and leave when it suits you inside that window.
The plan
The good news is, this is simple.
You have probably given to something before and never heard what happened. This time you will. Three steps, and you see every one of them.
- 1
Give, or sponsor the distance.
A straight gift takes a minute. Or pledge per kilometer: a dollar a kilometer is $120 for one of us, $240 for both, and you pay after the finish for what we actually cover.
Give now - 2
Watch us run it.
From October 13 the official GPS tracker shows every step across the Sahara, run or walked. One email when each stage is done. People who follow the race tend to feel it when the roof goes on.
Follow live - 3
See it built in March.
We go back to Nepal for the whole month and spend every dollar on the rebuild. You get the photos, the costs, and the day a family moves in. Or come with us for a week and carry a brick yourself.
Come to Nepal
Give now
The simplest way: pick a number.
A straight gift, today, through the Center for Global Change PayPal account. One hundred percent of it is spent in Nepal in March. PayPal takes cards without an account, and you get a receipt the moment it goes through.
The home costs about $30,000. $1,000 is a thirtieth of it. $100 is the roof over one room. Any amount is part of a wall.
Many employers match charitable gifts. Our EIN is on your receipt; send it to HR and your gift doubles. To give monthly, email donation@c4gc.org and Debbie sets it up.
Rather tie it to the race? $120 is a dollar a kilometer for one of us, $240 for both. Or pledge per kilometer and pay after the finish for what we actually cover.
Or pledge per kilometer
Would you rather pay for the kilometers we actually cover?
Pledge a dollar amount per kilometer or per mile, for Aaron, for Debbie, or for both, with a cap if you like. Nothing is charged now. The evening we cross the finish line you get one email with the distance covered, your total, and a PayPal link. If we cover less, you pay less.
A dollar a kilometer for both of us is $240 if we finish. A dollar a mile is about $149.
Before you make up your mind.
Without it
Families we have known for years face another monsoon without a home of their own. And you keep giving to things you never get to see.
Just imagine March
Walls up. Roof on. Several families inside before the rain, and a photo in your inbox because you paid for part of it. Picture the kids who grew up with us handing over the keys, with a few of you standing next to them. That is what a gift here buys.
Come to Nepal in March
Put your name down. No commitment yet.
Tell us roughly when between March 12 and April 4 you could come, and for how long. We send the trip fee and the day by day plan as soon as they are set, and you decide then. No cap, no age limit, families welcome. You pay your own way; the donations build the home.
Just one more thing
If this moved you, send it to one person who would want to know. That is how a house gets built.