The convener of Arise Walk for Life, Dr. Siju Iloyomade, has said that the primary goal of organizing the annual event was for the health benefits of all participants. She stated this during a briefing in Lagos, that this year’s Arise Charity Walk would be happening in clusters just like last year across different countries of the world, including Nigeria (Lagos), Canada, USA, United Kingdom, Singapore, etcetera.
This event, taking place October 15, with the theme #AppointedToLive, will begin simultaneously by 7am local time in all participating countries. Participants are to register their clusters on the Arise Walk website.
Dr Siju has, she’s fondly called, emphasised the critical need to keep fit and encourage preventive illness instead of a curative approach especially as some countries continue to battle the COVID-19 . She noted that walking helps improve immunity and physical health, adding that participants in this year’s walk stand a chance of winning up to $2,000 for the best cluster.
According to her: “Nigeria is blessed, more than many countries of the world but most countries live longer than us. We must also encourage walking, it elongates lifespan and gives good health, that is what Arise want to encourage with this initiative, hence we need to continuously exercise to keep body and spirit in tune. At ARISE, we take health very seriously because you need to be in sound health to do anything tangible. The Arise Walk for Life is a place for everyone irrespective of status, tribe, religion or nationality, it is a place for all.”
Iloyomade also stated that Arise is an ideology and in a short span of time, making giant strides in areas of health, women and community empowerment with focus on 12 pillars out of United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals.She added: “during the hit of COVID-19 crisis in many homes, Arise Pink Bucket which contains food items helped to reduce economic hardship on low income families in the different villages spread across all states in Nigeria that Arise have visited and completed projects from across the 12 pillars selected from the 17 United Nations SDGs.
She thanked partners and volunteers for their generosity, dedication and commitment to this cause and urged participants of the Walk for life, #AppointedToLive to create awareness for regular physical exercise and proper health check.
Meanwhile, the event this year witnessed a Golf tournament where over hundred professional golfers participated at the Ikoyi club 1938. This was added to create more awareness about how golf also supports good health and elongate life.
Also, Arise football match that wlll feature ex-Super Eagles internationals is slated for October 14th at the Onikan Stadium to commemorate this years edition as well as encourage contact sports like football which has taken Nigeria to the world map, Among those that will participate are, Kanu Nwankwo, Austin Eguaveon, Waidi Akanni, Austin Okocha, Daniel Amokachi, Uche Okechukwu among hosts of others.
ARISE is a humanitarian and charitable organization, which has been a great support system for women, their family and community by delivering care to the most vulnerable in the society through their mobile clinics – Arise hospitals,as well as donation of boreholes, medical reliefs and schools to mention a few.
