Globalteer staff and volunteers at our Cambodia Community Project joined around 100 people in the first ever “Walk of Shame” in Siem Reap on Saturday 15th September, a fund-raising event organised by one of the partner projects we support in the town. The event raised more than $1,500 on the day alone, with supporting events in Cambodia and Australia taking the total to almost $3,000.
Globalteer’s cosmopolitan “team of nations” fared particularly well with Janette Francis, one of our volunteers from New Zealand being crowned the overall race winner after a mad scramble for the line at the end of what head been a fairly sedate race on a stiflingly hot and uncharacteristically dry September afternoon.
Florin Regenauer , Globalteer’s German volunteer sports assistant hopped in on crutches to claim second place, and Dutchman Ryan Ahlers, our office Administrator, also running the race on crutches, finished third.
Wheelchair winner
Brit Colin Newstead, Globalteer’s volunteer coordinator won the prize for best outfit - having broken his leg before the race he was pushed around the course in a wheel chair clutching a gin and lime intraveneous drip by fellow Brits, colleagues and team mates Charlie (Globalteer Sports Coordinator), Simon (Marketing and strategy Manager) and Sherry (SE Asia regional Project Manager). Team Globalteer’s home-made doctor’s costumes, and their determined, sweaty dash for the finish line also earned them the prize for best team effort. Another Brit, Courtney Anderson, a Globalteer volunteer from Fife in Scotland was also singled out for an award, winning the "Miss Congeniality" prize for looking the most...ahem...congenial.
Wheelbarrows, space-hoppers and men in drag
Contestants had been asked to dress as if they had been out all night, and whilst some looked like they really had not made it home after a big Friday night, it just gave everyone an excuse to dress up and race through the streets of Siem Reap to the bewilderment and delight of tourists and bemused locals. One team donned day-glo accessories and completed the course on space-hoppers, another pair teamed up with one member pushing the other in a wheelbarrow, and a team of 70 runners donned bright red outfits - with many of the men in scarlet frocks - to create a truly awe-inspiring spectacle.
Such was the success and the popularity of the one-off event that it may well become a permanent fixture in the Siem reap social calendar. Watch this space. In the meantime if you would like to come to Siem Reap and work alongside our team and with volunteers from around the world, then please read our Cambodia Community project pages and find out how you could become one of our amazing volunteers.
To see more photographs of the event please got our Facebook Page.