Slovenia's ambassador to the United States will run in a bid to raise money for the Slovenian-run International Trust Fund for Demining (ITF). The US State Department has already promised to match the funds Samuel Zbogar will raise with its own donation.
After a year of preparations, Ambassador Zbogar will take part in a 21-kilometre run in Austin, Texas, on Sunday, which will be the first in a series of half-marathon and marathon runs he plans to do.
According to Deputy Ambassador Miriam Mozgan, Zbogar hopes to raise money for six children from Bosnia-Herzegovina, who were badly injured by landmines and need new prostheses. They will be treated in Slovenia.
Zbogar will raise donations for his first run via the web site www.firstgiving.com/AmbZbogar. He says that landmines reportedly maim or kill around 20,000 civilians every year. About one third of all casualties, or 17 each day, are children.
Zbogar, who left Washington for Texas on Wednesday, is due in Houston later on Thursday for a meeting with Mayor Bill White. On Friday he is expected to meet Texas business executives and students of Trinity Episcopal School in Austin, who are raising money for a mine detection dog.
Prior to his departure, 44-year-old Zbogar told STA that was running five times a day for a while to prepare for his charity runs. He is timing his form for the May marathon in Cleveland. He will also be running in Tennessee and Washington.
Zbogar's campaign is organised in cooperation with the Marshall Legacy Institute, an international humanitarian organisation which assists nations in building mine clearance and landmine awareness programs.
Since inception in 1998, the International Trust Fund has raised more than US$ 210m in donations, mainly from various countries, the EU, the UN Development Programme and over 70 private companies. Moreover, under a matching contribution system, the US doubles the funds given to the ITF by other donors.
According to data presented in October 2006, the fund has cleared nearly 70 million square metres of mines and aided more than 900 mine victims, most of them coming from Bosnia-Herzegovina.
While initially focusing on South Eastern Europe, the ITF later expanded its activities to Armenia, Azerbaijan Georgia, and other parts of the world. With the help of donors, the fund hopes to clear South Eastern Europe of mines by 2010.
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