Move for Movember Challenge 2021

Introduction

Movember is an annual fundraising event hosted by the Movember Foundation, held in the month of November, and famed for its involvement of growing moustaches. It seeks to address mental illness and suicide, prostate cancer, and testicular cancer – the three largest issues that pose a significant threat to the longevity and quality of life of men. Since its inception in 2003, the charity has funded over 1200 projects across 20 countries and engaged men’s health experts across the world, with the purpose of fundamentally changing the way men in need are treated and supported, and ultimately, reducing the number of preventable deaths in men.

One of the visions of the 2021/22 LBYG Executive Committee is that the LBYG be more involved with wider community initiatives, even if they are not necessarily in the Sri Lankan or Buddhist domains. Although the LBYG continues to engage in its own fundraising initiatives (such as the annual School Project), we recognise that initiatives which promote cohesion within the youth group, uphold Buddhist values and positively contribute to the wider community, should also be championed. The Movember event was by all metrics a great opportunity to raise both awareness about mental health and men’s health, and much-needed funds for a worthwhile cause. And so it was that in the month of November 2021, four Mo Bros and one Mo Sister – Nadeesha Abayaratna, Nipuna Weerasinghe, Rukshali Baddevithana, Senith Vidanapathirana, and I – would sign up as a team to represent the LBYG in the 2021 Move for Movember Challenge.

The Challenge

The Move for Movember Challenge presents participants with the challenge to run or walk 60km over the month of November, for the 60 men lost to suicide every hour across the world. Unfortunately, men are one of the groups greatest at risk to suicide, as they account for 75% of all suicides. Due to the stigma surrounding mental illness, and societal conditioning that men should not be vulnerable or express their emotions, many experiencing mental illness continue to be undiagnosed or untreated. However, had these men received adequate intervention, support and treatment, this loss of life would be largely preventable. This challenge was thus a worthy platform for our team to unite on, in raising awareness about mental health, while engaging in one of the best activities to improve one’s general wellbeing and mental health – regular exercise.

At the start of the month, we set up our individual and team’s Mo Spaces (i.e. donation pages) on the Movember website, where supporters could kindly donate, leave comments of support, and view our progress in meeting our individual 60km targets, and team’s 300km target. We initially set our fundraising goal to be $2500, an average of $500 raised per teammate. The five of us then proceeded to promote our participation in this fundraiser and raise awareness about mental health through our individual social media accounts (such as Facebook and Instagram), personal messages to our peers, colleagues, friends, and family, and through the LBYG platform. Nipuna’s company had an internal donation-matching scheme, which greatly helped the cause. The four male participants, Nadeesha, Nipuna, Senith and I, also grew out our moustaches over the month.

Each of us recorded our activity using fitness-tracking apps or devices such as Strava, ensuring that the distances and times that were subsequently logged on our Mo Spaces were accurate. Over the course of the month, we found ourselves alternating our exercise between shorter-distance lengths performed more frequently, and longer-distance lengths performed more occasionally. As the month progressed and each of us settled into a rhythm, the benefits of regular exercise – such as better sleep, an elevated mood, and increased running stamina – became apparent. 

In addition, I eventually discovered Strava had a route-mapping function from my frequent use of the app. As a result, from careful examination of the street maps of neighbouring areas, I created a few “Strava Art” pieces, including “Australia” in Norwest, “Cassowary” in Stanhope Gardens, “Neuron” (in the spirit of mental health) in Bella Vista, and “Fish” in Kings Langley. It was an incredibly enjoyable exercise to map out these elaborate routes in the real world as a team, balancing the challenges of not overshooting the streets on the route, taking care to perform road crossings, maintaining a similar pace, the threat of our phone batteries nearing 1%, and the occasional wet weather, but ultimately being rewarded with great conversation, camaraderie, and a completed artwork painted with the brushstrokes of our movement.    

Final Remarks

By the end of the month, our collective fundraising efforts proved to be extremely fruitful. As a team we raised an incredible $3309 and moved 345 km collectively, more than achieving our respective targets of $2500 and 300km. Our gratitude goes to the many donors and supporters of our team, without which this outcome would not have been possible. It was heartening to see so many of our peers, colleagues, friends, and family support us over the month-long challenge, while appreciating the importance of this fundraiser in addressing critical aspects of men’s health, especially mental health and suicide prevention. 

I also wish to thank my teammates Nadeesha, Nipuna, Rukshali and Senith, for their inspiring fundraising efforts and great friendship over the month. As a team, we proved that the youth group could positively and successfully contribute to wider community initiatives. I therefore have no doubt that the LBYG will continue to engage in these efforts with fruitful results in the future.