Hope for Kenya

– by Kelvin Ang

The Hope For Kenya session at Singapore’s Reebok CrossFit Enduro on Saturday, 16 February, began with a simple poll: How many of the 40 athletes present had ever stepped foot in Kenya?

The box fell silent. When quizzed if they had heard of the city of Mombasa or if they could locate Kenya on a world map, a handful raised their hands – tentatively.

There was nothing tentative, however, about the effort displayed by the collection of athletes from Reebok CrossFit Enduro and sister affiliate CrossFit Singapore on Saturday. In five heats, they grunted and grimaced their way through the 12-minute AMRAP of 50 squats, 30 push-ups and 15 pull-ups. Between the registration fees, additional donations and proceeds from a bake sale, the two boxes combined to raise $1,069 for the Hope For Kenya initiative.

At the end, despite their distant connection to the African continent, everyone left happy about the deposit of goodwill they had made to the people of Kenya.

“Everyone really put a lot of effort into it,” said Mark Ng, a trainer at Reebok CrossFit Enduro. “Regardless of whatever fitness level you’re at, when it’s for a good cause, everybody bands together to contribute to it.”

Hope For Kenya holds an especially important place in the heart of Reebok CrossFit Enduro head trainer Juria Maree. A South Africa native, Maree used to be a consultant for a bank in Tanzania, which borders Kenya to the south.

Maree was in Sydney conducting a Level 1 Seminar over the weekend, but she made sure to do the workout beforehand and passed along her score, as well as a message to be read to those who attended Saturday’s WOD:

“Every day, we are bombarded by negativity and bad news via the newspaper, news or even just the headlines we happen to see on the way to work. All of this may leave people feeling powerless in affecting change. Today, however, you chose to do the opposite. You made a conscious decision to uplift, inspire and be the change we so desperately need. Today, you are making a difference. Not only for the kids in Kenya, but also by setting an example of paying our good fortune forward to our younger generation. I am proud to know every single one of you. Keep shining that light!”

With that, the session got off to a raucous start. Participants were assigned a buddy to not just check for range of motion and count reps, but more importantly, to shout words of encouragement when legs got heavy and lungs started to burn. This has become commonplace for members of the two close-knit boxes, which combine to do team WODs every Saturday.

The noisy melody was doubly appreciated by some of the more ambitious athletes who donned weighted vests and gas masks and did the WOD once more at the end of the session.

Some others showed their support by cooking up an assortment of Paleo-friendly snacks. The spread, which included meatballs, strips of steak, roasted spiced nuts, brownies, cupcakes and tapioca bites, quickly became a popular gathering point after the heats.

“I haven’t seen a community like the CrossFit community in Singapore before,” said Yvonne Choong, a member of Reebok CrossFit Enduro. “The support between the two boxes is incredible – everyone is quite close to each other.”

Saturday’s Hope For Kenya WOD came less than five months after the two boxes combined to raise $3,500 for the Barbells for Boobs cause.

Back then, CrossFit Singapore head trainer Kevin Lim had stirred up powerful emotions in the athletes by telling them they were his heroes for fighting against breast cancer, despite knowing that the recipients of their donations would never know their identity.

Judging by their support for Hope For Kenya, Reebok CrossFit Enduro and CrossFit Singapore clearly remembered the message.

“It was really awesome,” said Jeff Chuang, a member of CrossFit Singapore. “Besides working out together, we also did something nice for the community beyond us. Even though there are a lot of people in Kenya we haven’t met before, it’s always nice to show our love for people we don’t even know.”