More than 50 competitors crossed the finish line at the end of the three-day Accor Extreme Challenge to Cure Kids Fiji on the Sofitel Fiji Resort and Spa beachfront this week, raising $36,200 for the Cure Kids Fiji charity.
The multi-challenge event involved a series of both physical, mental and community challenges that tested the strength, fitness and teamwork of all competitors.
Accor’s Extreme Challenge events included a community project aspect, and this year as part of the challenge the teams worked together to help upgrade Loloma home in Waimalika, Nadi, a refuge for single mothers and their children.
“A new coat of paint, general repair around the home and the installation of new swings put smiles on the faces of everyone there, especially the children,” Sofitel Fiji Resort and Spa’s General Manager Simon Jinks, who also participated in the event.
“It was a rewarding experience for all involved.”
In addition to the Accor and Sofitel staff who competed in the event, the event attracted the involvement of local companies Digicel, Rosie Holidays, West Bus, Jacks Fiji, Adrenalin, Farm Boy, Bakels, Tappoos, Media Metro, Portion Pack, Yee’s Cold Storage, Staging Connections Fiji Chemicals, Carpenters and Accor Advantage Plus who all raised their hands to sponsor this year’s Accor Extreme Challenge.
Cure Kids was launched in Fiji in joint partnership with Accor Hotels in 2006, to improve the lives of Fiji’s children.
The challenges to date have raised over AUD$1,250,000 and has included refurbishment work at both Lautoka Hospital’s children’s ward and Nadi Hospital Maternity ward, purchase of life-saving equipment for the neo-natal unit at Lautoka Hospital, and more recently, piloting and evaluating an innovative nurse-led echocardiography screening program in schools with the aim of early detection and treatment of Rheumatic Heart Disease (RHD). It is estimated that approximately one in 30 children aged 5-14 in Fiji live with RHD. Severe RHD causes permanent heart valve damage with the need for heart operations and can cause premature death. To date, 10 nurses have been trained in echocardiography and more than 10,000 children have been screened across the Fiji Islands with hundreds of previously undetected cases of RHD diagnosed and the children referred for treatment.
The funds raised during this year’s event will help provide the program with an additional echocardiography machine which is vitally important for the expansion of the RHD program.