A team of six swimmers will be braving the rough waters and jelly fish stings on Saturday to raise money for Joseph Bugeja, the victim of an occupational accident who lost his arm and his two legs tragically. One man’s misfortune can be turned around with everyones help.

The event is being organised by ‘Swim Aid’ and the team are from Birkirkara St Joseph Sports Club, who for the past few months have been putting in many hours of training on a weekly basis will be setting off from Hondoq tomorrow morning and swim anti clockwise round Gozo.

This is a 37K swim and it is expected to last anything between 10hrs and 12hrs. They will each be accompanied by a boat with crew on board to help with the feeding. This is not a relay swim but every swimmer will be swimming the distance individually and at their own pace. Each accompanied by their own boat. A medical rib and another support boat will also be present for the entire duration of the swim.

Feeds for the swimmers will take place every 45mins. Liquid feeds consist of Protein shakes and isotonic drinks. Solid food varies amongst the swimmers with some opting for chocolate and banana. It will mean an average of 30,000 strokes, 12 hours of swimming, 16 feeds and all that nature will throw at them tomorrow.

The swimmers will protect themselves with a sudo cream, sun scream & vaseline. This helps against any encounters with jellyfish and to protect the swimmers against the harsh sun although these wear off as they swim.

The swim will start from Hondoq ir-Rummien at 6.30am and the swimmers will individually be finishing at the same spot between the times of 5.30pm and 7.30pm. (updates of the swim will be posted as this takes place on the ‘Swim Aid’ facebook page). It would be great for the swimmers to have some support at Hondoq and also on boats too.

Last year, Joseph Bugeja, a 32 year old, was electrocuted in a very unlucky situation. He happened to be standing next to a crane and due to the weather conditions, the electricity from a near by electricity box arched onto the crane and as a result Mr Bugeja lost both his legs and one of his arms. Today he has partial mobility thanks to two prosthesis legs however he is wheel chaired everywhere he goes. Swim Aid are trying to collect enough funds so as to allow Joseph to have a prosthetic arm which should allow him some more normality in his life.

The group swims 4 times a week and on one of the off days they either go for a run or a cycle. For the past three months the training programme consisted of anything between 25K and 45K swims, with the longer swims taking place in the sea. Its an early rise every time with the alarm going off as early at 4am so as to put in some hours before the sun gets too strong.

The swimmers are Simon Zammit, Sammy Attard, Kurt Arrigo, Roberto Demicoli, Gilbert Bartolo and Josef Cardona. A seventh swimmer, Andrew Grech, had to pull out due to unforeseen circumstances. Saho Harada was also part of the team but due to her involvement in the Olympics, she has been away from the island for quite a few weeks.

Simon and Sammy are the only two who did the round Gozo swim last year and collected funds for The Malta Guide Dog Foundation.

A PayPal account has been set up thus enabling easy and safe transfer of donations. An HSBC account has also been set up for donations.

You can donate to this cause via;

via SMS on 50612127 (€1.16); 50617363 (€4.66); 50618927 (€6.99); and 50619213 (€11.65).

PayPal http://goo.gl/kzUVA

Internet HSBC Banking Account Number: 006 207609 001

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