Surfing the Globe While Running for Komera: Hong Trinh’s Story
“It seems that the more places I see and experience, the bigger I realize the world to be. The more I become aware of, the more I realize how relatively little I know of it, how many places I have still to go, how much more there is to learn.”
Above is one of the quotes included in a caption on Instagram written by Hong Trinh, one of the members of this year’s Team Komera. The lush greenery and distant mountains in the background against a rising sun featured in the Instagram post is a familiar sight to members of our team as it was taken in Rwanda.
Hong’s Instagram handle, @surf_theglobe, is certainly fitting. If you scroll through her Instagram feed, you’ll be awed by images of Tanzania, Iran, France, Antarctica and more. In between her travels, Hong updates her social media followers. She was scrolling through social media while in Rwanda when she heard about Komera. “I always wanted to be part of it and somehow help Komera with my skills or something I am good at,” Hong told us.
Hong lived and traveled throughout Africa starting in 2019, which is one of the reasons she decided to run in the TCS New York City Marathon for Komera this year. She loves running for its simplicity - she ran marathons in Taiwan, Greece, France and a few other countries. But her motivation for choosing to run on Team Komera is also attached to how she values education. “I am very grateful to have had this tool and proper education when I grew up, which is unfortunately not guaranteed for so many children and people all around the world,” she told us. “Hence to run for girls in Rwanda with Komera is a great honor to me, due to my previous visit to the country of a thousand hills. I will always fight for education, environmental justice and especially empowering girls and women all around the globe; This is the least thing I can do in my lifetime!”
The Komera team is so thankful for team members like Hong who continue to fundraise for our organization - Hong has already met her fundraising goal! We love welcoming proactive members to become a part of the Komera family. Hong told us why she appreciates each of the three pillars that Komera focuses on, but she especially highlighted the aspect of community. “This part I think is special about Komera,” she told us. “Because Komera is really involving the community of the girls’ environment in their work and its holistic approach. Without them, I don’t think you could support them as emotionally as you might aim for the girls.”
There is a proverb that reads, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” This proverb is close to Hong’s mission to teach others to fish and support others in any way she can. “The sustainable holistic approach Komera is doing is very inspiring to me and teaches me how I could use it in the future as a tool, for a foundation I would love to establish later in my life,” she told us. “From Komera I can learn a lot how to put my theoretical thoughts into real actions with bigger effects. Not only in Rwanda but of course also in other parts of this beautiful world! Help is needed everywhere, and we all have the opportunity everyday with our kind hearts to make small changes.”
Thank you, Hong, for choosing to run for Komera! We are so grateful for your efforts and know that the positive effects of your actions will be felt by our girls and hopefully others across the world. As you said, “Everyone can be an inspiration to others,” and you certainly inspire our team and the next generation of girls in Komera.
“I see the next generation as our future,” Hong told us. “When you choose to run for Komera and the wonderful girls in Rwanda you invest and believe in a future, in which our next generation will be Komera: “Strong and brave!” to dare not only to run, but to be able to chase their dreams and to change this world to even a better place!”