Running for dear life

Everyone in the world is running some kind of race. Some chase recognition. Some chase money. Others run simply to stay ahead of others. But there are some who run for others.

They are not trying to overtake anyone, they do not do it for fame, they are not getting paid to do it. But they run to pay for the upliftment of those less privileged.

Bal Joshi, 43, is originally from Surkhet. His father was involved in the democratic movement during the days of absolute monarchy and he remembers frequent police searches of the house. And with his father in hiding, the young Joshi had to take care of the family.

When the family’s small shop failed, his mother took the young Bal and his brother back to the village, and that is where he completed his education, walking four hours roundtrip every day between home and school.

He ran most of the way, and without realising it he has been running ever since.

Life was hard. Rent, food, education. His mother struggled constantly. There were days when there was no money even to buy kerosene for the stove. At one point, he sold his calculator, worth Rs 300, for just Rs 80 to get by.

At age 15, he travelled to Gujarat to search for his missing father. He found him, but very sick, so he brought him back home to Surkhet. He died soon after. It was his mother who taught him that despite the scarcity, life had to be lived with dignity.

At 19, he found work at a newspaper in Nepalganj. Starting out as a proofreader, he became a journalist and became active in the Sahara Group which ran an orphanage that took care of the children of conflict victims.

In Bajhang, after the army killed a man on suspicion of being a Maoist, his wife jumped into the Seti River and ended her life. Their two children were taken into army custody. During the rescue process, Joshi met Sunaina Adhikari of the ICRC and back in Nepalganj they decided to get married.

The conflict was still raging in western Nepal in 2005, when Joshi went to the United States. In Maryland, he initially worked at a Bengali-owned Subway outlet, spending long hours on his feet behind the counter. He changed jobs frequently, financing his education along the way, and ultimately graduated with a degree in finance in 2008. He joined Hancock Whitney Bank in Texas, and has risen up the ranks to be Senior Vice President.

A colleague inspired him to run as a way to stay healthy. But it soon turned into something more meaningful — running more than a dozen 50km marathons for charity. 

Last year, Joshi returned to Nepal to run the Everest Marathon, and raised $42,000 which he donated to One Step Foundation which works on health care, child welfare and cultural preservation in Nepal and around the world.

In June this year, Joshi and his family climbed Kilimanjaro, raising $19,000 for 80 HIV-affected orphaned children in Tanzania. During the Diwali festival he ran 220km in Nevada’s Red Canyon and raised $25,000 for cataract surgeries through the the Ruit Foundation in Nepal for cataract surgeries. 

Joshi does not run competitions, and is not trying to break any records. His motto is: “My race, my pace.” 

Turning his childhood scarcity into helping others, he says: “We all share sunlight, rain, air, and soil, nothing is truly just your own. I grew up without shoes, and I am fortunate to be able to distribute shoes to those who walk barefoot.”

We ask Bal Joshi what (and where) next? His answer: the World Marathon Challenge that will go around the world to run seven marathons in seven continents in seven days beginning in Antarctica at end-January. 

Joshi aims to run wearing the daura suruwal and Nepal’s flag as to show where he comes from, and how far in life he has come.