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Approximately 15 walkers and runners, including a bear and a baby, represented the UK Embassy in Bahrain’s staff and their families on Saturday during a global charity marathon aimed at raising awareness around mental health.
Diplomats and other overseas staff working for the UK government, as well their Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office colleagues, and their families, took part in the ‘Globalmile’ challenge to raise funds for mental health charities, including Mind in the UK.
Bahrain’s UK embassy was represented by runners, including British ambassador to Bahrain Roddy Drummond, his wife Yasmine Drummond and the Uncle Kingsley (UK) Bear mascot of the embassy, as they ran a mile around the British Residence in Manama.
One of the fathers amongst the runners also helped his baby make it around the track in a safe wearable infant-carrier.
“The British Embassy team was very keen to join the Global Mile to raise awareness and funds,” Mr Drummond told GulfWeekly after the mile-run.
“Mental Health is improved both by exercise and by contact with nature. So, running or walking around the residence garden seemed the natural thing to do.”
Staff from more than 230 British embassies, high commissions, governors’ offices and consulates – from Vancouver in the west to Samoa in the east; from Wellington in the south to Reykjavik in the north – took part in the event.
It built on the success of the ‘DiploMile’ event held at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, which attracted 158 posts from around the world.
Saturday’s Globalmile started at 9am on Saturday in Apia, Samoa, which was 9pm in the UK and 11pm in Bahrain on Friday evening.
Participants at each post ran or walked a mile, before video-conferencing or tweeting with the next mission to pass the virtual baton on – sending it through the 24 time-zones over the course of a day.
The team in Bahrain received their baton from the British Embassy in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, and then passed it on virtually to their colleagues in the Greek capital of Athens.
The final leg of the run took place at 1pm in Vancouver, Canada, which was Saturday’s 9pm in the UK and 11pm in Bahrain.
Staff at the several diplomatic missions around the world chose different charities to raise funds for, with the one in Bahrain selecting Mind.
“MIND in the UK is one of our favourite charities, which my wife and I support anyway,” Drummond added. “They have helped more people than ever during the pandemic.
“Mental health is something we should all talk about more openly. Roughly one-in-four of us will experience a mental health problem at some stage in our lives. So, we need to create better support networks and access to professional care too for the more acute cases.”
Last year, the DiploMile event raised more than £50,000 (BD26,567) after Ambassador-designate to Lebanon, Dr Ian Collard, came up with the idea during his posting in Afghanistan as a way to stay connected with his family and to unite the newly-merged Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
