We All Need Heroes

SWIMMING FOR NATURE

Chapter: Absurd Yet True

Long-distance swimmer Martin Strel has become the world’s most unlikely philanthropist – he’s out to save the world’s dirtiest rivers. Martin comes from Slovenia and he taught himself to swim in a nearby stream when he was six years old and became a professional long distance swimmer in 1978. Nowadays, he’s not so fit and is considered the world’s heaviest elite endurance swimmer. With this in mind, it comes as a big surprise that it’s in Martin’s latest years he’s achieved his most impressive swimming goals. He has swum the Mississippi, the Danube and the Yangtze rivers. Why? To bring attention to how polluted they are. In February 2007, Martin began an insane attempt to be the first person ever to swim the entire length of the world’s most dangerous river, the mighty Amazon. He faced piranhas, bull sharks and pirates when he swam the 3,272-mile stretch in 66 days. This amazing achievement was filmed and the movie-documentary, which became a big success, was released in 2009 with the title Big River Man.
    Our world has a lot of water, but only 1-3 percent of it suffices as drinking water. This is one of the greatest problems of today: Drinking water is sparse and Martin points out that we have to take better care of it because no one should have to buy drinking water from the grocery store. He’s trying to change this. In China, India and Egypt water pollution is serious to the point that people are dying from it. In fact, more people die from dirty water than from war. Martin sees himself as a teacher or an adviser on clean water. In New York he held motivational speeches on the importance of keeping the Manhattan Island clean and to get the Hudson and Harlem Rivers in better shape. Martin’s next step is to make another film that focuses on pollution. He says there is still much to do when it comes to cleaning up drinking water and that’s what he’s intending to do.

Possible Moral
Martin Strel’s driving force should be an inspiration to us all. Using your talent, hobby or profession in a way that makes you contribute with something good to this world is truly the way to go. After his Amazon swim, Martin held a speech about simplicity: “My Name is Martin. You can see I’m not Lance Armstrong. I’m a little fat and a little old. I like to drink a little. I’m a simple man. There are many people like me. I hope they see this swim and realize they can do impossible things, even save the world. I hope people remember this rainforest is our friend and stop destroying it. Now I’m very tired I just swam Amazon... Please excuse me”.


Story from We All Need Heroes: Stories of the Brave and Foolish.
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