Woman does a handstand every day for a year for playgrounds in Africa

Julie Dumont is hoping to raise money for charity standing on her head. The Cardiff University PhD student has pledged to do a handstand a day for a year raising money to build a playground in Uganda after taking part in a similar initiative in February. It started when Julie joined a couple from Australia in doing a handstand a day throughout February. “Whilst I was doing them people would say, ‘That’s great you should do it for a year’,” said Julie, 26, who is studying to become a doctor in neuroscience.

“My response was, ‘Are you insane?’ Then February ended and I was like, ‘Great, now what?’ so I decided to do them for a year and raise money for a cause. I had a few ideas what I wanted to raise money for and I found the charity East African Playgrounds on the internet. It’s an awesome charity. East African Playgrounds was founded by two students at the University of Leeds in 2009. The charity recently completed its 12th playground installation.



“For me it’s important that children have fun,” said Julie, who is hoping to raise £6,000 – the cost of a playground for the charity. There’re lots of charities for clothing, shelter, education and food but not many organisations that think about disadvantaged children having fun and doing what children should be doing. For me doing handstands is a bit of fun, I try and keep it fun for everyone and I’m trying to do the handstands in different locations. If I raise the money I would like to visit the playground it builds.

“Handstands are great fun and a fantastic thing to do if you’re feeling stressed I guarantee you’ll do a hand stand and start laughing.” In January 2013 Julie, who is originally from Canada, will complete her 366th handstand at the same time as completing her PHD. “I hope that my last handstand will be as a doctor once I have graduated. It will mean so much to me if I can complete my PHD, the handstands and hit my fundraising target all in the same week. People have been really intrigued by what I’m doing but I also hope they will help me to raise this money.”

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